December 22, 2010 12:45 p.m.
The clinks of knives and forks is soothing. It means everyone is busily eating and no one is paying attention to me. I have fruit in a cut-glass finger bowl, a two-egg spinach and mushroom omelette, and two crispy pieces of golden-brown bacon.
"While you're here, you should go to Efteling," Levi says, trying to engage me in conversation.
I rack my brain trying to remember where I've heard that name before. Oh yes, a fairytale theme park about an hour away from Oudewater.
"That place is for tourists," Graeme loudly interjects. "It's childish."
"I looked it up earlier. It's one of the can't-miss destinations of most tourist itineraries," Xander pipes up, a forkful of scrambled eggs halfway to his mouth.
Graeme is one cool customer. She changes tactics immediately, her smile saccharine sweet as she croons, "but of course, it's so quaintly charming. It'll be ironic if we go. Of course, I'll be happy to take you."
"I'll go too," Levi says through a mouthful of toast.
"There's no need for all of us to go," Wolf says sharply, glancing between me and Levi with an impenetrable gaze.
"I'm sure as the first-born son, you have more pressing matters to deal with. You're excused from the outing, brother mine." Levi brandishes a victorious smile at his older sibling, which Wolfram does not return.
"What's this?" interjects Marcus.
My eyes flash to his. Somehow all the other conversation has faded away and ours is the only dominant discourse at the table. Unwanted attention, great, I grouse.
"If all the young people are going to the amusement park, then of course you must go with them," Marcus says with a genial smile.
Wolfram looks like he's about to protest, but then Marcus turns his attention to me expectantly. "Your last name is....Wright, yes?"
I nod, barely meeting his eyes. I'm bubbling with resentment; not in this house a full day and I'm already feeling exhausted and cowed by this family. With every new surprise, I feel like I've gone through the ringer. Surely I have whiplash by now.
"Of the Long Island Wrights?" Marcus leans towards a well-toned man with a Caribbean tan. "Didn't we do some business with the Wrights last summer, cousin?"
Graeme is quick to clear up the misunderstanding. "Father, Charlotte's people aren't in banking." She smiles at me, a flash of pearly-white teeth standing out against the gash of blood-red lipstick artfully painted on her lips. A bloody smile is befitting, I think. She's like a grotesquely grinning jackal standing over her mutilated prey.
"So what is it your parents do?" Marcus asks.
I can't sense any malice in the question but I'm strangely embarrassed to say anything. "Actually, my mom does work at a bank," I say. "And my dad is a writer."
I immediately wish I could take those two sentences back. Somewhere down the table, someone releases a hearty guffaw. Wolfram and Levi are silent, but their faces show no disdain. Xander's jaw tightens as our eyes meet, green eyes meeting brown in a helpless plea.
"And has he written anything we may have heard of?" Marcus is oblivious to the tension in the room, or maybe he's happy to let welcome it if it means putting me at my unease.
This is why I don't like telling people that my father is a writer. They always want to know what he's written. I wish I could say that he's James Patterson or Dean Koontz but my dad is honestly more like Danielle Steele. He writes romance novels under a pen name and his annual income is double what my mom makes, despite only working half her hours.
"He's a ghostwriter," I lie.
"Ah." Marcus looks placated and picks at a grape idly. "And you're a student, yes?"
The entire table is listening to our conversation. My cheeks burn.
"She's got a 4.0 GPA and she's graduating this spring with full honors," Xander touts, his voice loud and defensive.
"Very commendable," the van der Waals patriarch smiles.
"Good heavens, Father, are you making conversation or asking for her resume?" Graeme mutters under her breath.
"My friend Brett and I have a start-up business. She's a graphic design major with a computer science minor, so she knows how to write code," I start to ramble. "We just launched our website last year. We're virtual dating assistants."
"What in the world...?" Levi starts to say, but Marcus cuts him off.
"Very enterprising." He leans forward on his elbows and gives me a serious you're-in-the-boardroom expression. "Now what does that entail, exactly?"
I feel oddly like I'm about to present my business proposal to a man who is most likely a multi-billionaire. "Online dating is supposed to make things easier for the modern man or woman. Instead, it usually involves signing up for a dozen different websites and hoping against all hope that you'll meet even one person who you hit it off with. It rarely works out the way people intend and they usually cancel their accounts within the year."
I delicately spear a piece of grapefruit with my fork and pop it into my mouth. The table is patient, waiting for me to continue. Xander gives me an encouraging smile and a subtle thumbs-up before his hands disappear sedately under the tablecloth.
"Basically, they outsource dating to our website. We manage all their accounts and using Brett's software, we consolidate all their information to one hub so we can see their entire dating pool and social engagement calendar at a glance. We act as them, writing to prospective dates, and if we think there's a match, we set it up for them."
"Clever," Wolfram comments, but the words sound like more of a judgment than an accolade.
"And you get paid for this?" Rhona asks. "It sounds quite ingenious."
"What's so ingenious about scamming pathetic losers into parting with a few dollars?" Graeme scoffs. A look from her mother quiets her vitriol, but it doesn't stop her from glaring daggers at me.
"It's how we met," Xander announces, drawing every single pair of eyes to him within 0.01 seconds. "Not through her website," he hastens to amend. "I was a reporter for the campus newspaper and my editor gave me an assignment." He flashes everyone a disarming smile. "That assignment was to interview the brains behind the website. We've been friends ever since."
