51
VIOLA BENJAMIN
"I HAVE A DATE." Viola announces.
"You have a date!?" Her mother squeals.
"You have a date?" Her father cringes.
"You have a date?" Her brother snickers.
Viola sinks lower into her dining chair at the breakfast table, pursing her lips at the variety of reactions from her family members. With their eyes trained solely on her, she can't help but carelessly stab at the stack pancakes in her plate with a fork, unable to stand the burning heat of them all looking directly at her simultaneously.
"Yes, a date. Boy meets girl, they talk and then the rest is history." Viola babbles, looking up as she crosses her arms over her chest and sighs nervously.
"History? What do you mean history? You mean there's going to be more after the whole," