Average Joe (2018)

1

Manhattan

Darwin slurped down his Coke within seconds of receiving it. Tori rolled her eyes and I started on my food.

"You're disgusting," Tori said to Darwin.

"Maybe," Darwin grinned. "but at least I'm not Canadian."

"Here we go," Tori responded, laying her head into her hands. "Norman, can you back me up?"

"You shouldn't be making fun of Tori's boyfriend," I said once I finished chewing.

"I'm not," Darwin responded, continuing to cut his steak. "I'm making fun of Canadians."

A tall blonde woman walked up and sat down next to Tori.

"Sorry about that," she said. "I told work not to call."

"It's fine," I responded.

"So what are we talking about?"

"Darwin's being racist," Tori jokes.

"How is making fun of Canadians racist?" Darwin snapped back. Tori grinned.

A man in a dress shirt walked up, his face wearing a black eye.

"Sorry I'm late," he said, casually. He ruffled my hair, and sat down next to me. "work was killer."

I smiled at the pun, disappointed that Darwin and Tori wouldn't understand it.

"Hello Tori," Dad said. "Darwin."

"Hey, Mr. Knight," Tori and Darwin both answered in unison.

"What happened to your eye?" Aunt Melinda pondered.

"Hm? Oh, I uh..."

"Fell," I finished.

"Yes, I fell."

My mother's lips broke into a slight smile, and I noticed her knuckles were bruised. I rolled my eyes.

Hiding my parents' secrets became instinct. Almost like a choreographed dance. You have no idea how many times I had to lie to a police officer's face, hide evidence, or worse... lie to Tori and Darwin. Lying to the police - easy. Lying to your crush and best friend - hard. Lying to Aunt Melinda (along with both of my grandfathers) was also hard, but thankfully I didn't have to do it a lot. They usually only showed up for special occasions, which was why Melinda had driven over from Hempstead. Unfortunately, neither grandfather could make it for my birthday. Dad and Melinda's dad was on vacation in Hawaii and Mom's Dad was sick.

Mom took a sip from a glass filled to the brim with red wine.

"Sabrina, how has work been?" Melinda asked.

"Not good," Mom replied with one last drink of wine. "My boss keeps pressuring me to... find a solution to a rival company."

"Here we go," I whisper before finishing my last bite of chicken.

"What rival company?" Melinda continued.

"Oh, you wouldn't have heard of them... I keep having to deal with their negotiator... a real tightwad in a red suit."

Dad's fist tightened. I needed to switch topics.

"So, Darwin doesn't like Canada," I said. "We should probably talk about that."

"Why don't you like Canada?" Melinda asked Darwin, sounding offended. She was born in Canada.

"I just think they're weird," Darwin replied with a drink of coke. "Who the heck has a leaf on their flag anyways?"

A thunderstrike shook the whole street. About a second or so after, Dad's cell phone buzzed annoyingly. He picked the phone up, its screen illuminating his face. He coughed a bit before putting his phone away.