The Perfect Couple

Chapter 3 - Of Unending Dinner Parties

"Now isn't that just the most darling thing!" Mrs. Clement had loosened up after a few drinks, and seemed to be getting along just fine with Juliet's mother. Dinner had yet to be served, but the tour of the house was over and they were all patiently awaiting its arrival. Juliet's mother did her best to impress Mrs. Clement, but she turned her nose up at Juliet's entire house. That is until Juliet's mother started to pour the wine. Now everything seemed to be "darling" this and "how droll" that. Currently, Mrs. Clement was exuberantly admiring Juliet's mother's needle work.

Juliet's mother spent most of her time trying to impress people, and knitting scarves. The most recent scarf, the one being shown to Mrs. Clement, was a deep blue with fine pink flowers. Mrs. Clement wrapped the scarf around her neck and seemed to purr in satisfaction. She took a long drag from her glass of wine.

"Dear, we must tell all our friends about Angela's lovely scarves!" Angela, Juliet's mother, blushed under the praise. Mr. Clement's eyebrow twitched slightly upwards at Mrs. Clement's enthusiasm. But, she had already returned to petting the scarf. Perhaps she thinks it's a cat, thought Juliet mean-spiritedly.

"Of course dear," replied Mr. Clement before he returned to his conversation with Juliet's father.

Angela and Mrs. Clement continued to chatter spiritedly, pausing occasionally only to drink their wine. Juliet tuned into Conner and James' conversation beside her. She was rapidly losing interest in this entire dinner.

"Ya man, Pokémon Go is like the coolest thing ever!" James exclaimed, waving his hands in the air in order to properly portray the value of the game. Conner however seemed to be completely uninterested in James' "nerdism". He was fiddling the silverware, and at one point he rested his head on his hand and sighed. Loudly, and right in the middle of James' tirade. James didn't seem perturbed by it as he continued the exaltation of Pokémon Go.

"So what do you think?" asked James as his rant wound down. He had a large smile on his face, waiting with a bated breath for Conner's approval. James didn't really have many male friends, so he spent extra effort trying to reel them in. It never worked.

"I think that game is the dumbest thing I've ever heard."

With one phrase, James was crushed. His entire demeanour changed, crumpling inwards at the harsh words. His smile dropped off his face as though it was never there. Juliet cut a scathing glance at Connor, but he didn't seem to realize the effect his words had on James.

"Well, I thing it sounds plenty fun." When Juliet said that, James perked back up and gave her a beaming smile. Juliet smiled back, pleasant and perfect.

"Really sis? Cause we can play it anytime–"

"Or we could do something not dreadfully boring and actually fun, Juliet," said Connor, cutting James off. He punctuated his words with a hand that came to rest on Juliet's knee, not high enough to be scandalous, but much too friendly for two people who didn't know each other. Juliet's breath caught in her throat, and she struggled to take another. He began to slide his hand upwards, but its travel was interrupted by the arrival of dinner.

The maids placed each person's dinner in front of them respectively. Fillet mignon and asparagus. Mother's favourite, thought Juliet. The chatter seemed to cease as everyone began to eat. All that could be heard was the clanging of silverware against the plates.

Juliet looked up at her mother's dining room. The walls were painted an elegant white with a gold trim. On each wall there was an expensive painting: a bridge with water flowing underneath it, flowers, a fruit bowl, and the blue sky. It added to the ambience of class that her mother strived for in the entire house. But, Juliet knew for a fact that her mother fist-fought Mrs. Delaware from next door for the fruit bowl painting.