Finding Claire

Chapter 18

It was sort of awkward between me and Nathan as our parents quietly made small talk. Prue was too busy playing with her peas to even pay attention to what was going on, and Nathan kept on stealing glances of me when he thought I wasn't looking.

"So," Nathan's dad -or Matt- coughed loud enough to get both of our attentions. "When were you two going to tell us you were dating?"

The bite of food I was chewing got stuck in my throat and I coughed violently as Nathan coughed out his lungs as well. Not a good time to bust out news like that when you are drinking water.

"We are not dating," I finally managed to say and Nathan nodded in agreement.

"Then what is this all about?"

"I don't know. Ask our moms," I answered, staring at mine. She looked down at her food for a few seconds before finally looking up and gave me "the look." You know that "look" your parents give you when you did something wrong or even embarrassed them in front of other people, but they couldn't do anything about it? Yeah, that one.....

"I just wanted to meet your boyfriend."

"I really hope you separated the last word into two," I groaned and she grinned.

"Sure. Why not."

I groaned again as Nathan's mom spoke. "Where did you two meet?"

"School," was all Nathan said.

"Okay..... how did you two meet?"

"She helped me out with my schedule -you know what? Let's just skip the twenty questions and eat dinner please. I don't want my food to get even colder than it already is."

"I agree," I murmured as I looked down and I could feel two pair of glares.

"May I be excused?" Prue finally sighed.

"Yes. I guess dinner is about to be finished," her mom sighed and she bolted out of her seat. Lucky kid.

"May I be excused?" I asked.

"No," both my parents said and I pouted. I heard a laugh which was quickly covered by a cough and I looked up to see Nathan covering his mouth. I glared at him and he smiled enough for me to see it.

It was quiet as forks scraped plates and I just moved my food around. It wasn't until a couple of more minutes when the adults excused us and we both bolted out of there as well.

"Can this get any more awkward than it already is?" Nathan murmured to himself as we made our way to the living room.

"Ummm yeah. I swear, my mom is crazy for even planning this."

We sat in silence as we watched Prue play with a phone and the only noise there was was when one of us sighed ever so often.

"Want to play something for me?" Nathan broke the silence. I snapped my eyes over to him, only to find him looking at the piano. I felt my eyes go wide and I shook my head.

"Nooooo. I don't play in front of people, remember."

"Oh come on! It's too quiet in this place and there's nothing else to do."

"Nope. Sorry."

"I'll give you a dollar....."

"A dollar? Really?" I laughed as he smiled.

"What? It's not like I brought my wallet with me!?"

"But you have a dollar?"

"Maybe. You never know when the ice cream truck will pass around."