recognize / b.simmons

51

amari and her family enter the restaurant and amari takes the liberty of letting the host know that she had a reservation. "it's under 'simmons'," the host looks up the name. finding it, she looks up and smiles at amari.

"they've checked in already. i can take you to that table if you'd like?" amari nods and the hostess leads the family to where ben and his parents are waiting. with every step, her heart thumps in her chest. this could go many different ways, and every way involves her dad freaking out.

"here you are," the hostess says, opening the doors to a secluded room in the restaurant. ben and his parents stand, beaming at amaris family. both amari and donteia return the smiles while ken keeps his face hard, onlt offering curt nods in the direction of ben and dave.

"mom, dad, this is ben, julie, and dave," amari says, wringing her hands together. she glances at ben, his hands stuffed into his jean pockets.

"ken," her dad says, shaking daves hand. ben goes in for a handshake and he swerves him and introduces himself to julie. amari sees and her heart drops. how is this night already going to shit?

once they finish with the introductions, they take their seats, both dave and ken at the heads of the table. amari sits across from ben and next to her mother who sits across from julie. ben and amari make brief eye contact before she looks away.

"what brings us together?" ken asks, jumping right into it.

ben glances at amari before bravely speaking. "well, we haven't met yet- did you try?" ken cuts ben off, staring him down. he expects ben to back down, but he doesn't. "with my schedule it's hard to do anything." ben says. amari licks her lips to hide the small smile that wants to show itself. most of her boyfriends were intimidated by her dad—even karls big ass.

"i'm just glad to finally meet you both! we love amari around here," julie says, trying to settle everything before ben and ken end up in fist fight.

dave elbows amari and holds out his fist for a fist bump. amari smiles at fist bumps him and looks at her mom, who smiles at amari. her dad frowns, ruining everyone's mood.

thankfully their waiter, a young white boy who stutters as he greets them, comes to take their order. "i forgot to look," donteia whispers to amari. she scans the menu and settles on white wine.

"already?" amari asks. donteia rolls her eyes.

"if i'm going to deal with your father after this, yes," amari snickers and closes her menu, setting it down.

the waiter comes around to amaris side, wide eyed and nervous. he's starstruck. "a-and you?" amari try's not to laugh at him as she orders.

"just a water with lemon, please," he nods and scribbles the order down. he moves on and then quickly hurries off. "someone's a fan." amari teases. the table chuckles in agreement—everyone but her dad—and they go back to talking.

"i take it this isn't your first all star game?" donteia asks, folding her hands. despite what amari told her mother about her and ben, donteia didn't feel the need to be openly rude to ben like her father did. and because donteia knows that amari is carrying bens child, she figured that she might as well get used to him. if amari wasn't having his baby, she wouldn't have cared for this dinner—it wouldn't have even been brought up.

ben shakes his head. "my second—both on team lebron," he says proudly. amari smiles plays with a thread on the tablecloth.

"well, thank you for inviting us to the game tomorrow!"

"of course."

the waiter comes back and successfully passes out drinks without spilling them. amari gets a whiff of his cologne and the smell goes straight to her stomach. she tries to breathe the smell out, but it's too strong. "excuse me," she says, quickly getting up and away from the boy. the table looks at her with concern, but ben and donteia know why she got up.