The Pilot And The Dreamer

Chapter 8

We make it out to the living room where everyone is waiting for us and Nat faces us.

"Well, it's about damn time. I thought I was gonna have to go get you, except I prefer not." She laughs and I glare at her with a smile. We all make our way outside to a car sitting in the driveway. My mom looks at us, disguising a frown.

"Hazel, you will ride with your father and I."

"Mom, if it's okay, I would like to go with Natalie and one of us can drive the rental. We can follow you." Mom takes a few minutes to think it over.

"Fine, but if you are not there five minutes before six, I will kick your friends out from the restaurant and the deal is off." She says, getting in the passenger seat while Derek looks at me with sadness in his eyes. Noah leads me to the car and opens the door for me, but I simply feel too numb to do anything so I slide inside as he shuts the door. The other doors open and shut and Noah starts the car.

"Hazel." 

"I'm a terrible daughter. I have no idea who got me this dress and my mother hates me." I say, holding back tears. I feel Natalie's hands on my shoulders from the backseat and gently massages them. I put my right hand on her's and squeeze, but feel another hand grab my free one. I look down to see that it's Noah's hand and he squeezes my hand. We pull out of the driveway and follow my mom towards the restaurant. 

"You're not a terrible daughter." He says, still keeping his eyes on my mom's car in front of us. "If anything, you are the strongest person I have ever seen. You put everyone else before yourself to make sure that their needs are met." I look at him with skepticism.

"You're not just saying it to flatter me are you?" I reply. We pull in behind my mom at the restaurant and the valet opens the door for me, holding his hand out.

"Miss?" I grab my clutch and, with the help of the valet, exit the vehicle, Noah gives the key to him and holds his arm out for me. I take it and we continue inside when I have the same feeling as that night in the bar when I felt like a bug under a microscope. I tighten my grip and lay my other hand next to mine to gain a little bit of safeness. The hostess leads us to a booth with two other people sitting and from the way my mother greets her, I assume a friend. The man next to her looks to be about 30, black hair, tall and stands tall with a lot of confidence, most likely an ego the size of Texas to accompany his personality. He's wearing a grey suit with a white undershirt and no tie, and black loafers. My mother turns to face me and sends me a glare and I reluctantly release Noah's arm, then introduces me to the man.

"Hazel, dear, this is Nathan and Carolyn." She says and Nathan turns his piercing blue eyes on me, pinning me in my spot. They have a spark of mischief as he walks towards me. I hold up my hand for him to shake, and I mentally prepare myself.

"Pleasure to meet you, Nathan."

"The pleasure is all mine to be in the presence of such a beautiful woman." He says, taking my hand and kissing the back of my hand, looking at me with a seductive look in his eye and I shiver mentally before gently taking my hand back. I smile, but my mom has other ideas. Her and Carolyn sit next to each other, while Derek sits next to my mom on the end, Noah, Peter, Natalie, me and Nathan on the end. I sneak a sideways glance at Noah who makes eye contact with me and I shyly smile at him to hopefully give him a little assurance. 

"So Hazel, tell me a little about yourself?" Nathan asks after the waitress takes our order, but he was checking her out as she was leaving.

"I work as an insurance adjuster in the city." I reply, giving him the most generic answer. He turns back to face me.

"You can do so much more than a simple insurance adjuster. I can give you the best position that you truly deserve." There is the charm that I've grown to be immune to and mentally resist on rolling my eyes.

"I'm actually happy with my job." I say with a bit of a bite, but Nathan is too dense to notice while my mother kicks my feet under the table and glares at me. "So what about things you enjoy doing?" I ask, taking a drink of my glass of wine. 

"I enjoy traveling in my private jet." He replies, with a bit of a smirk before our waitress shows up with our orders and of course, Nathan checks her out. I sneak a glance to Natalie and she blinks twice. 

"Please excuse me Nathan." I ask and he nods, sliding out for me to get out and his hand slips a little two low on my back and I step away and head towards the bathrooms. I enter and lean my hands against the sink and a few seconds later, Natalie walks in. 

"He's something else, isn't he?" She asks and I nod.

"He's a total flirt, like the comment about the private jet? Please, I'm not that desperate." I reply and Natalie comes over to wrap an arm around me.

"Look on the bright side, you have two amazing friends and a good-looking pilot who by the way looks devilishly handsome in a suit." I chuckle.

"You're right. Let's get through the night and then we can go hang out somewhere." I reply and turn towards the door, only to have my mom walk in and she is ticked. 

"I raised you better than to give an attitude." Mom sneers, trying to intimidate me, but fails. 

"He's a flirt with the ego the size of fricking Texas, mom." I fire back before Natalie grabs my arm and pulls us out the door and outside where Noah and Peter are standing and they turn towards us.

"Is everything okay?" Peter asks.

"My mom is trying to persuade me that a man who is a flirt and has a huge ego is the man she wants for me. I'm just gonna have to suck it up." I reply and an arm surrounds me, giving me comfort. 

"I have an idea on how we can make it up." Noah suggests and I relax.

Just get through this dinner.

I smile and together, we head back inside, this time, looking forward to after.