Sweet Things

15

After getting off the phone with Jade, Perrie took the long way home. She didn't want to see or talk to her parents but she knew she'd have to face them sooner or later. She opens the door slowly and hears plates clink together in the kitchen.

"Perrie? Is that you?" her mother's voice clear from the kitchen. She curses to herself as she closes the front door. She makes her way to the kitchen where she was invited with a nice smell of lasagna. Jade loves lasagna, she thought. "Let's talk." she say before placing the last plate on the table and looked at Perrie with apologetic eyes.

Perrie doesn't say anything but counts that there are a little more plates on the table than they usually need. Three more extra to be exact. "We're having guest over tonight. Put on something nice and presentable." her mother sighs when Perrie stayed silent.

"Who's coming?" Perrie asks.

"Special guests. Now go put on something nice." she shooed Perrie away but the blonde didn't budge.

"I'm not hungry." Perrie attempts to get out of the future event that didn't look very promising.

"You have no choice."

"I never do." her mother exhales once more at Perrie's quick responses, "Where is he?"

"He? Your father? Where have your manners gone, Perrie?" her mother puts her hands on her hips something she noticed both her parents did when they were both about to shut her out again. "That girl has made you into an incredibly rude person." she shakes her head.

Perrie opens her mouth to protest but decides it's not worth it. She leaves the kitchen without saying another word. Marching her way to her room she reaches for the key that usually fit in the keyhole under the knob but feels nothing but air. They took her key, does it get any worse? Her plan to lock herself in her room all day and avoid the guests and her parents has backfired. She throws her body on her bed. What does she do now? She couldn't even go on her phone to play music and calm herself down. This is a nightmare.

After some thinking, more like overthinking.. Perrie felt like her brain was frying. She she leaves her room to get some fresh air but on her way down she bumps into her father, resentment showed all over her face. "Why aren't you dressed? Get dress now." he says in a cold tone. Perrie wondered if he really loved her to treat her like this. Without saying a word Perrie makes her way back to her room and dressed herself in presentable clothing. Whoever these special guests are they seem very important to her parents.

When she hears the door bell ring she walks out of her room and puts on a fake smile. It's better to not get family problems involved with guests of course. She makes her way to the kitchen as her father opens the door. "Behave Perrie. This is important." her mother whispers to her.

"How important can it be?" she asks in frustration, before her mother could reply the guests have reached the kitchen. Perrie shakes away the negative emotions and turns to greet the guests where she was met with an unexpected face. Her smile drops to a frown.

"You must be Perrie! I'm Desmond Styles, this is my wife Anne and my son Harry." a middle aged looking man says as he shakes Perrie's timid hand. Perrie managed to force a smile at the family.

"It's nice to meet you." Perrie says before shaking Anne's hand too. When she turns to give the same gesture to Harry, she hesitates but he takes her hand regardless and holds it a little longer. He gives her a hand a little squeeze before letting go, "Fancy seeing you again, Perrie." he says with a mischievous grin.

"So you know each other! That's fabulous, it won't be so awkward then." Desmond says delightedly as Perrie's parents laugh along with him. They all took a seat and dug into the food, Perrie sitting across from Harry who continued to give her playful eyes. She tries her best to avoid him. She still didn't understand why they were here, their parents talked about random but appropriate things that Perrie couldn't care less about.