Strings (1 of 2)

Chapter 20 - Dinner From Hell

My eyes widen and I take two steps backwards, distancing myself from the situation in front of me.

He proposed to her?!

He was here two weeks ago telling me it wasn't serious... that they had only been together a few months. He called me Saturday for god knows what reason. Fuck, he even came here Sunday to check on me, all while leaving out he is engaged... to her?

Maybe this is a joke. Or maybe the ring means something else.

The rock sparkles at me, taunting me, as Ava unlatches herself from my mother and steps back to link her arm with Dean's. She places her left hand across his chest, purposefully displaying the ring so everyone sees.

"Oh. my. god! You got engaged!" my mother squeals and I feel a wave of nausea pass over me. I turn around to run to the washroom and I hear my mother again. "Emily! Come see!"

I swallow the bile rising in my throat and turn around, placing a fake smile on my face to appease her. Dean's eyes flash to me, skimming over my body and meeting my eyes briefly before looking back at my dad, smiling as he congratulates him proudly. Ava smiles widely at me, certainly fake, as I walk towards them slowly.

"Wow." I force myself to say, feigning interest. I look over to Dean to try to get some understanding or explanation from his face but when he meets my eyes he gives nothing away. He looks at me the same way he looks at my parents - politely and pleasantly, like a friendly stranger.

"Come on, let's go to the dinner table!" my mother says after she is finished admiring Ava's ring. 

We all walk across the house to the table. I walk a step behind to avoid the conversation and catch Anna staring wide-eyed at me as I pass by. No one else seems to notice her.

She opens her mouth to speak but closes it again, clearly speechless. She shakes her head instead with a sad look on her face and disappears back to the kitchen.

My father seats himself at his usual spot at the head of the table. I sit beside my mother who is to his left, and Dean sits to his right with Ava across from me. I unfold my napkin into my lap and sigh as I watch them smile at each other as he explains how he proposed to her at Camille's, a beautiful expensive rooftop restaurant downtown.

It is not that I don't want him to be happy. I really do want that for him. But to see him engaged to this woman is just too much to watch. He cannot actually see a future with her, right? The second I met her, I had a bad feeling about her. She isn't the kind, genuine person Dean deserves to marry, or even date for that matter. Something must have happened to make him propose so soon.

"Are you pregnant?" I ask suddenly, cutting off their conversation I was no longer listening to. As soon as the words leave my mouth, I regret it. I don't know why I would ask that out loud. 

Everyone gasps and my mother gives me a very disappointed 'Emily ' and Ava glares at me furiously. Dean stares at me with his mouth hanging open, shocked I had the nerve to ask. I'm shocked too, honestly.

"You don't have to answer that, dear." my mother says apologetically to Ava and gives me a death glare at my audacity to be so rude to our guest.

The serving staff my mother hired bring out the salad course, providing the opportunity for everyone to change the subject. I do notice, however, no one actually answered my question.

"I'm thinking next summer. Maybe close to LA..." Ava grins as she explains her extravagant wedding plans that I tune out while I take a large gulp of the white wine in front of me.