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Odessa and Eli walked hand and hand into her house, laughing. When she heard her dad's voice in the kitchen, her laughter died down. "Is your dad here?" Eli voiced.
Thalia and Christian walked out of the kitchen. "There you guys are. How was training?" She asked with a bright smile.
Odessa looked uneasy. "Eventful."
Her statement caused an awkward pause. "Yeah, my day was eventful, too." Christian spoke with a slight laugh. He noticed Eli and his eyebrows raised. "You must be Eli?"
"Yeah. Eli Moskowitz. . ." Eli responded. He looked at his girlfriend, seeing her still uneasy expression. ". . . Sir."
"Christian Beaumont. Nice to finally meet you." Christian introduced himself and stepped forward with his hand stretched out.
Eli understood how hard it was for Odessa with her hand being back. He knew her past and how much her father hurt her. In a way, he should have hated him. But Eli didn't want to be disrespectful, especially to her family. He shook his hand. "It's nice to meet you too. . . sir."
"Chris and I made dinner." Thalia announced.
"Eli and I aren't hungry." Odessa spoke for the both of them, not feeling the urge to sit down and have dinner like they were one big happy family.
The smile on her face faltered. "No?"
"We made pasta and salad." Christian brought up.
"Actually, I am a little hungry." Said Eli and he awkwardly looked at Odessa again. He quickly looked away when she gave him a wide eyed look.
"Oh, stop it, Dess. Don't deprive Eli of my good looking." Thalia dramatically said and took Eli's arm, dragging him into the kitchen.
She and her dad stood in front of each other. Christian put his hands into his pockets. "Actually, I made it. She burnt the first patch of meatballs." He laughed. Odessa just stood there staring at him, not impressed. He cleared his throat. "Right. . . I put extra cherry tomatoes and dressing into the salad just the way you like it."
Her chest felt hollow. Odessa moved past him without saying a word and Christian frowned deeply.
They sat at the kitchen table and piled their plates with food. "Tell us how today went." Thalia insisted to the teenagers.
"We did this egg training thing and Odessa was literally the only person to play it right," Eli explained with a wide smile. "It was so badass."
"That's great, Dess." Her mom smiled at her.
"That's my girl. She's always been the competitive one." Christian proudly said.
Odessa sat there awkwardly in her seat. She formed a smile but it was tight lipped. She didn't respond to their praise.
