The Bone Cutter

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Eleven

The dinner was an uncomfortable event. Inanis sat next to me, and I noticed he barely ate a thing. He cut the food on his plate into small pieces, and those pieces into smaller pieces, and then moved them all to the side of the plate, giving the illusion that he ate when he really didn't.

I wondered why he wasn't eating.  

There were twelve tables in the large room altogether. Different politicians sat at different tables. My father didn't even sit at the same table as us, which broke my heart.

Instead, we sat with the president, just me, Inanis, the first lady, and the president of the United States.

It was so, so odd, but Inanis seemed comfortable. In fact, he seemed so comfortable, that I noticed he kept zoning out, like his mind was full of thoughts more important than what was happening before us.

When he began to stare at a vase that sat against the wall behind the president, my annoyance got the better of me. How dare he act so immaturely around the man who runs the nation? And most importantly, how dare he zone out and make me lead the conversation?

I kicked his leg under the table.

His head turned to me, confused for a moment before he realized why I had done it. He only nodded, almost as if to thank me, before he returned his focus back to the conversation.

I felt weird after that but refused to acknowledge it.

I'll scold Inanis about his frequent zoning out later.

The dinner lasted nearly two hours. I was getting bored of sitting, and I could tell Inanis could barely hold himself still. His foot tapped rapidly on the floor underneath the table, only I could see how jittery he was, but even watching him twitch and move made me just as uncomfortable with being still. His fists were clenched hard as if he had an abundance of energy that he had to let out now.

Hyper, he was so, so hyper.

Finally, when the dinner was over, everyone began to leave the White House. Inanis was the first to say goodbye, as he clutched my arm, he led me out of the building before I could find my father and say goodbye.

We entered the same vehicle we arrived in, and the moment Inanis shut the door he ran a shaking hand through his hair, "That was absolutely the most boring fucking dinner I have ever had the displeasure of attending. I'd rather wade through cow spit than ever go through such an event ever again."

"Well lucky for me," I tell him, even though I completely agreed with what he said, "I get to watch you suffer through it entirely again at our wedding."

He glared at me, and I shot him a smug look in return.

Considering we had an almost two-hour long car trip ahead of us, I sat back in my seat, and closed my eyes. I refused to acknowledge Inanis sitting beside me, I refused to think of his previous moment of kindness earlier with my father.

I refused to question if Inanis actually had some humanity, hidden away in his rotten heart.

I tried to fall asleep, with my stomach full of food after two days of nothing, and having seen my father tonight, reassuring me that he was okay, I felt a million times better. Yes, we did just announce to the world of our marriage, and that did make me sick to the stomach, but at this moment, I felt alright.

I leaned my head against the window, and not even ten minutes later, I was almost successfully drifting away.

And then came the tapping noise, and the irritating shuffling that filled my ears.