Parallel

Chapter Six

*******

“Never mind mom, I’ll go get it” Edward said as he headed towards the door after hearing a few knocks from it.

He opened the door and found Eric standing by the entrance with some sort of bag in his hand. The bag looked rather large and he squinted his eyes while raising his head a bit to get a proper look at what he was holding.

“What’s the matter? Never seen a pillow before?” Eric asked as he walked past him and brushed his shoulder.

Edward scoffed at the question before closing the door. He gave his friend a slight push behind and headed for the dining room where he had been before he heard the knocks.

He stopped in his tracks, remembering something as he walked backwards towards Eric, who was now battling with the laces on his boots.

“Why do you have a pillow with you? I’ve got about three in my room and you know that” Edward asked with a puzzled look on his face.

“Hate to break it to you, but my pillow is the only pillow that can make me rest properly” Eric said, not raising his head.

Edward laughed at the reply as he wondered what kind of being uses only one particular pillow. He stared at the figure who was slightly more built than he was and thought about how he was moving out of his comfort zone just for him.

“Hey Eric, you sure about this?” Edward asked in a nervous tone.

“Sure about what?” Eric returned, still fighting with his shoe laces.

“The whole sleepover thing-----you sure you wanna do it?” Edward asked again, trying to sound as cool and strong as he could.

“Of course” Eric said as he raised his head and stood up straight to look a his best friend, who was already looking weary.

“What’s the matter?” Eric spoke again, his voice filled with concern.

“Nothing really, it just me kinda feels---you know-----weird” Edward replied as he shoved his fingers through his hair.

“C’mon Ed, its not. You are the one who feels it is, and is also making it look weird. You talking as if you were….” He stopped talking as his eyes shone brightly at Edward who seemed rather confused at the stare.

“What?” Edward asked, feeling confused.

“Ed, please tell me you are not gay!” Eric asked as his shoulders dropped within their hinges.
“Wait! What? No! That wasn’t what I meant! Fuck you!” Edward shouted as he fumbled around with the right words to use.

“No you see that’s the problem Ed, don’t use that word. Cause it won’t happen, you can’t and won’t fuck me. I wont let you” Eric called after him as Edward walked away from him and headed back.

Eric laughed at his own joke and felt satisfied with scaring him off. He knew Edward was having second thoughts about the whole thing and was probably considering his own comfort. But he really needed a proper decent sleep, so this had to happen.

After a few more grunts and trials, he finally got the shoes off. He picked up his pillow bag and looked in the direction Ed had gone. “This is it, no turning back now” he thought to himself as he heaved a sigh and headed for the dining room to join the members of the Jones family for dinner.

“Hello Eric, glad you could join us for dinner” Mrs. Jones said as she placed four plates in the center of the dining table, leaving Edward to help spread them out.

“The pleasure is mine Mrs. Jones” he replied with a smile as he took a seat beside Edward.

“You look better than your friend” Mr. Jones said as he walked into the dining, his comment directed at Eric as he took a seat opposite him.

“Good evening Mr. Jones” Eric greeted as the older man sat.

“Evening son, at least some kids still know how to behave normal” Mr. Jones commented again, this time, his eyes focused on Edward.

Edward let out a slight sigh as he placed his thumb on the side of his head, and used his index and middle finger to rub against his forehead in dismay.

Eric stared at him with concern, he had probably been receiving comments like this for the past month. And it was quite obvious he had not been able to get used to it.

“You really should cut him some slack you know” Mrs. Jones said as she walked into the dining room with a bowl of chicken in her hands, dropping it at the center of the table.

“Whatever!” His father replied as he stretched his neck to sneak at what was in the bowl his wife just dropped.

“Chicken?” he asked, clearly surprised at what he saw.

“Yeah” the wife replied as she wiped her hands clean with a napkin.

“I thought you mentioned something about beef in the morning” he said, as he stared at the chunks of meat in the bowl.

“I did. For some reason, all the stores didn’t have beef today. It was quite strange by the way” she replied her husband as she also took a seat beside him.

“Hmmph, I really looked forward to it” he said solemnly as his focus was still on the bowl, clearly disappointed at having to eat chicken rather than the preplanned beef.

“Well, only if you plan to go find beef yourself, I’m afraid you’re gonna have to settle with this” she said as she placed a piece of chicken each in Edward's and Eric’s plates.

They all sat quietly and only the occasional clashing of knives against the plates was heard.
Halfway into their meal, Mr. Jones raised his head as he remembered something. He looked across the table, his attention focused on his son.

“Edward, Miss Allison called me-----again” he said while gulping down a glass of the orange fruit juice in it.

