Down Under

06 night

"This chicken is marvellous," Mrs. McKenny pointed out, and everyone nodded along in agreement. They were supposed to be meeting at noon, but Ava's father insisted they have a late lunch since he had many people to meet so three-thirty it was.

"I'm sure it's because the company is marvellous" Her mother asked from beside her, a smile fixed on her face. Ava glanced around, Jace was seated right beside her in a tailored fit, white button down, slacks and his coat draped along his chair. His hair gelled back, not a hair out of place. His parents sitting across from him, mother dressed in a lavender, silky dress, and his father in a black suit.

"Oh, you're too kind" Mrs. McKenny spoke, and turned her head to look at Ava, "how are you enjoying your classes, dear?"

Ava put on a faint smile, "they're going well, thank you."

"I hear Jace is in one of your classes"

"Yeah, we have psychology together"

"Ava knows a lot about all those theorists" Jace smirked, his eyes focussed on her, "she loves Freud's work"

"Is that so? Do you particularly enjoy psychology more than other subjects?"

Ava shrugged, "not particularly. I enjoy all subjects"

"Our Ava is not very picky. She's been excelling in everything. Isn't that right honey?" Ava's mother turned to her husband, a hand on his arm to get his attention.

"Sure, dear" her father mumbled in irritation at being disturbed and went back to discussing politics with Jace's father. The conversation dragged on, and on, Ava wasn't particularly keen on contributing so she stayed quiet and rolled her food around on her plate.

"What, say? We go hang out alone somewhere, together?" Jace whispered, his voice close to her ear, she could feel the warm breath.

"I can't " she mumbled, waiting for him to sit back in his seat, he didn't. He raised his eyebrow in question, waiting for her to continue. "I have a friends birthday party"

"Oh" he relaxed in his chair, and they continued eating in silence. The conversation carried on, Ava answered when she was asked questions, but otherwise, she sat in silence and prayed the hours would go by faster. When they finally reached the end of the meal, everyone stood up.

"Oh, it seems too early for young children to end their day like this" Jace's mother continued, "why don't you two go do something without the adults?"

"Actually, I have somewhere to be,"Ava said.

"Ava has her friends birthday party" Jace filled in, a grin still present on his face.

"That's silly, you can just take Jace with you" Ava's mother contributed, as she nudged her slightly with her elbow.

"I'd love that" Jace said, "if that's okay with you"

Ava nodded, which happened to please her mother very much. She supposed if it stopped her mother from asking questions about the kind of party she was going to, then taking Jace couldn't be that bad of a thing. If she stood to argue with her mother, and all the reasons she couldn't take Jace, she'd miss the party entirely anyway so this was just better.

"This is my car" Jace waved his hands towards a black Mercedes, he'd insisted on driving them to the party and Ava didn't have much opinion on the matter. Her mother all but pushed her to go.

"It's nice" she mumbled and got in when he opened the passenger door.

"Dad got it for me last year, I'm supposed to be starting the family business soon, you know? He said it was an early gift for going into the business with him. Of course, I didn't want to seem ungrateful so I had to accept" he rambled on, while simultaneously, starting the car and heading away from the restaurant.