Days With Zion Dawsey

11. Dinner

 "Another one!" Little Oliver yelled at his great uncle Maddox as he finished yet another embarrassing story of his godson. Zion was already extremely red in the face, but that didn't seem to stop Lord Asher.

"Please don't." Zion sighed, making everybody laugh. Even Michael chuckled, making sure his boss didn't hear. They all finished eating a while ago and were now just seated around the table in the tent, chatting and telling their favourite stories about Zion. Maddox, of course had to traditionally embarrass him with the usual childhood stories.

"Only one, Oliver. It's uncle Jason's turn now." Ariana told her son, making the boy pout. Zion shook his head at the four year old. The little boy insisted on sitting next to him and so he was on Zion's right. Michael was on his left and his mother was all the way on the other end of the table, across from him. Bonnie sat next to her and her son was in the house, sleeping.

Now that he thought about it, he didn't feel too comfortable with the thought of his- her son sleeping in there after what he just experienced. But he knew Bonnie had a portable babyphone in her pocket, so there was no need to worry. Was it? He shook his head. He could tell Bonnie about the burglary, right? At least he wouldn't worry his mother and maybe she would be able to give him advice on what to do.

He couldn't believe he was thinking about that. About trusting Bonnie with that. After what she had done to him. He mentally scoffed, no way was he going to tell her anything. Not to mention that he would ever ask her for advice.

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard the boy next to him yell.
"My turn!" Zion didn't even realize he's zoned out all the other stories. But he wanted to know what story Oliver chose.

"My favourite story about uncle sign is when he told me how he got his scars." He heard his relatives start to murmur and saw his mother throwing him a look. But he smiled and shook his head, silently telling her that it was a childfriendly story. He watched Oliver stand up on his chair.

"So when uncle sign was younger he went to a fari. And then he fighted with a lion and a tiger. And the tiger won and then the lion scratched his face because he didn't want to lose. And then uncle sign went back home because the tiger helped him." A few people chuckled because of the ridiculous story and the few grammatical mistakes in his sentences.

"That's the end." Oliver bowed when the relatives clapped. He sat down and grinned up at his uncle.
"Great job." Zion ruffled the boy's hair again.

"My favourite story about Zion is when he had a crush on me." Zion closed his eyes in embarrassment whilst everyone else guffawed.
"I didn't even know that." Ariana's husband said as he fake glared at Zion.

"Anyway, he sent Kai to ask me how I liked him." Everybody smiled at the memory of Kai. Zion even had a small smile on his lips as he listened to his childhood friend.
"And I remember being so embarrassed because I liked Kai." Everybody laughed now as Zion shook his head at the memory.

"But I said yes to being Zion's girlfriend anyway, because honestly the two were like the same person anyway. So for the next two and a half hours, his attention was all focused on me." Zion chuckled along with the rest.

"And before I knew it, he cheated on me with this other girl from school the next day." A bunch of 'oohh's' were heard as Ariana continued with her story.
"So I broke up with him and you know what he said?" Everybody was wondering as they sat up straight to hear the rest of the story.

"Nothing, he just shrugged and walked away. We were like nine." Everybody laughed and Zion shook his head.

A few of his relatives had nice stories after Ariana and then it was Bonnie's turn. Everybody was looking at her, making her feel uncomfortable.

"Come on, one story." Ethan nudged Bonnie after she said that she couldn't think of any interesting story.
"How did you meet, for example." Ariana tried to help out and Zion tried to come up with something in order to distract his family.

"Well, I used to be an intern at his company." Bonnie said, literally hoping River would wake up, just so she can leave the awkward situation.
"You did? I had no idea." Sheryl said, making Bonnie shrug.

"It wasn't exactly the prime time of my life." She joked, making everybody chuckle.
"I can imagine. Tell me, was Zion as scary as a boss as I always read?" Maddox joked, making Zion glare at him.

"Well, he's not exactly a bowl of cherries." She said and Maddox guffawed once more. Bonnie and Zion held eye contact for a few seconds, before she cleared her throat and looked back at Maddox.

"But I know that he's a good boss and I've learned a lot from him over the year." She shrugged and for some reason, her cheeks started to flush. Zion found himself smiling slightly as his cheeks also felt warm. What in the world was wrong with him?

"Cute." Maddox sarcastically commented as he smirked at Zion's red face.
"Shut up." The birthday man shook his head and then sighed.
"Alright, before you two start bickering again, how about some cake?" Sheryl Dawsey said, nodding at Margarine, who was seated next to her.

"Wait, you didn't tell us your favourite story about Zion." Clyde said, making everybody nod in agreement.
"Well, because there are too many. He's my son and I cherish every single moment with him." Sheryl smiled at Zion, who involuntarily gave her a sad smile.

"I guess if I had to choose one story, it would be..." Sheryl tapped her chin with her index finger.
"Whenever he was sick, which happened only rarely. There was this one time I remember you were like ten or so. And we were supposed to go on vacation to Greece. But you had the flu and had to rest in bed for days. You were so bumped that you couldn't fly with your brother and dad. I stayed home because you specifically asked me to." Zion smiled at the memory. He's always been a mama's boy.

"We had the best days together. Just cuddling and watching so many movies. Eating whatever we wanted and falling asleep on the couch together. But regretting it the next morning when our necks hurt." Sheryl looked so happy when she told the story, but Zion knew she was sad. Deep inside she felt he was a disgrace for turning out the way he did. For not being her special little helper anymore, but more of a wannabe replica of her late husband.

"Cake!" Oliver pointed out as Margarine finished putting the plates with a piece of cake in front of everybody. Oliver was the last one to get it and was already halfway finished. Ariana scowled at him and Zion realized that whilst he was still staring at his mother, everybody was already eating cake, even his mother.

Something was seriously wrong with him lately and he had no idea how to handle that. He was overthinking again, doubting himself and zoning out. It wasn't healthy. Maybe he should go away for a while? Somewhere far away from here without internet or a cellphone in general.

"Can I have your piece?" Oliver whispered to Zion, pulling him out of his thoughts. Zion nodded and just pushed his plate to the boy.

"Where are you going, birthday boy?" Someone asked him when he stood up and went to go inside.
"Just emptying my bladder, if you have to know." He said, making everybody chuckle again.

Zion took a deep breath once he reached the bathroom inside.