“Really? What did she say?” Edward asked, as his focus was on the piece of lettuce in front of him. He had no intention of looking up to face his father.

“Oh, nothing much, just how you managed to use the ‘f’ word in class” his father said absentmindedly, as he rubbed a piece of chicken with mayonnaise, before placing it into his mouth.

Edward almost choked on the piece of chicken he was eating as he coughed for a few moments.
He hurriedly drank down a glass of juice as he heard Eric let out a small controllable snickers of laughter.

“She didn’t forget to mention your falling asleep in class-----again!” his dad continued, this time, his both arms resting on the table and facing his son properly.

“Uhmmm, is that all?” Edward asked, not knowing what else to say as he played with his chicken, still refusing to look his father in the eye.

“Oh! I didn’t know there was more” his father shot back, not expecting the reply he had gotten from his son. He sat upright and dropped his knife into the plate, while looking at Edward, waiting for an explanation.

“Look dad, I’m sorry” Edward sniffed as he dangled his fork in his hand, no longer feeling comfortable.

“You are sorry? For sleeping in class? Again!” he yelled. he was thoroughly agitated by Edward’s choice of words and he couldn’t just sit still and let the boy have his way.

Mrs. Jason held her husband’s hand into hers in an attempt to calm him down. He paused for a moment before staring at her hand, then her face. The calmness he found in them were too soothing to resist. With a heavy sigh and few deep breaths, he relaxed a bit.

“Edward, I didn’t mean to raise my voice, okay? Its just……”

“No its okay dad, I’m the one with a problem. If you’ll excuse me, I think I’ve lost my appetite” Edward said, cutting his dad off as he got up from the table and headed for his room.

“Ed!” his mom called after him as he walked away ignoring her call.

They stared at each other’s plates as no one dared to speak. The air was tight and full of the awkward silence Edward had left behind for them. Eventually, Mrs. Jones raised her head over to look at Eric, indicating she had not forgotten his presence.

“I’m really sorry you had to see that, Eric” she apologized staring at the boy in a concerned manner.

“Not a problem, Mrs. Jones. He’s in pretty rough shape, perhaps, I should go talk to him. Please excuse me” Eric said as he bowed his head in a formal way and also left the table, not forgetting to take his pillow along as he left Mr. Jones and his wife alone at the table.

Mrs. Jones sighed as she placed a finger in her mouth. She watched Eric go in the direction Edward had gone before turning her gaze to her husband.

“You really don’t know how to take it easy on him, do you?” She asked him in a worried tone.

“I’m sorry sweetie, its just-----its been going on for too long now, someone needs to pull his head out of the clouds” he replied, also feeling a bit disappointed at himself for raising his voice.

“I know but maybe….” Her voice went mute as she spoke.

Mr. Jason stared at her with a confused look, wondering what might have caused her sudden pause.

“ You okay dear?” he asked her, tilting his head to look at his wife properly.

“He only ate the chicken” she replied with her gaze still fixated upon something else.

Her husband was clearly surprised at her comment. He traced her line of sight to see what she was talking about. As he made contact, he also raised his eyebrows in awe as he saw Eric’s plate.

“Well, I guess some people actually prefer chicken to beef” he commented, shaking his head slightly as he once  more faced his food.

His wife chuckled at what he had said. But soon enough, her laughter slowly turned into a worried look as she once more stared at the direction of her son’s bedroom. Sensing her distraught, he placed his hands on hers causing her to shift his gaze towards him.

“He’ll be fine. He is my son after all” he said with pride as he also attempted to brighten up his wife’s mood.

She laughed once more and stared passionately into his eyes, she was really glad she had said yes to him years ago and he was right, Edward would be fine. With her mind eased up a little bit, she continued her food with a smile on her face.

Eric entered the room without knocking. He sat on the bed and stared at the silhouette that was curled up on the bed like a child in distress.

“How can you not sleep with the lights off?” Eric asked slightly surprised as the room was dark.

“Easy, I sit by the window. The light from the moon is quite bright” Edward replied after a slight chuckle.

“Oh, I see” Eric replied.

There was silence us the room as both of them looked for the right words to say to each other.

“I’m still quite surprised that you guys still eat those weird combinations of food” Eric said as he unzipped the bag that held his pillow.

“Yeah. You guys do weird stuff too” Edward replied as he laughed easily at the comment made.

“Maybe, but not like you guys. I mean who eats chicken with veggies? And even mayonnaise!” Eric said in a mocking tone.

Edward laughed some more at his question as he silently wondered why his parents always made the weird food combinations he had grown to love.

“You could actually try them you know” Edward suggested as he knew Eric had only eaten the chicken from their dinner.

“I think I’ll pass” Eric replied as they both laughed about it.

