The Boy That Stole My Heart

CHAPTER FOUR

          I don't think my parents expected me to agree to dinner. I could tell by the unanimous look of surprise that passed between them as my mother hung up the phone and they had every reason to be. You could say that we are well off... Very well off and the people that my parents hang out with are equally successful. I always felt like a failure, a disappointment, an embarrassment, when they would take me somewhere to listen to their friends brag about how great their kids are and all they could say is, "well, our son isn't in prison yet... So that's good!"
           To tell the truth, despite my casual demeanor, and my simple "sure," I was eager to see him again. I couldn't tell you why because I didn't know and I had been as surprised as them when I agreed but the idea was pleasing to me.
           This wasn't a suit and tie moment but for the first time I found myself standing in front of my closet wondering what I should wear and it was kinda embarrassing. I had spent a long time not caring what anyone thought and here I was putting on a button up for someone I had just met and a boy no less.
            "Oh my goodness," my mother said as I came into the living room. "You look so handsome."
            I turned to the refrigerator and looked at the reflection of a boy I no longer recognized. My hair was too long, my face was bruised and swollen, and my eyes had the haunted cast of someone who had been lost for too long. Maybe that's why I was drawn to him.. he was fresh and vibrant, so carefree even after an incident like that which probably wasn't the first. I decided then and there that I would keep fighting but from then on it would be for something.
            I didn't have to guide them to Logan's house as it turned out that our moms were basically rivals in the courtroom and she knew exactly where it was. Two streets and two minutes later we were pulling into the drive and I felt something weird in the pit of my belly as if I might throw up. I was sick.... No.... I was nervous.
           ADA Forscythe opened the door before I could knock on it and I realized with embarrassment that my parents had yet to make it to the porch. They were looking at me curiously and sharing glances. Any other time I would have to be collared and leashed so that they could drag me behind them.
           "Good evening Mrs. Forscythe," I said and immediately felt like an idiot. Why stop there? "Your home is lovely." Lovely? What the hell? What was wrong with me?
            "Thank you. And please call me Linda," she said with a very low throated chuckle and to my embarrassment, reached out to ruffle my hair. I stood there in shock, cheeks flushed as she shook my mother's hand in introduced herself to my father before inviting us inside.
           I was not a stranger to nice things but even I had to admit that the house was amazing and... Immaculate. There was nothing out of place, not a spec of dust. It was like something out of a magazine.
          Another woman walked from the kitchen and I assumed this was either the other mom, Linda's and my mom's triplet, or both.
         "Oh my God." She exclaimed in an awful mixture of anger and disgust, stalking forward and taking my face gently in her hand, turning it this way and that. "I expect that you gave it as good as you got it?
           "I did my best," I said and she smiled, pulling me into a hug that wasn't as awkward as one would have thought it would be.
            "I'm Anna," the woman introduced herself to me and my father before giving my mother a nod. "Elizabeth."
            "Anna," my mom returned.
           I looked between them and put two and two together. "Oh are you an ADA too?"
           "No, I'm the DA."
           "You came," a voice called from above and I looked up to see Logan descending the stairs, a COVID mask decorated with little teddy bears covering the lower half of his face.
            "You sound surprised that I did."
           "Honestly, I am," he agreed, reaching up and resting his fingertips lightly on my bruised cheek, cool against my suddenly hot skin. "Do you hurt much?"
           OH GOD YES! I wanted to scream but  "Oh, no. The first couple days were a bit sore but I'm okay now." Is what I said instead.
           "Good. I've been worried about you."
           I flushed deeply, unsure why his words had such an effect on me or how he could say them without embarrassment.
           "Come on!" He said grabbing my hand enthusiastically and pulling me towards the stairs. "I'll show you my-"
          "LOGAN,"Linda barked and he stopped suddenly, quickly releasing my hand.
          "I'm sorry," he whispered apologetically without looking at me, hands held away from his body and out to his mom.
           I was a bit confused at the sudden change in atmosphere and his mom walked over to us, pulling a bottle of sanitizer from her pocket squirting a liberal amount into his hands before turning to me and smiling sadly. I accepted it without comment and once I had rubbed it in, Logan counted down from five and took my hand, once again pulling me towards the stairs.