Stay with me - Luke Brooks

Chapter 18

LEILA'S POV

I came home, had a shower, re applied all my makeup, re did my hair and got dressed into my current favourite black and mustard coloured skater dress. I messaged Luke to make sure he hadn't forgotten and went downstairs to check on how mum was doing in the kitchen. There was a nice fresh loaf of tiger bread sliced up in a bowl in the middle of the table, three place mats were set, two on one side opposite the other. A bottle of white Pinot Grigio was uncorked on the table, mum had gone a little too fancy, she'd even lit Yankee candles on the table and around it. However I didn't complain, she was a perfectionist, so once she's made her mind up you couldn't change it.

There was a knock at the door at dead on 7, he was exactly on time, not even a second late. He was stood outside the door holding a bouquet of red flowers, he was such a romantic when it was necessary. They had a little note in them written with my name on it. My mum was still busy watching the lasagna cook to realise if she recognised him yet.
"Smells good!" Luke sniffed the room before hugging me and handing me the flowers.
"It's lasagna." A smile perked up on his face but slightly dropped when he saw the number of place mats. I got a vase from the cupboard and placed the roses in there, then turning to Luke and whispering "By the way, you're eating a meal with me and my mum tonight, don't worry about it though." He got a sudden worry on his far and whispered "shit" under his breathe. He fidgeted at his shirt, tucking it in more neatly and combing through his hair with his hands.

Mum head appeared from under the counter, in her hands she had a dish full of lasagna nearly overflowing, the cheese was moderately melted just to how I like it and there was a crisp around the edge. She stepped from behind the counter and Luke at Luke waiting for one of us to speak.

"Mum, this is Luke, my boyfriend." There was a slight pause of silence where my mum just stared at us.
"Hi nice to meet you." Luke put out his hand for her to shake, and she did, looking reluctant.

We sat down at the table, Luke beside me. Mum still hadn't said a word. She dished up her portion of food and then let me and Luke do our own.
"This looks really good." Luke said with a nervous yet happy voice.
"Thankyou Luke," mum said "so, obviously I have a few questions for you two. Let's start with how you met." Mums torment of questions lasted the whole meal, two hours roughly. She did most of the talking actually, it was quite intimidating. I could see she didn't like the idea of me and Luke even though he was being charming towards her.

Luke's plate was scraped clean after two portions and I was stuffed full after one. Mum then brought out a chocolate cake and the ice cream that Luke and I had started the other day. I didn't expect pudding, but it was a nice gesture. Luke probably felt rude to reject pudding as he was trying to make a good impression, otherwise he just had a really huge appetite.

Mum and Luke were in silence as they ate away at chocolate icing and ice cream. It was my turn to speak;
"So mum, just so you know, wether you like it or not, I will still be seeing Luke." I didn't mean to speak with quite such a forceful, mean voice but it just happened. I stared upon my mum and felt Luke getting uncomfortable beside me as he fidgeted.
"Okay." Mum said, nodding her head, sort of giving me her blessing. The rest of the time was spent in silence, just accompanied by the background music coming from the radio. And when it came to the end of the evening mum actually managed to let out a smile as Luke told her some funny things he's filmed for YouTube. I felt like the evening went well, but I would probably get a night long talk from my mum ranting on and on about things that I didn't care about anymore.