The Beautiful Ones

47- I Hate This And I Hate That

I called Alice and told her that I was coming over to get dressed and then when I arrived, she already had an outfit set out for me- a conservative blouse with dark skinny jeans. I gave her a quick thank you and hurried next door, bracing myself for the very worst.

When I got inside, Lance was sitting in the living room with a frown on his face with Keegan by his side.

“What’s the emergency?” I wondered.

“We’re having a surprise family reunion.” He informed me. “And you weren’t answering your phone.”

I shrugged. “I had a long night, where is everybody then?”

Both Lance and Keegan stood up from the couch.

“And no offense, Keegan, but why are you here?” I wondered in confusion.

“To make sure your brother doesn’t get arrested.” He supplied chirpily.

I frowned deeply. “What did you do, Lance?”

“Nothing,” He laughed. “Mom and Dad are in the dining room and Margaret is upstairs on the phone with Victoria.”

“Danny said that you said that it was emergency- I don’t see an emergency here.”

“Well, Mom wants to see you and they have to leave tonight, so she told me to get you here.” He explained.

“Yeah and now that you’re here, I don’t have to be and I have a date so I gotta go.” Keegan announced, tapping away on his phone.

“Whoa, with like, a girl?” I asked with raised eyebrows. “Since when do you have a girlfriend?”

“I haven’t,” He shrugged. “Not for a really long time, but I do now so I gotta go.” With that, he was waving us a goodbye before exiting the house with a hurried pace. I can’t ever remember that guy having a girlfriend and I’ve known him since eighth grade when he was a freshman in high school, which is when he became friends with Lance. I mean, I know that he hooks up with girls all the time, which is expected because he is in a fraternity, but he’s never had a real girlfriend.

“Okay, are you ready?” Lance asked.

“Ready for what?” I wondered, obviously still confused.

“We gotta go in the dining room for a breakfast or a brunch or whatever they had the chefs prepare.”

“Oh, and you’re not going to say anything about you-know-what, right?”

He was silent.

“Lance, come on, we’ve talked about this before. Don’t bring it up.”

He sighed and started walking to the door that separated the living room from the dining room. “I’ll try my best.”

“I mean it.” I whispered right before he flipped the door open.

“Me too.” He muttered as I looked up to see both of my parents sitting at the table with five plates set with brunch food set. Two of them were obviously taken so both me and Lance sat on the same side as our mother and we left the other empty plate for Margaret beside dad.

“Hey, Mom.” Lance sighed.

“Hello, Lance,” She responded curtly. “Zoey.”

“Hi,” I muttered.

“So, how’s school?” My dad wondered as I bit down into my food.

I looked up and glared to silently inform him that I would not answer his question because I wasn’t talking to him. I wasn’t like, pouting or anything, I just didn’t want to fight and I didn’t want to cause drama or anything. I had a really amazing night last night with Danny and I didn’t want to ruin the morning just because my dad is a horrible person.