𝑌𝑜𝑢 | 𝐽𝑎𝑑𝑜𝑛 𝑆𝑎𝑛𝑐ℎ𝑜

05

"No, I really can't today. I'm sorry," I try to talk myself out of it.

And guess what situation I have to save myself from? Yes, right. Jamie wants to go on a date with me today.

He's wanted to for the last two weeks, ever since our date, but until now I've always had a good excuse.

"I won't take no for an answer. I've been doing this for the last two weeks and I finally want to spend time with you again," he says and watches me as I hastily pack up my things.

"Jamie I said no. I don't have time today," I say again, standing up straight and giving him an angry look.

Why doesn't he understand that I'm not interested in him?

"Okay. But then tomorrow. We can have dinner at my place," he says and disappears before I can object to anything.

Great.

When I arrive home, my mother is already sitting in the living room waiting for me.

"There you are at last," she says.

She waits for me every evening and then wants me to cook her something to eat.

So I get right to work and half an hour later her dinner is on the table.

Sometimes I wonder why I do all this, but then I think to myself that she is my mother and has always taken care of me.

And just because she hasn't been treating me very nicely lately doesn't mean I have to treat her the same way.

"When you're done, just put your things in the sink. I'll clean it tomorrow before I go to work. I'm tired and going to sleep now," I say and give her a kiss on the left cheek.

I fall asleep immediately and wake up very late the next morning. It's Friday and I have the weekend off for the first time.

So today is the last day before a two-day break.

I go to the kitchen and quickly wash the dishes from the night before and then quietly walk out the door so as not to wake my mother.

"There you are. Our date is still on, isn't it?" Jamie asks me as he unexpectedly comes around the corner.

"There never was a date," I reply and run away from him, annoyed, to serve my first customers.

"Okay. But just one more time," I say after Jamie asks me out about 37 more times.

I agreed. For whatever reason.

It is now 9 o'clock and I am standing in front of his front door.

There is still time to just turn around.

"Oh hello. You must be Aayana, right? Jamie has already told me so much about you," his mother probably says suddenly from the front garden.

There's no time to turn back now.

"Um yeah. I'm Aayana. Nice to meet you," I say and shake her hand as soon as she has opened the gate for me.

"You'd best come inside with me. We're about to have dinner," she says again and waves me into the house after her.

Why didn't he tell me we were having dinner with his family?

I am definitely not ready to meet his family.

"So where do you live and where are you from?" one of the brothers, whose name I have forgotten, asks me.

I tell them all exactly the same lies I told Jamie. And luckily I can still remember all the lies exactly, so I don't get caught.

"And what are you studying on the side?" his mother finally asks me.

Have I forgotten that? No, I don't think I ever said anything about studying.

"Um... studying?" I ask her and look at her a little askance from the side.

"Yes, of course. You only do waitressing as a part-time job. No real person with money would be a real waitress. Jamie only does it because he's bored otherwise".

I hate this family. How can you say that?

"No. I do it for a living," I say, smiling at her a little triumphantly and taking a sip of my white wine, which by the way tastes really bad.

"To say it clearly for you: I'm not studying and I'm definitely not going to study", I repeat myself again.

"What isn't can still be," she says and smiles back.

"And you said that your brother plays football, didn't you?" the father, whose name I have also forgotten, asks me.

They all have such complicated names. Only Jamie is normal.

"Yes that's right," I say and nod.

"Where does he play and how much money does he earn, if you don't mind me asking?"

"He plays for Brighton and Hove. And I don't know about the money and even if I did I wouldn't answer it," I return, no smile this time.

"Ah okay. I've never heard of the club. But I'm sure it's not that well known either. Well... football is only something for somewhat antisocial people anyway. Most of them don't behave there and just swear. Really, anyone who likes that kind of thing really can't be helped," he says and cuts off a piece of his expensive meat.

"We prefer to go golfing. It's such a quiet, relaxing, peaceful sport. No shouting, no insults. Just to relax"

For two more hours I have to listen to this prejudice against non-rich people.

And I'm really starting to get tired.

I'm lucky when suddenly everyone gets up from the table and it's finally over.

I quickly go to the toilet to take a deep breath.

And when I come out, Jamie is already waiting for me, ready to go up to his room. He takes my hand and starts pulling me behind him.

"I have to go home now," I say and immediately take my hand out of his.

"Oh okay. I'll walk you to the door," he says, and so he does.

"It was really a breathtaking evening with you. We should really do this more often," he says and before I can say anything else, he points me towards him and kisses me.

I have to be careful not to throw up right now.

As soon as I really realise what is happening, I pull away from him as fast as I can and just run away.

I can still hear him calling my name a few times but I don't care. I just keep running.

When I get home, luckily my mother is no longer at the table, so I can go straight to sleep.

𝐽𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑒

𝙎𝙤𝙧𝙧𝙮 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙠𝙞𝙨𝙨
𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙡𝙞𝙚𝙧. 𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙘𝙖𝙢𝙚 𝙖𝙨
𝙦𝙪𝙞𝙩𝙚 𝙖 𝙨𝙪𝙧𝙥𝙧𝙞𝙨𝙚:(

𝙄 𝙝𝙤𝙥𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙙𝙤𝙚𝙨𝙣'𝙩
𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚 𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙧𝙚𝙡𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨𝙝𝙞𝙥.
𝙎𝙚𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪. 𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨 𝙅𝙖𝙢𝙞𝙚 ♡︎

I don't know if I should answer that.

I don't like him. I don't like his family. They are far too superficial. All they care about is money.

I decide not to answer him.

I think I should discuss this with him personally...