This evening was going to be labelled a night to remember for many reasons. Firstly, it was the first night Juliet's mum had cooked a dinner for the whole family since Dale had passed away. Secondly, it was the first night Hunter had decided to invite a girl to a family dinner, which just so happened to Phoebe. And finally, it was the first night that Matt was going to experience what it truly felt like to be a Lloyd.
"What's that face for?" Juliet laughed as she attempted to grasp her brother's attention.
He had been looking off into the distance with a face full of concentration, as though he was debating the meaning of life with himself or something.
"There has to be another reason for this. Don't you think?" Elliot replied, finally turning to look back at Juliet.
He genuinely looked stressed out. Finding this family dinner, organised his mum, incredibly strange. Family dinners usually occurred at his or Juliet's place since their father had passed away. Alissa never offered to cook and they didn't expect her too either. She pretty much did anything to get out of her own house.
"She probably just felt lonely." Was Juliet's simplistic response, considering she wasn't overthinking it so much.
"No, there's something else. She's been acting strange too."
"It's mum, she's always unpredictable!"
"She also hasn't had us all round here in months."
"Dude, you need to chill. What are you expecting to happen?"
Juliet couldn't help but chuckle at her brother's utter panic. He was getting himself so worked up over something that she assumed was nothing. She was just happy that her mum was willing to put this all on. It hadn't been easy for her since their dad had passed away and at one point they thought she was never going to cope. It had been tough on them all but Alissa had shown how much she had truly relied on him. It had torn her apart and that had been difficult for both Juliet and Elliot to witness.
"Yeah you're probably right. I'll chill and try to enjoy whatever this is." Elliot responded before his eyes fell on Hunter and Phoebe as they took their seats up the table. "What's going on there?"
"What?" Juliet asked as she followed his line of vision to where her son was trying to shield the fact that his hand was holding hers on the table. "...oh, haven't you heard? They're dating, but we're not supposed to know. It's a secret."
"Oh shit, really?" Elliot laughed. "I thought Hunter had committed to living a single life!"
"Phoebe was clearly too hard to resist."
It was amusing to them as Hunter had always liked to put on a tough act as though his 19 year old self had life figured out. He had insisted his life plan was to avoid relationships until he was 30, just so he could have fun with the lads and live life to it's fullest. Although none of them had been convinced, he had been insistent and that happened to be why he was so desperately trying to hide what was truly happening with Phoebe now.
"She clearly developed that Dubois charm!" Elliot teased causing Juliet to roll her eyes.
He hadn't expected to gain a laugh out of his sister who still didn't find any of his past funny. However, he had clearly got over it enough to make a laugh and a joke now.
"Actually..." Juliet replied with a great emphasis on the word. "I can't believe you never told me you had contact with Sophie! You were the only one bro."
"I genuinely thought you knew." Elliot played innocent, having actually not told his sister as he didn't want to get involved in their drama.
He knew they had all been going through a rough patch in their friendship considering Sophie was so far away therefore, it was easier for him to just stay out of it.
"No! You never told me."
"My bad. Did you hear about Aaron?" Elliot continued, trying to move the conversation along before she could question him more on it.
It seemed to work as Juliet immediately looked back at him wide eyed and curious to what he was going to say. This girl always claimed that she hated the gossip but deep down she was always a little disappointed if she was missing out on something.
"What about him?"
"Apparently he's having another baby with his new girlfriend."
"Shit... did Sophie tell you?"
"Yeah, she's pretty gutted."
"Seriously?" Juliet looked back at her brother in shock. She hadn't expected something like that to affect Sophie but the fact that it did, definitely said a lot.
"Yeah, I felt kind of bad for her. I genuinely thought she was going to cry."
"But she's married? I thought the drama of Sophie and Aaron wasn't officially over." Juliet teased considering it felt like their toxic relationship had been going on for a lifetime.
"Yeah but imagine if Matt had told you him and Abbie were having a baby years back. How would you have felt?" Elliot twisted the scenario in a way he knew his sister would be able to relate to.
"Okay, yeah. Fuming." Juliet confirmed as she didn't even want to imagine what her reaction would have been like.
Matt's whole relationship with Abbie had been something that had bothered her from the get go. She would have hated to see him with any girl but something about Abbie just pushed her buttons. There was so much drama there from the start, so anything that girl did ended up driving her over the edge.
Just thinking back to that period in her life caused a sickening feeling. At the time she had just lived through it and got on with the struggles the best she could however, it had caused her the most pain and heartbreak she had ever experienced.
She didn't ever want to have to go through something like that again yet at the same time, she was glad she had experienced it. She had learned so much about herself as a person but also what worked and what didn't work within their relationship. It had made them grow individually but also made their relationship stronger when they finally came back together.
Juliet was finally in a place where she felt secure and happy. She finally felt like herself and Matt had found a place in their relationship where they were on the same page. Matt's mind had matured and she had learned to accept parts of him she had wrongly tried to change before.
She was happy, he was happy and she just hoped that her family could finally accept him in a way they had all struggled to for the many years they had been together.
... to be continued...
it was too long so I cut it into 2 parts! :))))))