Lone Stars

Chapter 16

"Okay, so no talk of the accident. Do not mention the racing or anything of that sort. Gladio, no offense, maybe wearing a shirt might be best. My mom would make a comment, and we can't have that. If my dad seems tired, just ease up and we'll only have calm discussions. Shit, my shirt isn't that clean. Do I have another one?"

The four men stood as Lexus ran herself rabid since the evening started, about a half hour before six. She was constantly redoing her hair, changing her clothing left and right, even attempting to go through their clothing to find Gladio a shirt. Since he tend to be bare chested with his open jacket, it made Lexus come up with the amount of comments her mother would make to him. She didn't want either side to argue or somehow be offended by the other, so her goal tonight; Everyone get along.

"She's losing it." Prompto hummed under his breath.

Gladio rubbed his neck, nervous of how she was acting. "I didn't expect her to get like this over dinner."

"You're telling me." Noctis agreed, folding his arms.

Iginis sighed and decided to be the one to step up. As the others sat around, Ignis stood from the chair and approached her as she filtered through her bag of clothing.

"Ignis," She saw him approach, as he held up two shirts. One was black and the other more navy blue. "Should I wear the black or blue? I don't want to stand out but also don't want-"

"Lexus." He lowered her hands, taking the shirts from her. "What your wearing is perfectly fine."

Lexus looked down at her shirt, she frowned and adjusted the sleeves. It was a long sleeve black thin shirt, really showing her curves as it hugged her waist. "You sure?"

"It's fine, Lexus." Prompto told with a shrug. "We're all fine. It's only a small dinner, no need to panic."

She still looked stressed; brows creased and lip chewed on. When she saw the concern on her friend's features, she sighed and sat down on the bed.

"I'm sorry, guys." She reached up and combed the hair out of her face, Prompt walked over and sat with her gently placing a hand on her back. "I don't want this dinner to be a wreck is all."

"How could it? It's just dinner." Noctis said.

Ignis folded his arms, "Her parents have tended to make you a big deal in their lives." he informed.

"I wouldn't be too shocked if they smother you with attention." Lexus added, looking apologetic towards him.

Noctis grimaced, he never liked attention for his status or who he was. Which was why he wanted to live a normal life like he had as a teenager. "No word will go out that I'm here, right?" He asked.

"I made sure to tell her mother when we made our leave." Ignis told.

Prompto stood and gave Noctis' shoulder a soft punch, though the prince still gave a look at the action. "Everything's going to be fine." He told them, trying to rid the air of anxiety Lexus was accidentally giving them.

Gladio nodded, "We're all going to have a good dinner, meet Lexus' parents, then get back to finding the tombs. A night to relax while we can."

The boys had managed to calm Lexus down enough that they left the hotel and took the evening walk to the apartment. It had gotten cooler, which thankfully got Gladio to cave into wearing a tank.

They greeted the man at the desk once before, giving them permission to go up the stairs. Lexus led the men to the apartment, taking a few breaths before knocking softly onto the door. She didn't fail to notice Prompto spotting the Chocobo stickers on the mailbox, just as she had her first time coming here.