Meant to be

The Dinner - Mason

I sit stiffly in my chair, playing with the braised beef and mash on my plate. The sound of the grandfather clock ticking is overwhelmingly loud compared to the undeniable silence at the dinner table.

"Are you enjoying your dinner?" Dad asks me, breaking the silence.

"Yes it's fine" We go back to the painful silence and it continues till our plates are cleared away by the servants.

"Mum, Dad, why did you ask me to have dinner with you?" I come out and address the elephant in the room. Family dinners in my house aren't exactly regular. In fact they didn't happen at all, most of the time they ate at work, they hardly ate dinner in the house let alone with me.

"You've come back from university for Easter, we thought it appropriate to check in" that seemed honest enough but like Peter Parker's spidey senses I have a feeling something's up.

"How have things been since we last saw you?" Mum asks clearing her throat.

"I'm doing well at uni, thanks"

"We heard that Darius is hosting a fundraising dinner for Evie's birthday" whoop there it is.

"Yes he is, Evie's very excited" not that I'd spoken to her much since she gave me a boner with just her words. We both had work to do and after her fundraiser I'd be back at university sitting my exams for another six weeks whilst she sat her A-Levels. It doesn't make sense to start something now when we're both preoccupied.

I want to talk to her but I don't know what to say exactly.

"A few of our colleagues are going and a lot of big names including Thaddeus Q Melton III" she says giving me a look, am I supposed to be able to interpret that look? I don't even know who Thaddeus Q Melton I is. Let alone the III.

"It was a trifle embarrassing having our colleagues talk about this dinner and the amount of network and the career exposure this dinner provides-"

"As well as donating to charities of Evie's choice and celebrating her birthday" I tell him.

"Yes of course Mason, the fact of the matter is it is a little insulting your mother and I weren't invited" that made a lot more sense than they wanted a catch up.

"So you're upset Darius didn't put your names on the guest list?"

"Exactly, now you understand"

"I'm sure that is a little embarrassing, what did your colleagues say when you told them you weren't going?" I ask fawning interest, I can already assume what's coming next.

"Well that's the thing, we couldn't tell them we hadn't been told about it, especially as our families are so close" oh yes, close enough that every chance they got they pawned me off to them. It hadn't been the worst childhood if I'm being honest, growing up in the D'Silver household had been fun, a lot more fun than it would've been here.

"So we'd be really grateful if you could ask Darius or Evie for our names to be put on the guest list and given a good table to sit at"

"You do realise Darius has been planning this dinner for months and has a seating plan already?"

"Well how about asking Evie, you're both friends aren't you, surely she could do this favour for you" Mum persuades not understanding that she's being inconsiderate.

"I suppose I could try"

"Good let me know by this evening so I can have Ivanka find me a dress" she says getting up from the table tapping away at her phone. She astonishes me sometimes.

"How are you for money?" Dad asks as if trying to disprove I hadn't been asked home to get an invite to a fundraiser.

"I have enough for this month, thank you"