Pretending (Westshore Series #1)

Chapter Forty - Chocolate Cake

Warner and Kenji both stiffen on either side of me and I see Warner begin to open his mouth to defend me or say something not so nice to the women at our table. I squeeze his thigh and give him a look that tells him to say nothing. He frowns but closes his mouth, I can still see the tension in his body though.

Thankfully Tracey joins our table without Warner's dad, and I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. After Tracey is sitting my mom and her friends keep their catty comments to themselves. That is until the food starts coming out.

The servers bring out the first course and I can feel my mom's eyes burning into me. I picked the same appetizer she did to please her and even try to eat as slow as possible like she taught me. Everything is going fine until the main course is brought out.

"Juliet and I can split the main" my mom tells the server as if I was a little kid who needs their mom to speak for them. I clench my fork as tightly as possible to avoid throwing it at her face.

Warner has a similar expression on his face and even though I told him not to say anything his big mouth opens "I think Juliet can speak for herself when it comes to how much she can eat."

My mom looks shocked that someone would actually call her out for her toxic behaviour but chooses to ignore Warner's comment. I am brought half a serving and I can feel the anger radiating off of Warner to my left. So much so that I place my hand on his thigh and it is my turn to give him a reassuring squeeze. "It's okay this is just how she is" I whisper.

"It's not okay. None of this is okay." He grunts louder than necessary. Luckily Kenji is conversing with the entire table so nobody notices the tension. Warner gets up and I see him talking to our server pointing at me, but when he comes back and I question him about it he says nothing.

Desert is finally brought out and I could cry tears of joy that this was almost over. Warner and I had plans to change into pyjamas and watch Christmas movies in his home theatre after this dreadful dinner and it was the only thing getting me through.

However, I am brought a giant piece of chocolate cake, the cake Warner made himself and my mom cannot hide the horror on her face. Warner smiles at her shock. A part of me is excited that it is an excuse to eat chocolate cake which is something I would never let myself do. But the other part of me thinks of what my mom said about how whatever I eat will show in my dress and I frown.

"That's not what I ordered her." My mom frowns and looks down at her fruit plate, the same one I was supposed to get. 

"That's weird there must have been a mix up" Warner smiles sweetly at her.

I glance at the giant piece of cake and remember how good it tasted earlier. A few bites won't hurt, right? I take my fork and dig in, grabbing a perfect ratio of icing and cake. It was just as good as I remembered, I missed cake so much.

Before I can take my second bite my mom frowns at me "Are you really going to eat all that?"

I drop my fork, so the second bite doesn't make it to my mouth. I feel Warner's entire body stiffen next to me. Even Kenji who had been calm all night stops mid-conversation with Tracey to glare at my mom.

"Jessica it is Christmas of course she is going to eat the cake. Even if it wasn't, everyone always has room for cake." Tracey speaks up and I was glad it was her and not either guy sitting next to me. I don't think they would be so sweet about it.

My mom shuts up, not wanting to make a scene in front of her friends and I smile to myself. I wouldn't always have people around me to defend me, but it was nice to have them for this moment. I make sure to give my mom a huge smile the next time I take a bite of cake, showing off my teeth that are covered with chocolate. Kenji snickers at my side at the display so I give him the same chocolaty smile.