Bad Timing

Sette

“Relax, honey,” Natalia said calmly, her smile not faltering one bit. “At least he called to let us know he’s coming late.”

“He’s seventeen, for Christ’s sakes. He needs to be more responsible!”

Paul’s outburst was incredulous. Never have I ever seen the usual free-spirited, jovial, cheerful man angered or frustrated. He didn’t seem like the type of father to lose his patience over the simple fact that his child was late to dinner. I guess my judgments were wrong.

I couldn’t bring my eyes to land on Paul’s angry face. He looked scarier than the burly man that controlled the music at The Pit. Instead, I gulped awkwardly and twiddled my thumbs underneath the table while I stared at my porcelain plate.

“He’s having problems right now. You know that, Paul,” Natalia tried to reason with Paul.

Paul sat back in his chair and exhaled loudly, shaking his head. The dining room was silent besides the sounds of clinking as Maia played with her fork and plate.

“I got a hundred on my spelling test,” Maia announced in hopes to ease the tension.

“That’s great, sweetheart!” Natalia praised at the same time Paul said, “Keep up the work, Mai.”

Patting Maia on the back with a bright smile, I said, “Wow, making those words into a song really helped. I’ll buy you makeup as a reward for your hard work.”

Maia’s eyes widened. “You will?”

“Of course! You deserve it!”

“Pinky promise?” She asked, holding out her pinky. I wrapped my pinky around hers and laughed when a bright smile graced her face. “Thanks, Emmy! I couldn’t have done it without you! Did you know that I had the highest score in my class?”

“Really?” Natalia gasped, placing her hand over chest. “That’s awesome! I’m so proud of you!”

“Yeah and everyone else was begging me to sing the song Emmy and I made! It was so cool!”

“Wow, my sister’s a smarty pants,” a familiar husky voice said from behind us.

Everyone’s attention was drawn to Noah. He had a genuine smile on his face as he walked into the dining room. I was embarrassed to admit that I ogled at him. I personally found it hard not to check him out especially when he was wearing a muscle tee and basketball shorts, looked like he just finished a good workout, and had a smile on his face all at the same time. There was still a light trace of the bruise on his cheek, but he still looked … hot.

Oh God, I’m such a pervert.

“Congrats, Mai,” Noah commended while he ruffled his sister’s hair. He swooped down to kiss his mom on the cheek and said, “Hey mom. Sorry I’m late.”

“Hey, honey, how was the gym? How’s Callum?” She asked as he plopped down on the seat opposite me.

“It was the same as usual. Callum’s all right,” Noah informed his mother. He looked at me, gave me a single nod as a greeting and turned to his father. In a strained voice and a forced smile, he greeted, “Hey, dad.”

“Noah,” Paul simply said with his lips set in a straight line.

It was obvious that Paul and Noah didn’t have the best relationship. They barely joined hands when we said grace and hardly looked at each other as they passed several dishes to the other.

“How’s the food?” Natalia asked. “Spero che sia bene.”

Although I desperately wanted to gush that the pasta was the best pasta I’ve ever eaten, I also desperately wanted to continue to stuff my mouth. I was about to compliment her food to be polite, but almost choked on my food at the words that rolled off Noah’s tongue perfectly.