Chapter Twenty-Six

{Chapter Twenty-Six}

I wake up when Jer gets up and I open my tired eyes to look up at him. He smiles apologetically at me and wipes a strand of hair from my eyes.

"I didn't mean to wake you." He says and I wave him off with a yawn.

"What time is it?" I ask as I sit up and run a hand through my blond hair. He glances at his black watch on his left hand to check the time.

"Almost six." He replies and I nod.

"Okay, I'm going to get going then." I reply, knowing Mom is going to get mad if I'm not back for dinner. He nods and I stand, stretching to wake up more. I yawn before looking to Jer and moving to wrap my arms around his waist, resting my head on his chest. He wraps his arms around me to hug me back and I sigh as I wish I could stay here. But I know I can't and eventually I pull away from him.

"I'll see you later." I mumble and turn to leave but he grabs my wrist, pulls me back to face him and kisses me chastely on the lips.

"I'll see you tomorrow, love." He replies after breaking the quick kiss. I smile at that and nod before I leave the house. I walk across the lawn to my car, looking it over for any damage but it's perfectly fine, other than the scratch on the driver's door.

I still cringe at that scratch but don't fuss about it as I slide in. I start my beautiful, amazing car, listening to her purr before I pull out, contemplating briefly if I'm too obsessed with my car.

Nah, I just love this thing so much.

I park in front of my house tiredly and go up the driveway, across the path to front door. I walk in, getting assaulted by the smell of turkey and berries that make my stomach growl to remind me of the fact that I haven't eaten in a little over five hours.

"Levy?" Mom calls and I sigh, moving through the cool house to the kitchen that's slightly warmer than the rest of the house because the stove is on.

"Yeah?" I ask as I lean against the wall next to the silver fridge while Mom opens the oven to check the bird.

"Could you set the table? Also, where have you been? I can understand being gone yesterday but you've been gone most of today. What were you doing?" she curiously demands while squirting the baking bird with more baste out of the tray the turkey is cooking in. I'll admit, the entire turkey looks so gross with seasoning on top and juices running down its browning skin, but Mom knows how to make it taste amazing.

I pull my gaze from the cooking turkey to the cupboard where all the plates and bowls are positioned right above the silverware drawer. I move to grab three plates and the appropriate silverware before I go into the dinning room to set the table. I place the napkins under the forks and spoons and assure that each plate has a glass for water in front. I go back into the kitchen and slouch against the wall again.

"I was out with friends. I'm sorry I was gone so long, I'll try not to stay out that late again if you don't want me to." I finally reply to her question, though I don't specify which friends because I know she's assuming I was with Lydia and Jess, and she does not need to know the truth yet.

"It's fine, Levy, you have fun with your friends. Just don't do anything bad, okay. Stay out of trouble. Oh, would you get the wine from the fridge too? It's the white zin." She adds and I nod, not asking what the heck white zin is and instead look in the fridge for some kind of wine that I assume is clear.

Though, when I look I don't see any clear wines in the fridge. But I do only see one wine bottle and assume despite the pink hew that it's what she was referring to so I take the half empty bottle out of the fridge and put it on the table in the dinning room. I move back to the kitchen to watch Mom as she heats up some corn and green beans.

"Oh, I got an A for the shadowing project." I state, remembering that she wanted to know my grade when I knew. She stops stirring the corn to turn to me with a wide, proud grin.

"That's great, honey, I'm so proud of you." She coos and moves across the kitchen to pull me into a tight hug. I smile despite the fact that her small arms are somehow restricting my breathing and instead hug her small frame back.

"Thanks, Mom." I mumble. She pulls back to pat me on the shoulder before making an 'oh!' of surprise when the water in the pan of corn starts to boil over. She goes back to the stove to stir the corn, seeming to be focused on that so I just slink out to the living room where Dad is watching the baseball game on TV. It's a recording from the weekend, he always records the games in case we can't catch them on the weekend. I get the feeling he waited until today to watch it because I wasn't here on Sunday.

"Hey, kiddo, want to watch the game? The Dodgers are winning." He adds, motioning to the TV. I shrug and take a seat next to him to watch the game.

