Second Chances

forty-two

a l e x

If there was one day in the year not to mess with Grace Evans, it was March 13th. Her birthday.

Even if I tried, I don't think I'd be able to pinpoint exactly when it started, but every year, my whole family would have dinner in my mom's favorite restaurant, and none of us were allowed to have our phones at the table.

This year was no exception.

I just wasn't informed that the reservation was booked for an hour earlier, so while I got ready in my apartment and waited for my boyfriend to come pick me up, everyone was already there.

We were late. And as everyone knows, my mother despised tardiness.

"Where the hell are you?" Lexi screeched into her phone, a slight echo heard in the background. "I had to sneak to the bathroom to call. We just ordered. It's a good thing Mom takes a long time deciding."

"Nobody told me it wasn't going to be the usual time," I rushed, shoveling my things into a purse and pushing Luke out the door just as he stepped in. "I'm on my way."

My sister groaned. "Mom already hates Luke's guts as is, this isn't going to help his case, you know?"

"Yeah, yeah," I rolled my eyes. "I'm not stupid, Lexi. We'll be there in ten minutes."

"You better. Mom looks like she's going to explode. It's already bad that Julia and Troy couldn't come, now you're late," she sighed. "I ordered your usual for you, but mom picked something for Luke. I don't know what she got."

My mom texted me like two minutes earlier about ordering something for Luke, and I said she could do it, just not to order him any chicken.

That was when I found out that we were late. I lied and told her we were stuck in traffic. LA traffic was always a good excuse.

I urged Luke to drive once I buckled my seatbelt. "Thanks. Just stall for me. We'll get there as fast as we can."

The call ended, and I started to fidget, twiddling with my fingers, an obvious sign that I was nervous. "Baby, I know this isn't helping, but please go faster."

"Why are we rushing again?"

I forgot to tell him that we were already late. That explains why he looked so confused when I shoved him out of my apartment earlier.

"We're late. They reserved a table for an hour earlier this year, and you know how my mom is with anyone being late. She's going to kill me," I cringed, picturing how pissed off my mother probably looked like. "Actually, she's going to kill me and you."

"And yet another reason for her to hate me," Luke chuckled. "Relax, baby. We'll be there soon."

Thank God that there was a calm one between us in the situation or we'd be screwed. My boyfriend had come to terms with the fact that my mom wasn't exactly his biggest fan, so it didn't bother him as much anymore.

I started to babble about the food we were gonna have and how excited I was to finally eat the risotto at that restaurant, amusing Luke, who was just happy that I stopped stressing about my mother.

I took a deep breath, my rambling having made me feel like I just ran a marathon. "Oh and you know, Aidan's gonna be there. Ashton too. I'm surprised he and Lexi are allowed to go out in public together with her contract issues still being fixed."

Luke and Aidan were given the seats that were going to be left empty because Julia and Troy couldn't make it. My sister had a small complication with her pregnancy, so it was advised to her that she should rest, and Troy stayed with her at their place to take care of her instead of joining us at dinner.