Something blossoming

Chapter 4: Dinner

Per my mothers request I wear a short little baby doll dress the color of a dusty pink rose. It was puffy in the arms and skirt. But tighter around my breasts and torso. I look in this mirror after curling my hair and doing heavier make up. The dress is ugly but cute? Interesting. I pair it with my babydoll shoes only because it'll piss off my mom. I can't wait to see her contain herself around guests.

Speaking of, they should be arriving soon. I head out to the foyer where we are all to meet, again. Deja vu. My sister walks out as I pass her room. Her body was decorated in a gorgeous red floor length dress and with no back. She looks stunning.
"You look like you belong in Willy Wonka's factory" she says over her shoulder, continuing to walk towards the staircase.

I internally sigh. She's not wrong. Being the youngest daughter I still get treated like a child, and it doesn't help that I'm way shorter than my family. And It seems I was never able to lose the baby fat. The four of us arrive in the foyer. My sister and I are lining up next to our parents like before, however now, a few steps back we both have bodyguards.
Shortly after the doorbell rings, our butler rushes to open it. The double doors peel open to expose the family behind it. An old man, a slightly younger woman with too much makeup. And a boy. That must be the son I'm supposed to seduce.

My mother cheerfully greets them like old friends, my dad making some lame joke. They turn to introduce my sister and I. Without missing a beat I plaster my best fake smile on.
"These are my daughters, Rose and Aurora." My mother turns to us with a look of 'don't embarrass me'.

"Hello! It's so nice to meet you. I've heard such wonderful things about you Judge Hue. And Mrs. Hue may I say that dress looks stunning tonight." My sister beams at them. Mrs. Hue thanked her for the compliment. I turn to my mother who looks pleased. My sister has always been good at playing make believe. She could drop out of school to be an actress, she's pretty enough too.

"It's nice to meet you as well" I say with a small smile. My mom will not be pleased with my greeting especially after my sisters. Mine falling short from mediocre at best. I just couldn't muster the fakeness today.

My mom led us into the dining room as she showered Judge Hue with attention and flattery. I look towards my sister who is buttering up Mrs. Hues as well. I can only catch their high girly giggles from here, but I'm assuming their conversation is something along the lines of fashion or gossip. Leaving me trailing behind with the son and bodyguards. Great.

"Hi. I don't think I introduced myself, I'm Tristan." The son says with a smile, extending his hand for a shake. I take it in mine.

"It's nice to meet you too. It's so nice having someone my age around." I smile, trying my best to be friendly for my mom's gain. I'd rather be anywhere than here right now. Before we reach the dining room I try to channel my old self. The bright, bubbly, life of the party girl. One who would love tonight's dinner. Trying to force myself to be someone I used to be, just for the night. Just for the night I repeat to myself.

We arrive at the dining room, I'm seated next to Tristan of course. On my otherside is my mom, next to her my dad at the head of the table, to his right is Judge Hue, then his wife, and Rose at the end, across from me. Well at least all isn't lost. Since Rose is across from me I have direct line of sight to her bodyguard. Maybe I can pretend I'm flirting with him all night instead of Tristan. Almost immediately servants come out placing salads in front of us before the main course.

Everyone is engrossed in conversations with one another. I internally sigh, guess it's my turn. I turn so my body is slightly facing Tristan. "So do you go to school?" I fake interest.
"Yes actually, I just finished my bachelors and I'm entering law school this fall. How about you?" Tristan questions.
"Oh wow, are you following in your dad's footsteps? Yeah I got my bachelors in art. I'm not really sure what I'm going to do now." I state, this is true. I have no idea what I want to do in life. I only studied art because it seemed easy and I like admiring other artists, though I'm not one myself.
"Well with a silly degree like that you won't get any good job. But I'm sure with your parents' money you don't need one. You can just marry rich and be a housewife." He says seriously.

Are you kidding me? What a douche. This is going to be one long night. I hum in response. Not trusting my words as I might say something that will ruin tonight for everyone. I go back to pushing around my salad in the bowl. I'm not very hungry. I never really am, I just eat to stay alive basically. Soon after the servants clear our bowls and redress the table to prepare for the main course, which follows after. My parents looked over nothing when planning this meal. A Filet Mignon is placed in front of everyone, with garlic mashed potatoes and asparagus. My face morphs into disgust. I nearly gag looking at the slab of meat in front of me. Of course my mom didn't take into consideration that I'm vegetarian. My family views it as a silly little phase, "a new trend the kids are hopping on" they had stated when told them 4 years go that I wanted to stop eating meat.

"Is something wrong?" Tristan questions next to me.
"Uh"- shit. I look up seeing the whole table stop what they were doing to look at me, I see out of the corner of my eye my mothers glaring at me, daring to ruin her dinner.
"No! I'm fine I just thought of a memory is all" I laugh off and shoot him my best fake smile I can muster. Hoping I covered my tracks well enough. To my relief everyone goes back to what they were doing.

I fake more small talk with Tristan, laughing too much at his stupid awful jokes, even placing my hand on his shoulder once. But immediately removed it when I thought I saw the green eyed guard glare holes into my hand connected to Tristan. Weird.

Dinner is nearly finished, the last bites being slowly shoved into the mouths leading to bloated stomachs that ate too much. Me being one of them. Caught up in my thoughts as always, until I feel a hand rest on my upper thigh. I literally jumped out of my seat. Once again becoming the focal point of everyone's gaze. Some look annoyed, like Rose, others looking pissed like mom. I even looked at the hot bodyguard, he looked, concerned? No, that can't be right. I'm seeing things. I look back down at Tristan who looks pissed. What's his problem? Thinking fast I reach down and grab Tristan's hand, yanking him up.

"Oh my gosh I just had the most amazing idea! You must come see our flower garden, it's so beautiful, especially at night!" I "happily" exclaim.
I see my mother go to open her mouth, based on her expression it was to scold me. But she quickly shuts it when Judge Hue butts in.
"That's a wonderful idea! Go on Tristan! You know girls love that stuff, humor her." he puffs out, ending it with a wink aimed at his son. It appears the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, or in this case I'm not even sure the apple fell. What vile men.
"Alright father" he turns to me, "Lead the way Love".

I want to gag but instead I bat my eyelashes up at him, giving my best doe eyes and grateful smile before turning around and heading towards the back exit. To be honest I don't want to be alone with Tristan, but it might be better than sitting at that table any longer. And my body guard will be with me so nothing bad can happen. Right?