Nobody Likes Megan McGowen

43. Family Dinner

Saturday night, Jake sat down to dinner with Megan's family. Except for the time he cooked for her and her brothers, it was the first time he'd been allowed to sit at a dinner table since he lived with his own parents.

Megan had been really nervous about letting him meet her parents – like he was going to show up in full jinn gear. He tried to get her to relax. After all, he'd met every single one of her friends and none of them suspected anything. So why would her parents be any different?

"Jake, it's so nice to finally meet you." Mrs. McGowen beamed. "We've heard a lot about you."

"Really?" Jake grinned. He was pretty sure Megan hadn't been doing a lot of talking about him.

"Of course." she told him. "All of our kids seem to know you fairly well."

"I actually eat lunch with Drew." Jake nodded.

"Megan told us you just moved here not too long ago."

"Yes, ma'am – a few weeks ago."

"So what do your parents do?" Mr. McGowen asked. Out of the corner of his eye, Jake saw Megan stiffen.

"My dad's in agriculture – barley, mostly." Jake told him, remembering. It had been so long since he'd thought about his family. "Back home, my brothers and I used to help out after school." Well, after they couldn't afford to go anymore.

"Really?" Drew asked, surprised.

"Yeah." Jake nodded. "It was a lot of work, but I actually kind of liked it."

Jake saw Megan staring at him like he'd just grown horns. He casually looked down, making sure he hadn't accidentally reverted back to his horrible jinn clothing. Nope – jeans and T-shirt, everything was fine.

"Your brothers go to Rosemont too?" Ben asked.

"You don't have to ask him so many questions." Megan interrupted. She looked really worried. "No one likes to be grilled like that."

"It's fine." Jake told her.

Actually, he kind of liked watching her work herself up like that. And to be honest, it was nice telling someone about his family, even if they had all been gone for a very long time.

"I just don't want you to feel like you're being put on the spot or anything." she explained. And Jake knew what she meant; she didn't want him to have to lie to her family.

"It's ok." he told her.

"Up to you."

Megan shrugged like she didn't care, but he could see the tension in her face. But she didn't have to worry; he'd show her that he really did know how to be normal.

"They're both a couple years younger. One's in junior high, and the other in elementary school." Jake told Ben. Really, Farid would have been in high school with him, but there was no way Jake could say his brother went to the same school as Drew.

"What're their names again?" Drew asked.

"Farid and Kamran." Jake told him.

"Oh yeah."

The rest of dinner went incredibly smoothly as far as Jake was concerned. Even Megan managed to relax after the conversation finally drifted to topics that weren't Jake. And after dinner, Megan walked him out to the front porch.

"So? How'd I do?" he asked her.

"Good." she told him, grinning. "I just kept thinking about all the ways that could have gone wrong."

"I could tell."

"Well, meet me upstairs in a few, ok?"

"Alright." he told her.