ILLUSION, ELI HALE

four | family dinner

Dinner with the Hale family could have been more awkward seeing as though Derek was convinced the teenagers at the table were about to sleep together a half hour ago. Nadia had eaten over the Hale's household for dinner before and loved it each time.

The menu for the night consisted of burgers and salad. Derek grilled burgers and Nadia forced Eli to come out of his room to help make the salad. Cousin Malia was their cheerleader and instructed the three of them what to do, even though the eye roll from Eli and Derek showed the commonness of the woman's actions.

The family dynamic in this home was unique. Derek and Eli lived here together while Malia lived in the office connected to the auto shop, though it was common when the woman would come to visit. Then there was Peter Hale, Malia's father, and the men's uncle. He was a rich man with a permanent smirk on his face. He visited from time to time, but the slight tension in the room between Peter and Derek had Nadia question if there was some bad blood between the two. There was also an aunt, Cora, who lived in South America. Eli didn't know much about her since she lived outside of the country.

Nadia loved the Hale family. They were more inviting and comforting than her own family, that was for sure. Nathan was business-driven, rarely spending time at the house and instead at the shop. Her mother began taking more shifts at the local dentist's office as a hygienist ever since sales have been going down at Porter's Car Care. Her family was rarely home together in the same house.

Passing through the awkwardness of the scene Derek walked into earlier, at the table began a nice discussion. They spoke about school, and how Eli was practicing for the lacrosse season. They talked about Nadia's photography and the weird glitch her camera does with Eli's eyes when she takes photos with the flash on. (If Nadia had been looking up from her plate, she would have noticed the panicked looks Eli sent his Cousin and Father.) They brought up their upcoming Halloween costume. Despite Eli's negative opinions towards Nadia's suggestion, Malia agreed with the idea of Eli dressing up as Mario, but only because she thought he would look silly with a fake bushy mustache. In all, it was a good night.

As everyone finished their plates, Nadia began picking up the dishes from the table, doing her best to play the part of the sweet best friend. "Let me help you clean the dishes, Mr. Hale. It's the least I could do."

"Thank you, Nadia." Derek sent a look over at Eli, who was attempting to avoid eye contact in hopes that he didn't have to do the chores. "The child I wish I had."

"Thanks, Dad." Eli sarcastically sent his father two finger guns. "Try hard." He mouthed to Nadia before disappearing into the living room to play a game with Malia.

Nadia went over to grab a dish towel she could use to dry the china as Derek washed them. "Thank you for letting me stay for dinner, by the way, Mr. Hale. I love family dinners like these."

"Anytime, Nadi. You don't have family dinner at home?"

"Not as often as we should. Especially not with burgers. My mom is the type of person to make tofu burgers instead of real meat because it's healthier. Doesn't taste the same. But here, it's great!" Nadia gave the man a thumbs up after leaving to put a dried dish in the cabinet. "Real beef."

Derek raised his eyebrows. "Are you sure your mother was alright with you staying here for dinner?"

"No, are you kidding? My mom and brother would kill me if they knew I was over here." Nadia came back from putting that dish on the top shelf of his cabinet. "Right now, I'm having dinner at Stacy Freemans. We were at the school library studying Economics for the past..." She checked the clock which read 7:15 pm. "Three hours, give or take."

At Eli's father's confused expression, Nadia was blunt in her explanation. "My family hates yours. Like, hardcore."

"Pardon?"