Sanity || j.d

44

Hey, are you coming over tonight? He texted me later, after he’d dropped me at home at the same time he normally would. We’d both agreed to never speak of it again and I made him pinky promise. He complained that we never used to pinky promise, I countered him by saying that he never used to make advances on me, avoid me for five months or unfriend me.

Can’t tonight. Mum wants to meet Cole.

Oh, harsh. Anything I can do to make it better? ;)

Eww! No. I giggled at his immatureness and put my phone away. The one good part of tonight was that my boyfriend/friend-who-is-a-male is coming over for dinner tonight and he’d be helping my mum make dinner, especially seeing as he wanted to be a food scientist. 

Going up to my room, debating what to wear, I thought about what Cole would end up wearing. Not once had I seen him in anything other than black jeans and either a black or white teeshirt with black jacket; he always wore black Converse. In other words: my mother’s worst nightmare for a possible future son-in-law, but otherwise had the whole “bad boy” look down pat. 

***

The door bell rang and it was like Death at the door. My mum was there before I was, and in the shrill tone she used to greet Cole, I already knew he was in her bad books.  

Sure enough he’d arrived in his usual attire, standing out immediately from my mum who looked fresh as a daisy in her navy blue and white dotted dress with maroon fish net stockings underneath. I’d played it down a little it more, black dress (an attempt to make Cole feel at home) but otherwise looking conservative as only my mother would have it.

“Cole dear, the kitchen’s this way when you’re ready.” My mum’s dubious voice rang loud and clear.

He nodded, but didn’t follow her immediately. Instead, he politely introduced himself to my dad (something my mother had failed to do) and then turned his attention to me, greeting me with a hug. “I’m so sorry I invited you. Especially if I knew she was going to be this rude and intolerable towards you.” I blurted, but Cole only smiled.

“Sarah,” he shook his head, he smiled still intact. “It’s dinner. How bad could it be?” When I was silent, he took that as an answer, then kissing me briefly, he made his way into the kitchen.

Now I had every right to be anxious.  

I raced back up to my room and over to the window, waving my arms at Josh who was sitting on his bed, preoccupied with his laptop. At last he saw me and came over to his window. 

“So has he arrived yet?” Josh asked, sitting precariously on his window sill. 

I nodded and went on to explain how cooking with my mother was like a death wish. “Which is exactly why I’ve never done it.” Josh put in once I’d finished. He never failed to make me smile.

“Sarah, dinner’s ready.” Cole called from downstairs, interrupting Josh and my conversation. 

“Well, I better let you go. You wouldn’t want to disappoint your boyfriend now, would you?” Josh teased and I smiled again. 

Shrugging, I answered, “well, truth be told, we’re not even officially together.”

He frowned at me, almost confused by my words. “So... you’re saying that... you’re still single?”

Not knowing how to answer it, I mouthed “I don’t know” as I shut the window and hurried downstairs.

My mum looked pleasantly surprised at the dish he’d made us. It was spaghetti bolognese with a salad on the side, he’d even dished it all up himself. “There’s extra in the fridge in a container,” Cole explained to my mum as I sat down next to him. Connie sat across from us, my mum and dad at either end of the table.

Connie rolled her eyes at his obvious suck up attitude towards my mum even though he was just incredibly nervous about it all. But for the record, I was probably more nervous than he was, and it was starting to show.

One way or another, Cole realised that I was nervous and slowly began drawing circles lightly in my thigh. At first it tickled and made me want to laugh, but I knew how much trouble if my parents knew what he was doing.

Gradually his hand moved higher up my leg as dinner proceeded; the action had caused me to be completely oblivious to pretty much any conversation in the room.

“What are you doing?” I hissed at him, attempting to brush his hand off me while Connie had both my parent’s attention.

“Post dinner de-stressing.” He whispered devilishly in my ear, causing chills to roll off my spine.

The tension was so thick it could’ve been cut through with a knife.