Ballet And The Beast

Chapter Twelve

After dinner we all sit in the front room with a bottle of wine, obviously Maddie isn't drinking the wine.

"How's uni been then son?" His dad asks. It's nice that he actually cares about him and what he's doing, not just his successes.

"Yeah it's really good actually, I got this great new dance partner," He winks in my direction before continuing. "And we've got one term left of the year now."

"Im so glad you're home, I can never get used to you being gone for so long at a time." His mum exclaims, leaning her head against his dad. "What do you think of the university Brooke?"

"I love it! Everyone's just so friendly and talented, it's quite different to what I'm used to, in a good way." I tell them, trying not to sound like too much of a weirdo.

"Yeah she's never been to school before, never had friends. She's not normal." Mason tells his parents, earning a playful glare from me.

"Oh wow, it must be strange for you then." His mum responds.

"Why don't you have friends Brooke?" Maddies asks, finally having the courage to speak to me.

"It's because I was doing so much work that I didn't have time. That's why it's always important to make time for your friends and your family." I tell her as she comes and sits next to me on the sofa.

"That sucks." She frowns, pondering over the thought of not having friends.

"See Mads, this is why we insist on you going to school." Mason tells her and she sticks her tongue out at him.

"Anyway sweetie, it's long past your bed time, why don't you go and brush your teeth and get ready for bed." Her mum tells her as she kisses her forehead. Maddie trails off upstairs after saying goodnight to everyone, including me and her mum follows behind.

"I'll show you tomorow when she's not in there, but Maddie literally has posters of you all over her wall. She's obsessed." Mason tells me once his sister is out of hearing range.

"Don't listen Brooke, they're his posters really." His dad jokes causing me to crack up laughing and Mason to glare.

"I told you babe, don't believe anything they say." Mason warns with a smile as his dad smirks in the exact same way he does.

"Don't worry, there's plenty of hilarious stories to come." His dad laughs as he tops all of our wine glasses up. Knowing how much of a lightweight I am, I'm drinking extremely slowly to avoid huge embarrassment.

"It's ok we don't have to go there." Mason tries but it's no use.

"When he was younger, he thought England was the capital of the world." His dad tells me as Mason throws a cushion at him.

"Oh Richard, that's not even the best one. Only last year he thought Romeo murdered Juliette." His mum chimes in, returning to the front room.

"Oh wow." I state, unable to do anything other than laugh at him.

"Ok guys, there's no need to make me out to be a complete dimmo. I'm just not into Shakespeare and England should be the capital of the world." He jokes, taking another sip of his wine. "You've got a whole week to put Brooke off of me, no need to do it in one night." He rolls his eyes causing me to chuckle.

"He's a sweetie really. Your parents must have some great stories about you." His mum says, looking in my direction.

"Mum..." Mason sends her a glare and the atmosphere in the room instantly changes.

"I lost my mum to cancer last year and, well, my dad and I don't exactly see eye to eye anymore." I tell them truthfully, trying not to let my emotions get the better of me. "Masons really lucky to have such a nice family."

"Im so sorry Brooke, I had no idea. We are incredibly lucky and you're always welcome here." She smiles and squeezes my hand.

"Thank you." I smile and pray for someone to change the subject.

"So I was thinking, tomorow we could go down to Victoria Park. Maddie loves a day out and a picnic and it's stunning, you'll love it Brooke." Mason suggests to us all.

"That's a great idea, I'll do my homemade cookies and we can have some sandwiches, sausage rolls, there's a few boxes of pringles in the cupboard. Are you happy with that?" His mum responds before turning to face me.

"Sounds good to me." I shrug with a smile, just happy to be around such a lovely family with my boyfriend.

"I'm just going to grab our bags out the car, do you guys want anything while I'm up?" Mason asks and we all shake our heads.

"Do you need a hand." I ask, feeling guilty him doing it himself. If I'm being honest, I'm also nervous about being left alone with his parents.

"I'm all good babe you stay here." He kisses the top of my head before leaving, causing my cheeks to heat up.

"He adores you." His mum tells me with a warm smile.

"He seems a lot happier since meeting you." His dad adds. "I'm can't believe he didn't tell us you were his girlfriend."

"He really is incredible." I smile at the thought of how caring he is. "It's funny, when I got on the plane back to England, I never imagined meeting someone like him." I tell them honestly.

"What made you decide to do that, it's not like you had to. I'm not really up on the dance world nor do I know much about models, but you don't seem to be struggling career wise." Richard asks.

"I just found everything so overwhelming. I'd be doing daily photoshoots on top of meetings, interviews, classes, performances, more interviews. It came to a point where it stopped being fun. I can't even go out before brushing my hair without half the population scrutinising me." Realising I've gone off on a bit of a rampage, I shut up and sigh.

"I feel for you, it must be difficult, especially not having anyone to support you." Linda smiles sympathetically.

"I'm lucky really though, I get to live my dream. How many people can say that." I chuckle, wishing I could have my dream and it not feel so overwhelming.

"I know Maddie would love to be like you. She's not going to shut up talking about you once you've gone again." The three of us laugh as Mason walks back in.

"Not laughing about me I hope." He mutters skepticly, putting an arm over my shoulder.

"Of course not baby. I'd never laugh at you." His mum responds, voice full of sarcasm causing me to laugh.

"If you want something to laugh at, this one here thought carrots were an exotic plant that grew on hedges." Mason nods his head in my direction and they all crack up in fits of laughter.

"In my defence, I've never seen a carrot in the ground." I try to back myself up but it's no use.

We stay up talking until just gone midnight and it almost felt like I was part of a normal family again. Richard and Linda are the loveliest people and I can see why Mason is the way he is. I have to say, I managed to drink two glasses of wine without making a complete fool of myself as well.