It's quiet other than the sounds coming through the large TV while we watch intently. After the last player misses the ball, and we cheer, Mom comes in to tell us dinner is ready. Dad turns off the TV and drops an arm around my shoulder.

"I haven't seen you in a while, it's nice to watch the game with you again. We missed the last few." He adds and I nod, knowing he isn't looking for an apology or anything so I don't say anything. We all sit down at the table, after Mom and Dad bow their heads to pray. I don't bother though, I honestly think that if there is some higher being, he probably knows I'm too hungry to wait any longer to eat so I can thank them for my food.

Though when Mom notices that I'm eating without following their foolish ritual she sends me a disapproving look. I ignore it though and enjoy the moist white meat of the turkey, barely tasting a hint of wine in the meat that I assume Mom marinated it with.

"This is good, Mom." I mumble past a bite of turkey before swallowing to take a large bite of potatoes followed by the candied cranberries.

"Thank you, honey, but don't talk with your mouth full." She chastises and I shrug, taking a sip of my water while Mom and Dad nurse a glass of wine each. "Did you tell your dad the grade you got for your project?"

I shake my head at that, making sure to take a large gulp of water to assure I don't have any more food in my mouth. Then I turn to look at Dad at the head of the table.

"I got an A." I state and he grins, putting his glass of wine down.

"That's great! I'm proud of you. See? You wouldn't have gotten such a good grade if you had been shadowing me, I'm too boring." Dad adds with a chuckle. I shake my head in disagreement but really I'm thankful I didn't shadow my dad.

It was inevitable that I meet Jer at one point, as I doubt my mom would ever leave that job and one day I would go to the office to talk to her or something and no doubt meet him. However, if it weren't for this assignment, I would never have spent so much time with Jer and gotten to know him better.

I never would have met Ian because I wouldn't have been at the cafe that day working on my paper. And I wouldn't be with either of them, I wouldn't be as happy as I am now if I did shadow my dad. I put my fork down at that thought, taking a break from devouring my plate of food as I imagine my life without either of them.

I can't imagine it though, despite the truth that I have only known them a little over a month. I haven't known them more than a blink in the whole scheme of things yet I love them both so much; the thought of not knowing them makes my heart clench in pain.

I brush those thoughts away and pick up my fork to continue eating so neither of my parents ask me if everything is okay.

"Would you like a sip of the wine to celebrate?" Dad asks and Mom smacks him lightly on the shoulder.

"Don't offer our minor alcohol." She scolds and he shrugs, extending his glass to me. I take it with a shrug, already used to this. Not that they give me alcohol all the time but when I do something well-or when it's a holiday-they tend to offer me drinks of wine or champagne to celebrate. I don't understand the logic but I don't bother questioning it.

I take a sip of the clear pink wine, handing the glass back to my dad as I swish the bitter-sweet liquid in my mouth to 'fully appreciate it' as Dad says. It's not bad, better than the weird yellow wine my aunt gave us that, according to my parents, was pretty cheap stuff. It's not as good as the rich Merlot red wine my parents received from a coworker a year or two ago though.

I swallow the wine and eat the remainder of my turkey, opening my mouth to say something about the wine but the doorbell rings followed by knocking. I look between my parents in confusion to see if they invited someone over but they look just as confused as I am.

"Hm, I wonder who that is." Mom muses, getting up and wiping her hands on her blue jeans. She leaves the dinning room to answer the door but isn't gone more than a minute before I hear her heals clicking against the hardwood floors of the hallway. She comes back into the dinning room but doesn't sit down. "Levy, there's a dark haired boy with really light gray eyes at the door, he asked for you. He seems kind of...off. Do you know him?" she questions as she clasps her hands on the back of her chair.

"Oh, yeah..." I trail, standing from my seat quickly, not providing any explanation. I move through the hall to the front door and open it to reveal a swaying Ian. His brown hair is a tousled mess and his usually bright gray eyes are glazed over and bloodshot. My brows furrow in confusion while he seems to take a minute to comprehend it's me at the door.

He opens his mouth to say something, probably in greeting, but instead hunches over and releases the contents of his stomach in my mom's pink azalea's.