Heart Strings

039

Disaster.

The entire thing is a disaster!

The tension swimming through the air is so much it feels stuffy in this airconditioned dinning room. I swallow down a big chunk of Caroline's signature apple pie thanking the clouds that dinner is almost over while focusing all my attention on my meal so as to not accidently catch any of their gazes that I know are burning down on me.

The lucky part is that no one has said a single word and I'm hoping it would stay that way till they are up and out of here.... But no Caroline being the sweet soul she is and sometimes annoying character of trying to fix everything goes ahead and speaks up, directing her question to the unwanted couple.

"So, how was the wedding?"

It is quite obvious she doesn't really care how the wedding went, neither do I or Kyle but she is just trying to make light conversation, that I most definitely do not appreciate.

"Fabulous." Andrew comments with a faint smile on his lips and his new wife goes ahead to elaborate on the topic at hand.

"It was so beautiful you should have been there, this romantic here went all out to make it perfect." She grabbed his hands in hers squeezing lightly with a vibrant smile on her lips that she shared with him.

I don't know if it's just an intuition but she always seems to have on that same smile on her face whenever I see her. The same smile that looks like she's practiced over and over a million times in front of her mirror so much that she's perfected it into looking real.

I cringe watching as Kyle's mum returned her smile while biting down on her meal.

"You know," Brittany goes on, directing her attention to me "My husband..." she pauses for a moment seeming to love the taste of those words on her tongue that she repeats it again "My husband was really anticipating your arrival, he'd done so much to the point he arranged the reception menu to your favorites. It's a pity you didn't show up." I catch Andrew secluded throwing her a warning side glare.

Lifting up a brow, I hold in a scoff at her declaration "Oh really? Enlighten me then, what are my favorites?" As far as I know, Andrew knows nothing about me literally, other than my physical attributes, I bet he doesn't even know my favorite color.

"Violet" he says it so softly I can't deny the evident shock that has me paused and looking up at him "the theme was violet because I know you love the color and your favorite meal?" he smiles softly "If spring rolls and banana Ice-cream with peanut toppings would fit in a reception desert it would have been perfect but I'd settled for those whoopie pies. All Annie's idea."

I sit there, mouth agape, not believing what I was hearing.

"That's so thoughtful." I can basically hear the smile in Caroline's voice as she says that. Kyle on the other hand doesn't say a word but just silently and sluggishly eats his food.

There's a pregnant silence for a few munities before Andrew speaks up again.

"So have you started applying for colleges?"

I think that is a dumb question considering the summer is literally just our neighbor and everything that had to do with school and papers this season was done and over with a long time ago but I don't voice my thoughts, actually I don't give him the privilege of hearing my voice at all.

Kyle notices the dragging tension and decides to reply in my steed. "Yeah actually, she won a scholarship offer in Boston, Berkeley and Florida."

Andrew nods but doesn't seem the least bit impressed as he continues to press for answers. "Have you tried applying for Harvard? They have amazing facilities especially for science majors, or Yale? they're great too."