past mistakes

Meet the Parents

Kendall and Leo leave to go get dinner later. I think we ended it on good terms. That's one less stress. After that win, I decided to text Mark. I just ask him to come over.

I don't get a response for a while, but he does end of responding. 'I'm going to dinner with my parents and they want you to come.'

I really pay attention to his language. they want you to come. He's still mad.

I, of course, agree and put on an outfit. He tells me to drive to his house, where we can drive over together. I drive over and stress breathe before I walk in.

I ring the doorbell and wait. He opens the door and I see that he's in his suit already. It must be really fancy. He seems stern.

He backs away and expects me to walk in, I guess. I walk in and look around, making sure his parents aren't here, even though they obviously aren't. I don't think he would have greeted me like that if they were. 

"I told my parents that we were going out and I can't seem like a flake, so this has to happen, at least for tonight," he says, as he adjust his suit.

I clear my throat, "Okay." I feel almost used, but I definitely won't be saying anything.

I finally build up the confidence to say something, but when I open my mouth, he interrupts, "Don't say anything. We can talk afterward, but I don't want this to be any more awkward. We need to look like we're actually happy, so do whatever you need to, to be able to do that."

I look down. "Fine."

He takes a final look in the mirror and grabs his keys. I follow him to his garage and get in the passenger seat of his Mercedes.

He heads downtown. I'm so curious where we are going. I'm trying to get in the state of mind where I can pretend to be happily dating him, but it's so awkward. This isn't like him.

He parks and I see that we're at one of the really expensive hotels. He takes a deep breath. "I'm sorry Mary Cate. Can we just please for the night forget about everything for my family?"

I nod. "Yes." Knots form in my stomachs. I can't mess this up for him.

We get out and start walking to the entrance. Before we walk in, he grabs my hand. His grip is strong. He knows exactly where he is walking and leads us to a private room. There are a lot of people here, all dressed very nicely. Everyone gets up and greets us.

"Hi! You must be Mary Cate!" "We're so excited to meet you!" I hear my name being said so many times. So many people are around me.

Mark says loudly, "Okay, let's give her some space. You'll all be able to have a chance to talk to her." I keep my smile on the whole time. His parents come up next.

"Hello, I'm Mark's mother, Kathryn, and this is my husband, Nathaniel. We are so excited to meet you. We've heard such great things about you." She winks at Mark. He has that same Mark smile on his face.

I talk with his mom for a few moments, until some food is ready to be served. We all sit down and watch the appetizers come. Mark and I are sitting next to each other, obviously, but we're next to his brothers and their girlfriends.

The girls seem sweet and his brothers are what I imagined. I knew one of them from school. The other was too old for me to really know him.

Mark is great at acting like we are good. I don't think I'm doing as well.

One of his brothers, James, whispers, "I heard it was dead week. How'd that go?"

Mark smiles, "James, that's not dinner table conversation." He and his brother laugh with each other. I pretend to laugh with them, as well as James' girlfriend, but she does a much better job of looking genuine. She might actually be.