Sidelines ✔️

56 • what is he doing here? • 56

"What, is it not enough?" Peter asked him.

"Try too much. It's almost like soup."

"I think it's lovely." I told him, knowing my Mom's cooking was way worse.

Harry raised his eyebrows at my compliment. "White lies can be good, but sometimes people need the honest truth."

"I've got the message, Harry. Thank you, Charlotte, but Harry's right. This taste's like crap." Peter smiled, suddenly looking amused.

"You're a good cook, Dad. You just can't cook pasta. Every time you get it wrong." Tommy said.

"You still want seconds now Tommy?" Harry smirked. "You can have mine."

Tommy looked at Harry irritated, but snatched his plate and scraped the pasta onto his own.

"Hey, where's my half?" Sebastian said. "Give me half of Harry's."

"It can't be that bad if you three keep fighting over it." Peter said, taking a bite of his, before scrunching his nose in disgust. I tried not to laugh as I watched him take a sip of the wine to repel the taste.

"You can have mine." I said to Sebastian. "I'm not hungry."

Sebastian looked at me and raised an eyebrow. "Unlike Tommy and Harry, you need to eat something."

"I'm good, really. You can have it." I said. "I just don't have an apetite."

"Sebastian's right, Charlotte. It might not be the best, but you should get some nutrients in your system."

"Even if those nutrients taste like crap." Sebastian said, offering a teasing smirk at his Dad before reaching over and picking up Tommy's plate. Sebastian scraped more than half of it onto his plate returning Tommy's with less than half of what it had originally on it. "Food, Tommy. That's how I look like this and you look like that. If you eat more and work out more, you'll be halfway to looking as good as me." He smirked.

"halfway?" Harry questioned.

"Yeah, well there's only so much you can do to look as ripped as me. Half is working out and eating right, the other half is genetics." Sebastian shrugged.

"Dude, we have the same genetics." Harry said.

"I got the better pick of the bunch." Sebastian responded, shoving a spoonful of pasta in his mouth.

"Modest much?" I said.

"You don't need to be modest when you're Sebastian Lakewood." Sebastian replied.

"Dude, you really have a big head." Tommy said, smirking at him.

I couldn't help, but let a smile creep it's way onto my face. Sebastian shrugged, but looked rather amused and pleased with himself.

Before anyone could say anything else, we heard the click of high heels on the hard wooden floor. Soon, my Mom had come and sat down at the opposite end of the table.

"Charlotte that was your father on the phone." She said.

The smile on my face vanished.

"He's been worried about you, he wants to see you."

"And?" I questioned, pushing the pasta around my plate.

"I said he could come round tomorrow." My Mom replied.

"Mom! You have no right to just invite him over." I argued. "I don't want to see him."

"He told me he's been trying to call you again. You haven't replied."