Sunkissed Serendipity

Chapter 73

Julian

Isla is lucky. I love her because being put on the spot like that has never gone well for me. I feel the blood drain from my face as I follow Isla to her dining room. She takes a seat and then pulls me next to the one closest to her. I look at her, trying to stall before I actually have the chance to genuinely meet her parents.

"Hey, I met yours," she says in a whisper, grabbing my hand. "And I remember how scared I was, but then you talked me down, remember? It went okay."

"That's because my mom knew you beforehand," I hiss softly.

"Hey!" she says sharply. "Remember when your dad yelled at me? I was afraid to eat dinner with you guys."

Right, I had forgotten about that incident. It wasn't anyone's good day. I sigh as I say, "Find. But you can't guilt me into feeling better."

She squeezes my hand, her eyes holding a smile as she says, "Yeah, but I just want you to calm down."

"I'm calm," I say, and she raises an eyebrow at me. Moving her hand to my knee, she presses down on her palm. It's then that I realize my leg has been rapidly moving up and down. Giving me a smile, she says, "It'll be okay? And what are you scared of? My parents will love you."

"I hope," I stress, and just then someone claps their hand. I take my hand away from Isla's and turn my attention to her parents.

They were sitting side by side, and I studied them for a second. Isla's mom was a petite woman with matching blonde hair and striking blue eyes. She looked older than my mom, but not by much. She took care of herself, and that much was evident in the way she sat, raising her chin. Isla's dad was a tall man with light brown hair, much lighter than mine. He had hazel eyes, which I knew were the ones that his daughter inherited. He looked younger than his wife, but even then, I knew he took care of himself as well. Her parents were intimating her for some reason.

"We didn't know we would be having a guest," Isla's mom says, flashing a bright smile before throwing a look at her daughter. Grabbing the takeout they brought with them, she chuckles. "We would have cooked."

Her apology is directed at me, so I put on a smile. "No, that's fine," I say. "Truthfully, your daughter didn't mention to me either that you guys weren't aware. So that's okay."

"Isla probably should have told us beforehand," her dad says, pointlessly looking at his daughter.

I laugh softly. "Yeah, she kind of sometimes throws me on the spot." I glanced at Isla, who was giving me a glare. Smiling at her, I turn back to her parents. "She's lucky I love her."

My latter statement makes both of her parents blink at me. I feel myself cringing inward as her mom glances at her daughter and then at me. She shares a look with her husband before she takes a seat back down. Isla grabs the food from the table and places it on our plates. Handing it to her parents, she sits back down.

Her dad hands out food for himself and his wife before we all sit back. But Isla nudges me on the elbow, and she starts to eat. I follow suit slowly and then wonder what I need to say. I didn't get to prepare a speech, or at least a scrip, of how I needed to talk to her parents. So for now, we were just silently eating.

There's a clearing of the throat in front of me, and I look up to find her dad looking at me. "So, Julian, was it?"

"Yes, sir," I answer quickly, knowing I have literally no room to mess up here.

Her father's smile widens for a moment, and he raises an eyebrow. "I don't think any teenager has called me "sir" before."

I flushed at his sentence. He smiles then and says, "It's definitely new. Julian." He stops, and it makes me wonder if he wanted me to say yes. But then I find that he was just studying me, which is actually far worse. He moves back then and then asks, "So, what's your last name?"