Where the Skies are Blue

Chapter Twenty-Six:

Hunter is nervous.

I don't think I've ever seen him nervous before as we walk up his front drive to have dinner with his parents. To say his house is amazing is most definitely an understatement. It's white with a dark grey roof and large windows and doors all over the place. A mansion among many others in this snazzy neighborhood.

Hunter is quiet, his hands nervously stuffed in his pockets as he lingers outside the front door.

"Hey," I say softly. He's nibbling on his bottom lip, his eyes on the door. "We can reschedule if you want." I almost hope he says yes to this because I'm a nervous wreck about meeting his parents also.

He shakes his head quietly before taking a hand out of his pocket and opening the front door. Following behind him, I'm in awe of the house. It's beautiful. A large staircase wraps up to the top floor. The decorations are subtle, gorgeous tones of grey and white. It looks like Joanna Gaines came through here and decorated every inch. Hunter remains eerily quiet as he leads me through the house, his body stiff.

Seeing how nervous he is makes me terrified. How bad can his parents be? I'm used to shitty parents. I know how to navigate them. This should be a breeze. Hopefully. If I can handle Katherine, I sure as hell can handle Hunter's snobby parents.

I pull at the end of my brown sweater just as we make it into the kitchen, where his mom is placing some pasta into a strainer.

"Mom." Hunter says in a flat tone, before taking a seat on a nearby barstool.

I remain standing beside him as his mom turns her head over her shoulder to look at us. I watch as her eyes trail from my head down to my feet, taking me in. Observing, calculating, deciding. Making her judgements. She then gives me a pinched smile. Hunter looks a lot like her. Same dirty blonde hair, same skin tone, bright, blue eyes. She's tall and skinny and has on expensive looking jewelry.

"Hi, sweetie." She says her eyes are still on me. "You must be Auden."

I flash her my smile. "Yes, hi, it's nice to meet you."

"Give me a second with this and I'll come over and greet you properly." She dumps the pasta back into the pot before putting the sauce on. When she's done, she shuffles over to me where she extends her hand.

I take it, my smile remains on my face.

"Call me Laura. I'm so glad you could make it to dinner. It's long overdue."

"Where's Dad?" Hunter asks with an edge to his voice.

"In his office. He'll be down once dinner is ready." She looks me up and down again. "So, I hear you're from Arizona?"

"Yep, born and raised."

"What made you move here?"

"Can we save the twenty questions for dinner?" Hunter grumbles. "We'll be in my room." He stands up from the chair and grabs my hand, pulling me out of the kitchen. "Can this dinner fucking be over already." He says under his breath once we're inside his room.

I've never been in his room before. Like the rest of the house, everything in here is grey and white. From the bed sheets to the walls to the furniture. Not much character in here or anything that really gives me more about Hunter. Some football stuff here and some video games there.

"Your mom seems nice." I tell him, despite her obvious judgments of me. I can see on her face she's unsure about me. If I'm good enough for her son.

Hunter snorts before taking a seat at the end of his bed. "She's not. Let's just hope after this dinner they never push to see you again."