N Y L A

"Thank You Nick Jonas"

Danny brought shaking hands to fix the tie around his neck for the 5th time. Tonight had to be perfect, or close to it. He hasn't seen his family in 2 years. He was shocked to see the wedding invitation in the mail, and even more shocked when his brother texted him asking if he had received it. The way things ended the last time he saw Jason was not good and  he was worried to come face to face with him again. Was this his way of patching things up or was he planning on punching him in the eye? So many things could go wrong tonight but for Jason's sake, Danny had to make sure things went as perfect as they could.

He looked pretty good. A classic black and white suit with a new pair of black Nike shoes because he refused to put on the dress shoes that pinched his toes, he sighed knowing his mother will lecture him about them later. Running a still shaking hand through his hair he gave himself a once over. Letting out a nervous breath he looks at his watch for the third time in 10 minutes. 30 minutes until he would be running late. "Nyla!" He shouts walking out of his room and walking down the stairs. "Nyla are you almost ready to go?" He says knocking on her door. Shuffling coming from the other side before it is thrown open. A frantic Nyla wearing only an over sized shirt and stockings stares at him. "I do not own fancy clothes Daniel" she glares at him.

"Nyla come on, you gotta have a skirt or a sun dress or something" he says walking in behind her looking at the small mountain of clothes on her bed. Nyla sorts through them one more time and letting out a defeated sigh and throwing her hands up. "What girl doesn't pack a nice outfit when going on vacation?" Danny asks.

"This is not a vacation, I did not think I was going to go to a fancy dinner at a fancy restaurant. I didn't think to pack my Sundays best Daniel" she says rolling her eyes. Danny steps back to think. The restaurant is not far from his house, a good 10 minute drive. He starts to think of the stores that are on the way, which are not many. Then it clicks, there is a small locally owned dress shop on the other side of the street from the restaurant. "Alright, put some pants on and finish putting on your face, there's a small dress shop on the way, lets go" Danny says clapping his hands and walking out of the room leaving a glaring Nyla, likely due to the small jab at putting on her make up. She huffs and grabs a pair of black leggings and puts them on. Her hair is as straight as she could make it and her make up is as she does it everyday. Foundation, concealer to cover up the small stress induced blemishes "stress from Daniel pimples" she calls them, plucked eyebrows, and simple brown and shimmer eye shadow with black liner and mascara. She grabs her clear lip gloss and phone from the charger before slipping on her white and blue sneakers and running out of the door behind Danny. He looks at her outfit and shrugs his shoulders before unlocking the door. "Honestly, we can just skip the shop and-"
"Not one more word Daniel" Nyla says putting on her seatbelt. He laughs at her and starts up the car. Nyla is already synching her phone to the car before Danny can protest. "If you put on Harry Styles you are sleeping on the patio for the rest of the week" he warns. Much to Nyla's protest she goes against it, after the kitchen fiasco and beating him in three games of 8 ball pool she is walking on thin ice and is more than sure that he meant he would make her sleep on the uncomfortable and slightly soggy patio furniture. She puts on a random top hits playlist and puts her phone in the cup holder.
"Okay, If I am to meet your family what should I know, who do I tell them I am, and should I say a fake name?" Nyla says looking at Danny who is thinking about her questions. "You are Nyla, a friend of mine from college in Greece. You can add whatever else in there but you are not pregnant and we are not eloped. If my mother starts yelling I will know what you did and you would wish you could sleep on the patio" he says glancing at her with squinted eyes. Nyla nods her head slowly. "I was only kidding when I said that. A little. But anyway, what else should I say? What does your family do? What do you do?"

"Uh...My father owns a real estate company. My brother Jason is a top agent and will take over the company after he marries. My mother is a retired English teacher and my sister Kylie was in law school the last time I heard" he says not looking at her. Nyla looks at him still, trying to figure out his feelings toward his family and any signs if there is bad blood there. "What about you, what do you do?" She asks.