Mason walked into his house with me right behind him. He didn't even tell his mom that he invited me to dinner, but she didn't seem to mind. I felt unwanted at first but then David ran down the stairs and ran to hug me. "Em Em is here!!!!!" he said as I hugged him back. I felt more relaxed with him happy.
Mason walked me with an attached David to the kitchen. "Hey mom, is it okay if Emma stays for dinner? Her mom won't be home for a couple of hours." he said. Kelly, at least I think that was her name, looked at me with a warm smile.
"Of course, if your mom can't be home soon enough for dinner, you can always come eat with us. Our door is always open to family." she said. I felt like I was invading their house, but the look she gave me made me feel relaxed, like I was already part of this family. I gave her a smile.
"Thank you, and I'm sorry about intruding." I said politely. She shook her head.
"You're not, don't worry about it sweetie." she said as she continued making something.
"So you're staying for dinner right?!" David asks all happy. I smiled at him.
"Yeah." I said as I looked at Mason. He gave me a wink and went to the living room to sit down. "Hey, where's your bathroom?" I asked politely to Mason. He looked up.
"Up the stairs, turn right and it will be the second door on your right." he said as he looked back to his phone. David sat down next to Mason, and I headed up the stairs. Once I reached the top I turned right and walked to the second door. I heard something on my left, I turned to see a door slightly closed. I walked closer without thinking and open it a little more to see, and I saw Jerome.
Jerome was crying.
I remember that Jerome was the oldest, nineteen, I think I heard someone say. He was going to college at Yale, training to be a doctor. I saw a single tear fall and hit his hand. I backed up, but I guess he heard me because he turned around and saw me. "Oh, I'm sorry...I was just looking for the bathroom." I said as I backed away. I found the bathroom and shut the door behind me.
Why did I have to go see what that noise was? Now it's going to be awkward. After I was done going to the bathroom, I opened the door and started to head back down the stairs, but Jerome was waiting for me. His eyes looked clear now, the only way you could tell he was crying was if you stared at his brown eyes. He was wearing a plaid shit and jeans with his black glasses. "Emma, we need to talk." he said as he crossed his arms. I swallowed the lump in my throat.
"Look, I'm sorry for walking in on you earlier." I started off but he held up his hand, signaling me to stop.
"It's fine. What we need to talk about is what you saw. I'm not stupid, I know you saw me cry." he said. I took a deep breath, afraid of where he was going to take this. "What you need to know is that you're the only one who has seen me like that." he said looking me dead in the eyes.
"You mean...no one has seen you...cry?" I asked, a little confused. He gave me a sad smile, and I knew it was true.
"No one has ever seen me like that before, and I would like to keep it that way." he said as I nodded. He clearly didn't want me to say anything to anyone about it, and trust me, I wasn't going to. "Our family may look strong on the outside, but we're all broken inside." he said with a serious look.
"What do you mean by broken?" I asked now curious. He gave me a weird look, as if he didn't think I would ask. I was about to tell him he didn't need to answer me, but he did anyway.
"We all have been through some tough times. And we may look happy, we may even be smiling and laughing, but we're just putting on a mask." He said. I didn't know if what he said was true for the others in the family, but for some reason I wanted to believe him.
"I don't understand why you're telling me this, I mean...you hardly met me and you're telling me personal stuff. Why is your family so willing to open up to me?" I asked with a shaky voice. He thought about it for a couple seconds.
"Well, the reason why I'm telling you this is because if you're going to be part of our family, you need to know our struggles and flaws. For everyone else, I think the reason why they're opening up to you because we knew you before we actually met you. It's like we've known you our whole lives." he said. I thought he was done, but he was just thinking. "Also, because you remind us of someone." he said almost too low for me to hear.
"I remind you of someone? Who?" I asked and at the same time I wish I didn't ask him. He went pale so fast I thought he was going to faint. "You don't have to answer that, I'll just leave you alone now." I said quick as I headed to the stairs.
"Someone we lost too soon." he said right before I was out of earshot. I froze, but then kept walking down the stairs. Mason was sitting on the couch with David and Nate, waiting for me. He smiled when he saw me.
"Dinners done!" came Kelly's voice from the kitchen. All the boys filled into the kitchen. I sat between Benji and David, David always wanted to sit next to me. Jerome was the last one to reach the table in silence. They passed the food around as we put what we wanted on our plates. Tonight we were having chicken strips with curly fires, I loved chicken.
"So Emma, how are you and your mom settling in?" Kelly asked in a sweet way. I took a bit of the chicken and then looked at her.
"Um...we're doing fine, or at least the best we can." I said honestly. The truth was that I was setting in with Arizona, but it didn't mean my relationship with my parents were any better.
"Well that's to be expected since you had to switch schools and all." she said nicely. She didn't mention my parents divorce, which I was happy for. I nodded and ate the rest of my dinner in peace. Every now or then I would make a quick glance to Jerome to see if he was alright and he was, a little too much. He was laughing and joking around with his parents and brothers. It was like nothing had happened up stairs.
Of course, the three boys flirted with me a little. Jerome's nickname for me was baby girl, Benji's was sweetheart, and Mason's was, of course, queen sassy pants. There nicknames for me made me feel more connected to them than I thought I'd ever be. After dinner was over, Mason offered to walk me home. Of course I tried to reject him, because my house was a few houses down the street, but his mom wasn't going to let me walk alone in the dark.
So that was how I was stuck walking home with Mason at eight at night, on a school night. "So did you like tonight's dinner, sassy pants?" he asked awkwardly. I rolled my eyes at him.
"As a matter of fact, yes. I loved your mother's chicken strips." I said with a serious face. He laughed a little and I raised my eyebrow at him.
"What's so funny?" I asked.
"Nothing, it's just, my dad made those, not my mom. But I'll let them know that you loved it so much." he said with a smile. He bumped into me in a playful way, and I nudged him back. "So now, you're flirting with me?" he asked with a sexy grin on his face. I instantly blushed.
"No, you bumped into me first." I said. He smiled even bigger.
"But you bumped me back, which means you were flirting with me too." he said getting closer to me. I must have been as red as a lobster. "Emit it, you were flirting with me." he said getting closer and closer to me. All I could think of was how hot he looked up close, and how much I wanted to kiss him. Then the memory from the pool came back to me. He almost kissed me then too, would this time be different?
He got closer and closer, our lips were about to touch, but then the door was opened and my mother walked out. "Emma, where were you?" she asked as Mason backed away from me. I turned to face her.
"I had dinner with the Kings again, sorry I didn't tell you." I said as I walked up to the door. I turned around and faced Mason. "Sorry, I'll see you tomorrow." I said as I shut the door on a sad looking Mason.