I love picnics. There's always food, and people that think it's strange when you stare at them without a reason.
Who doesn't like that? It's so fun.
I'm so glad that apparently Chance has them every Saturday.
Don't know why he didn't invite me to one before this. Maybe it's because I was mean to him....
That's irrelevant. I'm invited now.
I looked up as Chance pulled into the driveway of his house.
Knowing that Chance was loaded, and seeing the proof are two very different things. His house was huge! The only house that I can think of that might be as big is Blade and Loki's, and the way I understood it that was Blade's parents house.
Of course this was Chance's parents house. But still! It takes a long time to make that kind of cash.
I was still in awe when Chance came around to my side of the car, and opened it for me.
Trying my best to keep the awe off my face I took the hand Chance held out to me.
"What did you say your family's business is?" I asked clutching his hand.
Not going to lie, it was kind of intimidating to walk into a house that looks like that.
"Classified."
"Too bad. I was really hoping I could get into whatever field it is."
He chuckled beside me, "I'm sure you'll manage to get into it someday."
I looked at him curiously.
How was I going to manage to get into the business when I didn't know what they did or what it was called?
I had to stop thinking about it after that because a woman with red hair and familiar green eyes came out of the house.
"Chance!" She said giving him a hug, "You're early, and you brought a friend! Is this your ma... new friend that you've been telling me so much about?"
He nodded, and she turned to me, "I'm Chance's mom, Lisa."
Mom? She doesn't look like she's old enough to have a eighteen year old son. If I were told to make a guess I would say she was about thirty.
"Nice to meet you," I said hiding behind Chance slightly.
She was just as intimidating as the house. For the same reason too. There was almost something unnatural about the beauty, and grace she seemed to move with. Sure Loki had the same feel to her, but Lisa seemed more... I don't know, sophisticated with it while Loki was more down to earth.
This is probably just my natural dislike of most humans speaking though. When there's something about them that I can't really pinpoint, I tend to try to avoid them.
She wasn't weird. Just.... too perfect....
I don't know why Chance even found me interesting. With a mom like that he must have higher standards.
Right?
"I'm Elizabeth," I said realizing that I hadn't actually introduced myself.
"Nice to meet you too," she answered with a smile.
"Mom?" Chance said drawing her curious gaze away from me, "I'm going to show her around the house. Okay?"
"Sure honey. Just make sure you come down in about an hour. By then everyone should be here."
"Of course," he said, starting to pull me toward the house again.
"This is my room," Chance said pulling me into a large bedroom with black walls, and some kind of dark wood floor.
I walked over to his bed, and sat down.
Chance stood in the doorway, and watched as I bounced on his bed a few times.
"Mine's more comfy," I stated looking at him with a smile.
"I kn.... I'm sure you're right."
What's with people and stuttering today? First his mom with the whole 'new friend' thing. Now him with the whole 'I'm sure you're right,' thing. I wonder what they were going to say, because it clearly wasn't what ended up coming out of their mouths.
In both situations it seemed totally uncharacteristic too. It makes me curious. What are they not telling me?
My musing was interrupted when I noticed Chance walking toward where I was sitting.
I started to scoot back on the bed, slightly apprehensive of what he was doing.
Last time I sat on a bed while he walked toward me, I ended up wet. Not going to say that it wasn't partially my fault, but still.
Wet!
Instead of going to the end of the bed like I thought he was going to, he turned to the right, and went to the top of the bed.
He sat down behind me, and pulled me up the rest of the way so I was sitting in his lap.
"When I was little, I always wanted to marry a girl that could cook. My mom found out, and decided that it was sexist for someone to want to rely on someone else for all the cooking. For a month she made me help her in the kitchen so I could learn to cook. It didn't really work. I learned how to make omelets, but everything else that I touched ended up turning to ashes in the end. She was extremely persistent, and she tried everything she could think of to get me to understand the concept. It failed. She probably would have tried to keep teaching me too, but my dad started to bring home dinner because he knew that if he didn't he'd have to eat whatever I screwed up. I'm not as bad now, but I still can't really cook."
How did this come up?
