Scars

Fist Fight Dinners

“Come on, Brin. All I’m asking for is for you to let me drive you to school.” Nick stared down at me with pleading eyes. I had been bombarded by him ever since I had stepped through his threshold.

I smiled at his desperation to get out of the apartment. But I wasn’t sure that everyone at school would react well to his return by my side. If I was trying to have a good year, this wasn’t the way to start it. “I’m sorry, Nick, just not today. Maybe some other time. But hey, Sam’s inviting me and this girl I met to his place tonight for an “I’m-very-sorry-for-being-a-jerk-to-you dinner. You could drop off Ren there around four and maybe stick around a little bit.”

Nick looked slightly impressed when I had mentioned that I made a friend. “Wait so you made a friend? Does she know about our… you know?”

Our. That word seemed so foreign to me. It made my insides do flips when he said it. I had never referred to Ren as ours before and it felt strange. I shook off the feeling and nodded yes to his question. Kristie had been excited to meet my boyfriend, his kid siblings, and my baby. She would be even more excited to find out Nick was coming.

“Well then, I kind of want to meet her.” Nick stated.

***

“See you tonight.” I called to Kristie as I hopped into my car to head to Nick’s. Kristie was overjoyed and acted the whole day as if she were going to meet the president. But it sure seemed that way as I walked through the front door.

The smell of actual food cooking in the oven hit me strongly and surprised me as I navigated my way to the kitchen. George stood by the counter, using his reflection in the toaster to attempt tying a tie. “Whoa, look at you, George. What’s the occasion?” George turned and gave me a sheepish grin. I gasped sarcastically, “Oh gosh, George it’s a girl isn’t it?” George took a moment to nod before turning back to the toaster again.

I was happy for George. A week hadn’t even passed by of his freshman year and he had already gotten a chick. He was becoming increasingly popular.

I heard footsteps in the hall. Sam rounded the corner with a smile. He crushed me in a hug and kissed me lightly, making George gag sarcastically from the toaster. This only made Sam want to annoy him more, thus a result of his hands pulling my body to his and sloppy kisses on my smiling lips. George left the room with a large sigh. Sam laughed and kissed my forehead.

“Wow you must feel really bad to be cooking actual food.”

Sam smiled, “Well, Stauffer’s continues to be a life-saver.”

The doorbell rang then and George ran from out of nowhere to open the door. Behind the door stood a short blonde girl with pale pink lips that smiled up at him. She had to be only half of his size considering George was vertically inclined. He let her in as Sam and I watched from a safe distance. He brought her into the kitchen and past us towards his room.

“Keep the door open, champ.” Sam taunted him, causing the girl’s smile to widen even more.

A while later there was another ring of the doorbell. Sam answered it this time to reveal Kristie and her boyfriend. Kristie flew to me to give me a hug while the two boys awkwardly introduced themselves to each other.  “Where’s Ren?” she asked with a higher choice in frequency.

As if on cue, Sam came from her room, rubbing her eyes. She had probably just woken up from her nap and was startled to be greeted by Kristie’s cooing. She ran to her and picked her up in her arms. Sam squealed and tried to get free, but she was locked in Kristie’s grip.

“Kristie that’s not her.” I said as I tried to help Sam free from her death lock. She awkwardly let her go. Sam ran to Sam and hid behind his legs. I tried to hold in a laugh, “That’s Sam’s sister. Uh, Ren should be here any second.”