Eric was glad to have lightened up his mood a bit, he stared out of the window and noticed the light Edward had talked about.

“They are worried you know” Eric said as his attention shifted from the window to Edward who still laid on the bed.

“I know, and I really hate to make them worry so much” Edward said as he also looked out the window.

Eric decided not to push the matter anymore, he could see Edward was aware of what was going on, he just couldn’t control the situation.

Whatever was going on with him was messing him up real bad, both in school and at home and it bugged him greatly. He closed his eyes for a minute and hoped his staying over tonight would help Edward get better.

He sighed and got up from the bed. He moved towards the window as he glanced at his wrist watch.

“Well, its 8:50, time for you to get some shuteye” he stared still staring at the watch as thunder rumbled above the sky.

“By nine?” Edward asked, clearly confused at what Eric had said and also surprised at the rumble he heard which was now followed by a flash of lightning.

“C’mon Ed, you’ve not had a decent sleep in weeks, you might as well start this one early. Also, its not nine yet” Eric said.

“Yeah you’re right” Edward replied as he shifted around the bed to make himself cozy, the weather already gave the warning, ignoring it wouldn’t be nice.

“Goodnight Ed” Eric said as he stared out the window to enjoy the moist night.

“Goodnight Eric, ……”

“Don’t you dare say thanks!” Eric said as he cut Edward off his sentence.

Edward grinned at the figure in front of him and for the first time in a month or so, he actually felt truly safe as he closed his eyes and drafted off into sleep as he left his guardian to watch over him.

*******

Lydia gazed nervously at the stockpile of food that was arranged so neatly in front of her. She knew Justin’s parents were rich but had not expected them to prepare something this big for her, just because she came to visit.

She looked over to Justin and hoped would save her from distress. He sat not too far from her and smiled at her as he noticed her unease. The smile was all she needed in gathering enough courage to make the tough decision on what she would pick first.

Her eyes carefully went over every dish set out on the table. She frowned her eyebrows as she saw something that looked somewhat like a lobster, she was definitely not going to touch that.

After a while, she finally gave up as the dishes were either unknown to her or she had never tasted then before. In order to save herself a huge embarrassment, she picked up the dish that held chicken in it. After pondering for a moment, she dropped three large pieces into her plate and started to eat.

Mrs. Brock stated at the girl in disbelief, there was a wide variety of food she could choose from. Some of it were intercontinental dishes that she had probably never even heard of. There was even grilled lobster available! And she had gone for chicken! Just chicken!

She was utterly disappointed as she had hoped the girl would  choose something more discrete, so she could tell her friends later at how the food had been delicious. How could she possibly do that now that she had picked up the chicken dish instead.

“You’re only going to eat chicken?” she asked Lydia who was cutting the piece into smaller chunks.

“Mom!” Justin said, as he gave his mom a disapproving look. He felt slightly offended as she ignored him, with her attention still focused on the girl.

“Yeah. I’m sorry, but all this is kinda too much and some of them are definitely new to me. So I guess I’ll just prefer to stick with something more simple and familiar” Lydia replied, embarrassed at the way all eyes in the took were focused on her.

“I see” Mrs. Brock replied as she continued her meal.

Mr. Brock was quite amused at what the girl seated with them had managed to do. Even thought it was unintentional, she had managed to make his wife uncomfortable.

His wife had planned the whole evening, as she had it in mind to intimidate the poor girl, it might have worked a bit,  but her reaction wasn’t what the woman had expected to see.

Sensing his wife’s discomfort, he decided to rub it in on her.

“Rebecca!” he called out. Few seconds later, she stood by his side and awaited his order.

“How about you help clear the table and leave only the chicken. We don’t wanna make our guest more uncomfortable than she already is” he said with a smile.

“What?” Mrs. Brock asked, not understanding her husband’s sudden course of action.

“C’mon darling, let’s honor the girl and eat the same thing as she is eating. Besides, a good first impression is paramount” he said in a quiet tone to his wife, but still made sure the two kids present also heard him.

Mrs. Brock couldn’t believe what she was hearing, her husband was clearly trying to make a fool out of her, and she really did not feel too comfortable about it. She looked over to her son who now had his head buried in his food, clearly aware of his father’s intentions and wasn’t so amused either.

Lydia on the other hand was feeling completely out of place. She could almost feel the older woman’s gaze upon her as the maids cleared the table just like Justin’s father had ordered.

The air in the dining hall felt more intense as it was awfully quiet. Each person at the table slowly ate their chicken which happened to be the only food available. The only person who seemed to be pleased with the whole scenario was Mr. Brock as he beamed with pride at his handiwork. He paused momentarily to look at each person’s facial expression before cutting his chicken with cautionary motion.