"The day I turned eight my mom decided that I needed to learn how to dance. I didn't really see the point of it, but I did what she told me, and went to all my classes. Kind of. For the first week I hid in the back room until class got out, then I would go talk to my teacher, and have her show me the individual steps so my mom wouldn't know I wasn't actually going into the classes. When she found out she started to watch all my classes, and if I didn't have a partner she would be my partner. She did that for a month before I got sick of it, and told her that I would never skip again if she stopped coming to the class."
Oh! I understand now. It's story time! When it's story time you take turns, right?
Don't know.
"Is it my turn?" I asked trying to look up at him.
"If you want it to be."
"Nope. You can go again."
"Okay.... On my seventh birthday my dad brought home a grand piano. It was a big black one with glossy white keys. I wanted to learn how to play so bad that I didn't wait until my dad found a teacher for me. Instead I started to 'play' as often as I could. This wouldn't have been a problem except that we didn't live in such a secluded place back then. Our neighbors came over, and told mom that if I didn't stop they would call the cops because I was disturbing the peace. After that dad got me a teacher, and put the piano in a sound proof room."
I giggled at his story for a second before realizing something, "You play the piano?"
Stupid thing to realize that long after his story. That was the whole point of it.
"Yeah. I still have the piano that my dad gave me too. It's over there," he said motioning to a corner of his room that I hadn't studied.
Sure enough, a slightly worn piano with a few sheets of music spread around it stood waiting for someone to brush it's keys.
"Instead of story time can you play for me?" I asked trying to turn around to look at him for a second before giving up and turning back around to look at the door.
"I would, but I think it's time to go join the company," Chance said sounding reluctant to deny my wishes.
"Will you play for me later then?"
"Sure," he mumbled against my neck.
He kissed my neck once before scooping me up in his arms, and walking towards the door.
Setting me down at the door, he grabbed my hand, and started to pull me through the confusing halls that made up his house.
By the time We made it to the dining room I was clinging to Chance's hand in fear that if I didn't I would get lost in here forever. Seriously? Why did a house need to have so many doors?
Chance laughed at my expression, and opened the door that was currently in front of us.
I relaxed a little, and walked into the noisy dining room.
This would be easier to handle than trying to navigate the confusing halls. People all have the same general.... layout.
"Wonderful timing," Chance's mom said walking up to us, "We were just about to start eating." She smiled at me, but I don't think she likes me very much.
Maybe because Chance told her about me.
That's very possible. I'm going to go with that answer.
Looking around I noticed that it was really similar to the one I went to at Blade and Loki's house. I could tell that they weren't all related, yet they seemed to work like a massive family. It made me feel slightly more out of place. Of course I would have felt out of place anyway just because I didn't do well in large crowds of people....
Chance pulled me over to some of the seats at the head of the table.
"Dad," Chance said looking at a man with the same black hair, "this is my friend, Elizabeth."
"Oh! I was hoping I would meet you soon! You're just as beautiful as my son said."
He told his dad I was beautiful?
Not entirely sure what to think of that. I guess it's sweet...
"Nice to meet you," I said smiling.
I think I like him more than his wife.
"So, besides being too pretty for my son, tell me about yourself."
Chance growled quietly, and I couldn't help the little laugh.
"Well," I said tapping my chin, "I'm not really sure how to answer that. Honestly, I'm not all that interesting."
"I think you're wrong about that. Most people couldn't put up with all the crap I know my son pulls."
"To tell you the truth, I think he's nicer than me."
"I don't know. Last week he broke the front door because he was really happy about something."
"It's not my fault the door was defective," Chance mumbled.
"Defective? It was a year old."
"And I'm sure it got a lot of damage in that year."
Chance's dad shook his head at Chance's denial, but didn't say anything.
"I don't think he's worse than me. He's just bad in a different way."
"I don't believe you. You seem too nice to be capable of anything worse than slamming a door so hard it breaks."
"You obviously didn't see your son after he came back from Blade's house."
"That wasn't mean. It was just funny."
Chance glared at his dad for a second but couldn't hold it when I started to laugh. He smiled and rolled his eyes at us.
I like his family. They're nice. Well, maybe not his mom, but his dad is awesome.