Cuffing Season

FOUR

FOUR

I had my elbow propped up on the dark wood table as I picked at the lasagna on my plate. More laughter filled the room around me as Franco finished telling a story; I scrunched up my nose at that. "Cordelia, this is your birthday dinner and I made your favorite. Why aren't you eating?" Mom asked me after settling down from the fits of laughter she had erupted in moments ago from something Franco had said. It wasn't even really that funny what he was talking about! He was telling some story about how he fell in the water once when fishing, that was all.

I sighed, "I am." Mom just shrugged off what I said before joining everyone else at the table in the conversation at hand. 

"So where are you from, Franco? I can tell you're not from here." Karen giggles before stuffing some food into her mouth. At least other people could recognize he didn't fit in with the people here. 

However, Franco didn't instantly answer this question. I looked over at him and he was tense for a moment and looked deep in thought, which was weird. For about a good majority of the night, he'd been chatting it up with everyone. 

"Yeah! I was wondering that, too, you have such a rugged look to you." This came from Aunt Renee with a wink followed after. Ew. I cringed. 

The fog in his head seemed to clear as he instantly was back to normal a few moments later, "Oh, just from out of town." He vaguely replied, no one questioned what he said any further. "I was passing through but after meeting Cordelia, figured I might stay awhile." Franco gave a tight smile and patted my arm that was resting on the table casually. 

"Oh, that's sweet." Uncle Ben's wife said. 

"What do you do for a living?" My dad suddenly asked with his mouth full of food. 

Once again, something seemed to pass through Franco's head then was gone a few seconds later. "Currently, I am employed at Marshall's hardware store. Hopefully, that's not for too long," He chuckled. 

Dad laughed at that, knowing how Marshall could be. "When I was younger I didn't know what I wanted to be for the longest time, then finally I decided on becoming a cop. Never had I imagined I'd become the sheriff." He bragged proudly, Dad always loved bringing this up. 

"Oh," Franco said, becoming still for a moment. He actually sounded nervous at what my dad had said. "Well, that's really cool." Franco finally finished but didn't push that topic any further. 

"Yeah, retired now. I still miss it sometimes, but I like living a calmer life now." Dad finished with a gleam to his eyes, reminiscing on the past. Franco let out a sigh, sounding relieved in a way. It was pretty quiet though so only I heard. Maybe he just had a weird thing against cops? I mean, after all, at first glance he does look like he's the type of person that could cause trouble or has before. My family seemed to adore him, though. 

"Is everyone finished eating?" Mom glanced around the table, seeing most plates cleared off. 

"Addison and Aiden, why don't you help clear the table?" Aunt Claire urged her children. They both groaned before dragging themselves to their feet. Each of the twins took a side of the table, it just so happened that Addison was on our side. 

"I like your tats," She smirked at Franco as she took the empty plate from in front of him. 

"Thanks." He smiled back at her. Addison then walked over and took my plate and gave me a bitchy look. The hell? Literally, everyone at this dinner was more focused on Franco than me. Even Jen seemed to be impressed with him, and Bryce even suggested them going out to get a drink sometime. I was about over this whole fake-boyfriend-for-a-night thing.