Mailboy (Wattys 2015 Winner)

7. He's Not Yours

“That’s because she’s not,” I heard Nico mumble. After the attention was averted away from me, I elbowed him in the ribs and he turned to glare at me. His eyes were especially piercing today; they stood out from his outfit, which was a gray short-sleeved button up shirt and blue jeans.

“You’re rude,” I said.

“You’re annoying,” he replied.

“Be nice, you’re in my house. I can kick you out if I want to.”

He smirked. “You don’t kick out people you’ve kissed.”

Damn it.

“The hell? What are you talking about?” I tried to keep myself from blurting out that I knew everything.

“Zoey! I don’t know what you’re doing with Nico at the door, but it’d be nice if you come help me put the food, yeah?”

I blushed and hurried towards my mom. She’d cooked her famous lasagna and chicken wings. The smell of the house was mouthwatering. I even caught Skye, who had impeccable table manners, lick her lips once at the sight of the lasagna.

Once the table was set and the food was placed, everyone dug in. Nico was sitting across form me, Skye at my side and Julia on the other. The parents were sitting at each extremity of the table. Conversation flowed between the two, he was  a joker. Mom laughed more than I’ve seen her do so in  a long time.

“This is delicious, Mrs. Hunter,” said Nico, putting another chicken wing in his plate.

“Thank you!” She turned her eyes to Mr. Forrest. “You have a very polite son.”

Mr. Forrest looked at his son with an amused look. “Indeed, he is. But your girls, they’re all so beautiful!”

For the hundredth time this night, Mom blushed and waved her hand in a way that said stop it you.

“So, where’s their father? Is he out?”

The subject made all three of us, Mom, Skye and I, freeze. I wiped my mouth with a napkin and sipped on my apple juice. Skye looked at Mom and back at her food.

“Uh, he left us a while back,” said Mom, stuttering slightly. At James’ bewildered and pitiful look, she said: “Not dead, I mean. Just left.”

“But he’s gonna be back! Really soon, he just wanted to see the Fell tower!” exclaimed Julia, grinning at Mr. Forrest. “Right, Mommy?”

Mom nodded. “The Eiffel tower, sweetie.”

Mr. Forrest gave my mom a small sorry smile, “I hope he does come back.”

No one answered him. Nico pointed to the bottle of wine and ushered to my mom.

“Could I have some?”

She opened her red mouth to deny, but she nodded. “Just a little.”

The meal was soon over for everybody, I was cleaning up with Skye. She bumped into my hip while cleaning out the plates.

“Mom’s down, eh?”

I nodded. “The daddy subject wasn’t good.”

Nico came in and helped out as well. He stayed very silent throughout the whole dinner, making comments only when someone was directly addressing to him. I knew I should have been worried, since this was unlike him, but I tried to keep my mind off him for the moment.

When the last plate was dried and in the cupboard, Mom came in the kitchen and cut out a small chocolate cake.

“Take some wine and sit outside with Nico,” she ordered, completely concentrated on placing a cherry on top of each piece.