"Babe, come on", Ally said. Her hand slid in mine, giving it a squeeze. "It's going to be okay. It's just my parents." I sighed. "What if they don't like me?", I asked. "Sophie, they'll love you. Just like I do", she said before pecking my lips. "I hope not the way you do." She laughed. "That's not what I meant, idiot." I smiled and took a deep breath before walking inside the restaurant.
"Good evening, welcome to Rosemary's", a man said. "Hi. We have a reservation for four under the name Torres", Ally said. "Torres.. ah, yes. The other two have arrived a few minutes ago. Follow me."
We followed the man to a table near the small fountain that was in the middle of the restaurant.
"Mom, dad!", Ally said as she hugged them both. "Hi honey! Look at you, all grown up", her mom said. "Mom, I'm 26. Of course I'm grown up." I just stood there awkwardly, waiting for her to introduce me.
"Who is that?", Ally's dad asked. She turned to look at me and reached for my hand. I stepped forward and smiled. "This is my girlfriend, Sophie." "Girlfriend? As in a friend who's a girl?", her dad asked. She shook her head. "Girlfriend as in my girlfriend. As in, mom was your girlfriend and Sophie is my girlfriend." He raised his eyebrows and didn't say anything. "Nice to meet you Sophie!", Ally's mom said shaking my hand. "Nice to meet you too, mrs Torres." "Oh please, call me Maria! Sit, sit! This is Bruce."
"Nice to meet you", I said.
We both sat down and grabbed a menu for us to look in. I held it up to cover our faces.
"Your dad hates me", I whispered. "He doesn't. Give him time."
"I think I'm gonna go for the chicken", Ally said. "What about you, babe?" "Sounds good. Me too", I said.
"Good evening. Have you made a choice?", a waitress asked. "Yes, for me the caesar salad", Maria said. "I'll have the steak, medium", Bruce said. "She'd like the chicken with mushroom sauce. And for me the chicken with any sauce that doesn't have mushrooms in it", Ally said. "Do you want a glass of wine?", she asked me. "Sure." "And two glasses of white wine, please", she said. The waitress wrote it all down and grabbed our menus from the table. "It'll be right up."
"So, how did you two meet?", Maria asked. "We met at a big meeting. Sophie is a teacher as well. She teaches English at the university here in town", Ally said. "Oh, that's amazing. Do you like it?" I smiled and nodded. "I love it! It has always been my dream to teach. I started working with younger kids but they were basically a pain in the ass so I decided to teach on a higher level. The students are grown up, really wanting to learn instead of playing around and that's what I enjoy most."
"We got to talk about our strategies at the meeting and we really hit it off", Ally said. "I wouldn't want it any other way." She reached for my hand across the table. I smiled.
"That's it!" Bruce slammed on the table. "I can't accept this. Let go of my daughter!" He stood up and grabbed my arm, dragging me off my chair. "Get out! I don't want to see you near her!" He gave me a push, causing me to trip and landed in the fountain.
"Dad! What the hell! Stop it!", I heard Ally yell. I looked around, seeing everyone in the restaurant staring at me and Bruce. "Bruce!", Maria yelled. I got up, flipping my hair back.
Ally ran up to me. "Baby, are you okay?", she asked as she rubbed my cheek. I pushed her away. "Stay away from me." I looked at them, one by one before heading out the restaurant.
I walked around the corner, into an alley. I pulled off my shirt and squeezed the water out.
"Sophie?!", I heard. I put my shirt back on and walked around the corner, seeing Ally outside. "There you are!", she said as soon as she spotted me. She ran up to me, but didn't touch me. "I'm so sorry. I didn't know my dad was like that. Are you okay?", she said. I nodded. "I'm fine." She hesitated but eventually wrapped her arms around my neck, hugging me. I hugged her back. "I'm sorry I pushed you away in there. I didn't know what to do", I said. "No it's okay. You don't have to apologize for that."
She took off her jacket and wrapped it around me.
"Wait here. I'm gonna get our things and we can go home, okay?", she asked. I nodded. She kissed my cheek and walked back inside, only to come back out with a screaming dad following her. "If you leave with her, you're no longer my daughter, Allison!", Bruce yelled. "Fuck you, Bruce." She walked up to me and handed me my purse. "Your phone is in there", she said. "Let's go."
"Ally, I'm not gonna say it again!"
She turned around and raised her middle finger before kissing me.
"I'm no longer your daughter, so I no longer care what you think."
I looked over to her mom, who was crying and holding onto Bruce's arm.
She looked back at me and wiped something off my cheek. "You're bleeding a little. I'll take care of that when we get home."
We got to the car and she opened the door for me before getting in herself.
"You know that I love you, right?", Ally asked. I nodded. "I'm sorry I let this happen. I'm not gonna let anything happen to you anymore, I promise."
Right then, the window on my side burst.
"You're mine."
The door opened and I got dragged out by my hair.
