Whispers In The Dark

Anna

Anna

I can't do this, I thought. What am I going to do? Eat? I had already snacked on a pop tart that morning, though I regretted it as soon as I had done it. I wasn't supposed to eat anything until it was nighttime, and even then it's supposed to be something healthy and small. This is too much. A restaurant? I'll be counting calories on my fingers all night long.

His mom was very happy that I was joining them, made obvious from her constant chatter from the front seat. Also obvious, however, was that she was still slightly upset that Jessiah hadn't told her about me. Honestly, I had been, too, at first. But I hadn't told my mom about him, either, even if the only time I really saw her was before school, when she was half-sleeping, half-drinking coffee, and most Sundays.

His father seemed unaffected by hearing that Jessiah had a girlfriend, merely patted him on the back and ducked into the passenger's seat.

His brothers were different. Jared, the youngest, was only four. He seemed to take a liking to me immediately, and how could I resist those adorable dimples and short blonde hair?

Zack, on the other hand, was a middle child, and he did not take an immediate liking to me. According to Jessiah, he was the literal spawn of Satan, and I was safer to just stay away from him. He was an extreme prankster, too. I found that out when I slid into the backseat of the minivan and onto a Whoopee Cushion. I blushed a lot, but that was the reddest I'd been in a long time. Jessiah then proceeded to rip the Whoopee Cushion into two pieces and smack Zack in the back of the head.

This lead to Jessiah's mother scolding him, and his father backing her up, which only lead to a family feud. I stayed quiet throughout the entire thing.

Eventually, we pulled into the Texas Roadhouse parking lot. Zack and Jared were the first ones out, screaming with joy. I climbed over the middle seats as gracefully as possible, which wasn't very considering I landed on my face, filling the entire car with laughter. After I got over the peak of the embarrassment factor, I even laughed a bit myself.

On one side of the table, Jessiah, Zack, and I sat. On the other side, was Jessiah's parents and Jared. I sat in between Zack and Jessiah. Needless to say, I felt more than a little bit awkward and uncomfortable.

I felt even worse when we were handed menus and everyone began talking of what they wanted to order. I scanned the menu and cringed at the lack of calorie numbers and mass pictures of fatty burgers and heaping plates of grease. I scanned the salad section, though I hated to be the cliché of a girl buying a salad around her boyfriend. There wasn't even one salad that didn't contain some type of meat or something other than vegetables.

In the end, I ordered soup, a small bowl of chicken and vegetable soup that I knew I would regret eating. I took small sips of the broth throughout dinner, occasionally pitching in to a small conversation with a shake of my head or a "mm-hmm".

By the time the check came, I had hardly eaten half of the soup. Jessiah looked at me worriedly.

"Do you feel sick or something?" He glanced at my uneaten soup.

I shook my head. "Just not that hungry, s'all. I ate earlier," I lied.

He relaxed a bit, but the worry was still there. I smiled at him, and my heart beat faster when he smiled back. I relaxed against the back of the booth. It was going to be okay, I was sure of it.