In for the win

Chapter 22

ETHAN

Thank god this nightmare was over. But it wasn't all over. An other nightmare was going to begin, or that's what Amara had been going on about for the last hour in the Uber we were taking to her family's house. The family house was about 2 jours away from the airport. I could see she was stressed because she was constantly fidgeting with her hands for half the journey. Her leg was shaking, constantly making the ground beneath my feet tremble. I placed my hand on her thigh to stop the shaking, giving her a supportive smile. She shoots me a small one back, focusing her gaze out the window. About twenty minutes later, the car pulls up into the driveaway of a big white house. The front door is in the middle, surrounded by various plants and lots of orange flowers. I look up at the three stories high house, and then at Amara. "You never told me you grew up in that." "My step-dad has means. I never took it for granted though, he's technically not my father. He just helped me get into BHU. That's all. As long as he treats my mom right, I respect him. I nod. I step out of the car and watch as she walks past me. She rapidly walks towards the door and stops on the doormat. She turns herself to me and signs me to come over. "Move!" she whispers. "All right, all right I'm here." As she's about to knock on the light wood, I stop her, and fist her hand in mine. She looks up at me, and then back at our locked hands. She's about to say something that I whisper in her ear. "If you want your parents to believe we are together, we are going to have to play better than that." "I guess you're right." She knocks three times repeatedly and then steps back an inch. I hear a distant rumbling behind the door coming closer. When the door opens, Amara puts her free arm around her stomach and sighs heavily.

"Oh hi sweetie!" a tall woman exclaims, holding up her arms so that Amara can hug her. "Hi mom" she says, embracing her. Amara's mom is tall, has long straight brown hair resting on her sharp shoulders. She's wearing a crème blouse and black fitted pants. She's wearing gold shiny ear loops and a dangly necklace. She looked really sharp, and actually reminded me of my eighth grade teacher. "You must be Ethan, it's a pleasure to meet you." she says, turning to me. "Hello Mrs. Preston, it's a pleasure to meet you too." I politely smile back. "Oh please call me Sonya." I smile. Amara was the spitting image of her mother, except her eyes. Sonya's eyes were greyish, whilst Amara's were emerald green. Suddenly, a tall blonde man steps out of the doorframe. I see as Amara's muscles tenses up. He looks down at her and stretches out a thin smile. "Amara. Glad you made it okay." She returns the same expression. The man then turns to me and stretches out his hand for me to shake it. "Thomas. Thomas O'Connor." "It's a pleasure to meet you sir." A cold breeze passes through us and Amara shivers a little bit. "Why are we all standing her in the cold like dumb sheep." Sonya joyfully lets out, signing us inside.

When I step inside the house, I am welcomed by the warm smell of roasted chicken. The hall was big, but the dinning area was even bigger. Amara hadn't lied, her parents were crazy rich. Sonya, takes off my jacket and hangs it up the closet, followed by Amara. The two of them then head to what I guess is the kitchen, leaving me alone with Thomas, his broad figure stacked in front of me, dead eyeing me. There was something about this man, that I couldn't quite get. Amara had told me he was special, but I just couldn't quite think it through. "So. Ethan is it? Sonya tells me you play hockey?" His sharp voice tearing down the silence between us. "Yes, sir. I do. I'be been playing since I could walk. Ranked captain too." I reply. I see as he nods, still no smile on his face. "May I offer you a glass of wine? Pinot?" "No thank you, I don't drink during holidays." "Good." For the next ten minutes, our conversation is the same, cold and short. I'm finally relieved when Amara and her mum come back from the kitchen. "Shall we?" Thomas signs me to the dinning table. We sit down around the big round dinning table, and Sonya comes smiling out the kitchen, a big plate of potatoes in her hands. She sits down and hands me the baked beans. Amara serves herself with potatoes when her mom interrupts
"Honey. We're having dessert afterwards." Amara looks up at her and sighs. "I know", she replies coldly, poking her fork in another potatoes. "Honey I-" "Mom, please don't start." Amara cuts her. "Amara. Don't talk like that to your mother." Thomas says, staring intensely at Amara. The tension suddenly rises at the table, and I eat my beans in silence. "Anyways." Sonya hushes calmly. "Ethan. Tell us more about herself."

After about an hour of talking with both her parents, I finally understood why Amara felt the way she did towards her parents. Thomas was snappy and quite judgy, and Sonya just sat there, agreeing to everything her husband said. After dinner, I offered my help to Sonya, to help clean up. I followed her in the kitchen and started putting stuff in the dishwasher. The door close behind me and even though Sonya was talking to me, I couldn't help but hear the loud conversation Mara and Thomas were having in the dining room. They were speaking heavily, and both were visibly angry. I knew they didn't like each other very much, but I hadn't know to what point. Now I knew. I decided to head near them, swinging the door open. The discussion ended almost immediately when I entered. I could see Amara's eyes were wet, and Thomas walked away, nodding to me. When he left I came towards Amara. "Are you okay?" "Yea. I'm fine." "You sure?" "Yes. I am. Really." Even though she had answered me, I knew she wasn't. During dessert, her leg hadn't stopped shaking, and she was visibly unwell. After dinner, I decided it was time for us to head home. I called an Uber and thanked Sonya for the wonderful dinner. Thomas waved coldly to me as I left. Amara did the same. I didn't want to push her to tell me what they had been shouting about, it was too soon right now. The whole ride home was silent. Amara was looking out the window, her leg still violently shaking up and down. I placed my hand on top of it, stopping her movement. She looked up to me and smiled. She rested her head on my shoulder and closed her eyes. I stared for a while at her closed eyes, desperately wanting to know what she was thinking about. I still didn't know what was going on between us, but I definitely liked where it was going. I was fine with maybes for now. Maybes we're my thing now.