I had always hated dinner with my parents and brother, but this one had overcame the limits. They were trying to be funny and made fun of me and my bad grades, but also of my non-existent ambitions. Of course I had ambitions, I was just too busy trying to ignore them. And I didn't know why, but they had brought old pictures of me. I was a cute baby, really, but most of the things I did were... embarrassing. Not just a bit.
I rolled my eyes for probably the twentieth time - and we had been there for only ten minutes -, and took a sip of my second glass of water. It was forbidden for me to drink alcohol or any sort of cocktail near my parents. I took a glance at Abbie who was laughing along with them. I liked her laugh, I liked to see her laughing, but not at me.
"Abbie, please", I sighed, "Tell me it's a fake laugh."
"Why would it be? Your family is so funny!"
I shook my head many times to show her I didn't agree with her, in any way, but she kept laughing at the fact that I looked like a foot when I was young. My parents had even called me 'footie', and I was already mentally preparing myself to hear Abbie call me like that for the rest of my life. I tuned them down and looked around in the crowded dining hall of the famous - and expensive - restaurant. There was so much noise, and so many unknown faces to me, but somehow they all reminded of people I knew. I could relate each of the faces to someone I knew.
A little loud boy with his parents reminded me of Sam because all he did was talk and talk and talk, and laugh. So loud. Always looking for attention.
A girl who was sitting with her boyfriend and typing something on her phone, while arranging her hair, reminded me of Marilyn. My ex-girlfriend. She was beautiful, but not attached to me, well, her boyfriend. She just needed someone to call her boyfriend so she could brag about it to her friends. I didn't know if that girl was like that, but that's what I guessed.
Another girl who was eating pastas, silent, sometimes taking a glance at the person in front of her, was exactly like Anne, a really close friend of mine. She seemed really shy and scared to talk.
And the last person that my eyes got on made me directly have a flash of Leann in my mind. The girl had purple hair and a nose piercing, with a small tattoo on her wrist. She was with her family, laughing, and I could see she was happy. I don't know why exactly she reminded of her, she didn't look like her at all. But maybe it was because it seemed like she was like her, inside. She was independant, disobedient, and mostly, she seemed to have fun with her family but she probably, probably, who knows, wanted to go away and make her own life.
"Is that true?" Abbie's voice dragged me out of my thoughts as she smacked my arm with a wide smile. I looked at them, lost, having no idea what they were talking about as they were all staring back at me.
"What the.." I rubbed my arm, "What are you talking about?"
"You should listen, if that's how you are at uni, then you're screwed", my dad added.
"That when you were six, you gave condoms to your friends in exchange of their snacks thinking they were balloons?"
I hated that story. "I was only six", I defended myself. "What's wrong with that? At least I wasn't dirty-minded!"
"Don't worry, when I was eight, I gave flowers to my teacher because I was in love with him and then cried myself to sleep because I saw him kissing his wife."
Everyone went silent for a minute until Sam decided to break it, "But the condom story is so embarrassing!" he kept on making fun of me. It was his favourite pastime, especially when there were people around.
