•°®{riːˈɪnstɪtjuːt}®°•| Urban Fiction

°{VI}°

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"Well don't you look regal?" Mr. Avril complimented as I slowly approached the dining room, "she does, doesn't she?" Ms. Yolana agreed " Yohan don't just sit there, pull your friend's chair out. "Goodnight" I greeted, in the most preppy pitch I could muster. While awkwardly slipping into the seat, I could sense Yohan's want to say something to me, instead of entertaining the thought I thanked him and focused my conversation on his parents, who asked about school and my grades.

His mom more than anything, was a conversationalist, a sweet talker, she could describe the fat shit she took on her toilet and make it seem like she won the lottery, James Avril, not so much. He was more a reserved type, seemed gentlemanly, but I knew firsthand that it's no good to believe only what you can see. They seemed like they were the epitome of black excellence, a perfect power couple, but it was far from, at least from what the pathological liar told me.

"Seraya?" She asked worriedly, "Yes?" my eyebrows shot up at the call of my name only now realizing that she was still telling some story of Yohan's earlier childhood. "I was asking you if you've ever been to Six Flags?" She explained.

" oh yes, it's been a while though" I said and technically it wasn't a lie see; you go to Amusement Parks for amusement and while Yohan, the crew and I snuck to Six Flags a week ago, you know how that went, they took the amuse out of the word and put the ment in mental, driving me crazy with their chaos. The last time I went to Six Flags before that, was with Jayla-Marie.

"Well, as you know, I'm running again and this weekend we're having a campaign event there and I would love if you could attend" she said.

"Yolana I'm sure she'll be available, Hi James, Yohan" for the first time in a while that distinct baritone voice rang in my ears, belonging to none other than Anthony Brown, my father. Mr. Avril politely nodded in response to his greeting while I saw Yohan harshly gulp before greeting him, poor thing always got a little shaken by Dad's presence. "Oh hello, Anthony it's been too long since we've last had a gathering together, I decided to call Genesis and she was so excited so here we are!" Ms. Yolana rambled, like I said, the lady can talk. That being said, she immediately immersed my father in some conversation about politics.

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Now, while less off-putting than my relationship with my mother, Dad and I just understood each other's presence without speaking, and if we did, it would be short, monotonous and straight to the point. We always talked about one of the four topics; school, allowance money, social events and his favourite: a young lady's etiquette. So exciting yay!

Why I liked it is because, he didn't really care for my presence too much neither did he show interest in my life outside of the subjects of our rare conversations and was the same reason I hated it. Though it was better than the nagging of a perfectionist, it made me feel incomplete and alone, it made me realize that realistically, I had no one.

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"Oh You are so early, I thought we agreed to dinner at seven? I must've seemed so disorganised, having you wait so long, you must be so ready to eat." I wanted to laugh as I observed my father heaving out a sigh and mumbling incoherent words before putting on the smile he had rehearsed for years as he looked across at where mother was making her entrance. "Dear, we weren't bothered by your absence, we were just enjoying a conversation"
He said sweetly, but I could tell under the sugar coated syllables, hid a sour double meaning. This was why I appreciated the smart mouth and sarcastic vocabulary my father had passed on to me. It was what got me through these events, the thrill of watching them pick each other apart, hoping that they'd break the out of the guise and show their real selves, embarrassing themselves in front of their colleagues, but to no avail.

" Anthony Darling, I can't believe you took time off to join us, what a pleasant surprise!"

"Say Mrs. B, you look real good in that dress" Yohan tried to compliment and I had to hold everything in me not to snort at that. If there was on thing my parents hated more than potentially each other, it was slang.

Don't get me wrong if that's where you're from, that's just you and they were okay with that, but if you only know the concrete streets of the burb', leave it alone.

It was about to go down.

no?

No response?

Anthony Brown on his best behaviour?

Chileeee.

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Sadly, their scene put up a fumbling fight against their ponzi scheme of an act and had succumbed to the scripted improv.

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