Misfits

fourteen

"We're late. We can't show up now. Let's just call her and say you got sick."

I rolled my eyes. Michael had been whining like this for the past ten minutes, ever since we had left his house. Talking to him sometimes truly reminded me of having a conversation with a little kid.

"Shut up," I replied in annoyance. "Also, why should I be the one who takes the blame? You're the adult here."

Michael eyed me. "Because you're the reason we're late. It took you forever to pick an outfit."

"Duh. I can't just show up there looking like a sack of potatoes." I checked the time on my phone. We were pretty late, but not enough that it could be considered rude. "Dress to impress, ever heard of that?"

The man next to me sighed. "Being polite and on time, does that sound familiar?"

"Woah. You're getting cocky," I stated. "Never knew you even had that ability."

Michael shrugged and fixed the collar of his shirt for what had to be the tenth time since we had left his house. There was no reason for him to be this nervous, it was just dinner with a pretty woman.

Then I realized that this was probably the first dinner he had after this Lana-person had left him, and my certainty of tonight being a success started to shake a little.

Well, I would be there to save the day if things got too awkward. There really was nothing to worry about. End of story.

"This is it," Michael suddenly said, his gaze fixed on one of the houses. It was small but neat, with lamps hanging from the roof to lighten up the front porch. Laughter was coming from the backyard, and the familiar sound caused me relax a little.

"Looks nice enough," I stated with a smile. "Let's go to the back. They seem to be there already."

"Of course they're all there, we're incredibly late," Michael mumbled, causing me to roll my eyes again.

"Only like fifteen minutes. We're fine, so just relax and enjoy the evening."

I turned and walked around the house, Michael following closely behind. As expected everyone was already gathered around a table. There were even more lights here, some of them having different colors, and quiet music filled the air.

"Kiri, Michael!" Anna greeted cheerfully and set down a plate of paninis to come over to us. She first pulled me into a tight hug since I was closer, then she did the same with Michael. "I thought you wouldn't make it!"

"Yeah, I got a little sick," I said as it was the first thing that came to my mind, scratching the back of my neck. "But we're super hungry now, aren't we?"

I glanced at Michael who quickly nodded. "Uh, yes. We brought you this."

Anna's smile grew even wider when she took the bottle of wine from Michael. "Wow, thank you! We're so going to open this tonight!" she said, pulling him in for another quick hug. "Come on, sit down! I'll just get the rest of the food and be with you in a minute!"

As she disappeared in the house I looked over at the table. Three other people were sitting there, two women and a man, all looking at us expectantly.

"Hi, I'm Kiri," I introduced myself as I sat down on one of the free chairs. "I guess you already know my dad, Michael."

"Hi," he said, sitting down next to me.

"We haven't met yet, have we?" a woman asked. She was wearing a friendly smile as she held her hand out to Michael. "I'm Amelia, hi."

They shook hands, and the other two introduced themselves as Jack and Donna. They all seemed nice enough and quickly fell back into their previous conversation, not hesitating to include Michael and me.