A New Dawn

Chapter 48 - Idris

There's definitely a change in the atmosphere, but the table's split. Briar's family and Marlowe are lighthearted—obviously. My family is... annoyed... to say the least. I don't know what about, though, because how could they be annoyed when Briar got us a free meal and was entertaining about it? Maybe they're just set on being annoyed with Briar no matter what. I wouldn't be surprised if that's the case.

And Briar... She's been lost in thought ever since she came back to the table. It looked like she was having an intense conversation with Amalia's parents earlier, but she hasn't said anything about it. She'll say something if it's important, though. Other than that, I don't see how she could be in such a wary mood when she was glowing on stage.

"You okay?" I ask, squeezing her hand.

She nods, but her eyes flicker over her shoulder. I follow her gaze to the Lamberts. Amalia is smiling and going on about something. Her parents nod and laugh, but I catch them looking in our direction every once in a while like they're waiting for something. When nothing out of the ordinary happens, they glance at each other, their eyebrows furrowed.

Briar turns away, picking up her fork. "I'm okay. I'm just getting over my high."

I smile. "It's nice to know you have a high after being on stage."

She looks at me, and her expression softens. I guess I'm giving her the smile she likes best. Makes me want to smile at her more often just to see her look at me like I'm something special. It's not like I've been getting looks like that my entire life.

I'm not getting them now. I can feel my family giving us disgusted looks. I just don't know if it's because of me, Briar, or both of us. And I don't know how horrible it is of me to hope—just a little—that it's only because of Briar.

My family plays at politeness while we eat, but the moment Tatay swallows his last bite, he asks, "So why exactly did you call us here?" He looks directly at me. "Idris?"

Everyone falls silent. Briar, her family, and Marlowe give me encouraging looks. Briar squeezes my hand, and that gives me some courage. I swallow, forcing myself to look Tatay in the eyes. It's not easy. All I can think about is how intensely he's looking at me right now. Just as intensely as the night he kicked me out of the house. So I guess it didn't matter too much whether Briar performed or not. I think I was always going to panic when this moment came.

"I wanted to see you guys and talk," I finally say, that monotone kicking in.

"Talk about what?" Nanay asks, resting her chin on top of her clasped hands.

Oh... Guess they want me to say it... "About how you kicked me out of the house." I don't think I'm visibly nervous in any way, but Briar squeezes my hand in support anyway. I swallow. "And why you did it."

Tatay studies me, his eyebrows increasingly furrowing. "We told you why we did it."

I nod. "I know, but I wanted you to tell me more about why. What exactly did I do?"

"Playing dumb isn't going to change anything, Idris," Nanay chastises like I'm arguing about getting grounded and not about getting kicked out of the house.

I break eye contact for the first time. I'm surprised I didn't do it sooner. "If you want me to say I know I was talking back too much or that I didn't listen to you—"

"That's exactly what you did," Tatay sneers, shaking his head at me. "You knew you were being disrespectful, but you did it anyway. You didn't respect our authority. How were we supposed to respect you and let you stay with us knowing you were being ungrateful?"

"Ungrateful?" I laugh, my throat closing up. "I wasn't being ungrateful—"

Nanay drops her hands on the table and sits back. The sound and movement make me freeze. When she speaks, her voice is a lot calmer than Tatay's, but it still cuts into me. Maybe a little worse than Tatay's voice does because hearing Nanay sound so calm makes me think I'm overreacting and that I shouldn't be on the verge of crying.