"We're planning on using the profits to move into a brick-and-mortar office after we graduate." It's hard to look Marcus in the face as I speak. His eyes probe mine like he wants to peel away every my history one layer at a time until there is nothing to bare me from his view. His gaze isn't sexual, not at all, but the intense stare of a man who wants to solve an enigma that confuses him.
"What a lovely story," Graeme says, but her subtext says fuck you, Charlotte.
"That kind of initiative and enterprise is exactly what we need at our company," Marcus voices, standing up. "I have a video conference now, so I'll take my leave. But Charlotte, I do hope you'll consider joining us at the company after you graduate. As I'm sure Xander can tell you, it's a good opportunity and we don't often have vacancies in our entry-level positions. Why don't you email me a copy of your resume before you leave us, and we'll see if we can't find the right department for you." He sends me and Xander an engaging smile, effectively leaving out his own wife and children, before departing from the table.
"You are kidding me," Graeme says tartly. "You are absolutely joking." With a noise indicating disgust, she shoves her chair away from the table, sending the legs scraping across the wood floor with a screech that makes Rhona wince.
With a hateful look at me, she turns on her heel and flounces away. How she could manage to flounce in those heels, I have no idea, but Wolfram springs to his feet and goes after her without a backwards glance.
"Graeme!" Rhona attempts to call out, but it's too late and both her children have disappeared. Her hands stretch out helplessly in front of her. "Charlotte, I apologize for the behavior of my children." Her smile is taut and forced. "Graeme has wanted to join her father's company ever since she was a little girl. She's graduating this spring as well and Marcus has told her to find a job elsewhere."
"But Wolf already works there," Xander says, echoing my confusion. He's interning for the company while he studies for the bar examination. Wolfram already passed with flying colors, evidently, and is the newest hire. I assume they became friends because they joined at the same time.
"Why can't Graeme?" I butt in, finishing Xander's thought.
It's Levi who answers me. "Dad doesn't think she's serious enough. He told her if she wants it badly enough, she'll start at an entry-level position, but um, she wants to be given a management position. So she's on her high horse right now and waiting for him to back down." His voice lowers. "But he won't."
"Do you work there too?" His answer doesn't really matter, I just want to deflect attention away from me and the problems I seem to unknowingly be causing this family.
Levi nods, glancing at Rhona, then looking away, like he's embarrassed about something. Huh, odd. I didn't figure much would embarrass a guy like him.
"Please don't let my daughter's behavior stop you from pursuing this opportunity." Rhona laces her fingers together and studies me carefully. "I realize you have your own plans after you graduate, but my husband's company would be quite the feather in the cap of any recent college grad. He doesn't make offers lightly, so believe me when I say he was quite impressed by your accomplishments."
"Thank you," I mumble under my breath.
"Don't be so modest," Xander chides. To the rest of the table, he elaborates, "she's so reluctant to toot her own horn, so I usually end up championing her."
I'm all too happy to drop out of the conversation and without any new fodder to keep them entertained, the rest of the table quickly returns to a roaring discussion of the latest tittle-tattle and scandal.
It's probably a giant faux-pas, but Xander scoots over a few chairs until he's in Marcus' vacated seat. "You okay?"
I glance at Levi. He's been pretty nice to me, but I bet he won't want to hear that I think his siblings are out to get me. "I'm fine."
"Hey," Xander scolds. "None of that. You're not allowed to say 'fine'."
"It's okay if you want to scream," Levi comments, smiling slyly. "My family usually gives me that urge."
I smile half-heartedly and pick at the rest of my brunch, managing to eat the now-cooling omelette and bacon even though I can feel the guilt rising in my stomach, threatening to send the food up as bile.
"Would you excuse me?" I stand up, taking Levi and Xander by surprise. "No, guys, please, stay and finish."
"Where are you going?" Levi wants to know.
"I need to talk to Graeme. To apologize. I had no idea...I mean, I didn't intend," I stammer, but Xander just nods in understanding.
"Why don't I join you guys in a little bit?" Levi suggests. "I heard my brother is taking you guys on a tour of the town?"
"Yeah, the more the merrier." Xander helps himself to the rest of my fruit cocktail, which, quite frankly, I couldn't finish because the sweetness made me feel nauseated. No wonder Graeme polished hers off - a girl with a tongue that bitter needs some sugar in her life.
"Breakfast was lovely, Rhona, thank you," I say to the hostess before I hurry from the dining room.
Whatever this Cold War is between Graeme and myself, I need to nip it in the bud. Even if she isn't the girl I would have liked for Xander, it's obvious that she's interested in him, and if nothing else, I have to commend her good taste. If there's even the slightest chance they'll be anything in the future, I have to make sure that we call a truce. The last thing I want is for her to make him choose between me and her. I know how that will end - how it has always ended.
See, the girlfriend usually takes the number one spot in Xander's life. But the number two spot? That's all mine. The number one girl comes and goes with the seasons. She is fleeting; she comes with an expiration date. The number two girl doesn't - she is a forever kind of friend.
Author's Note: Some new background info revealed about the van der Waals and their two houseguests! What do you think about Marcus? Was he being genuine towards Charlotte or was he trying to goad his children?
Plus, why does Wolfram hate Charlotte so much? Do you think in the present, Charlotte should take Wolf up on his proposition?
And then there's Levi - should we be suspicious or fangirl about how nice he is? :)
Don't forget to vote/comment if you enjoyed this chapter!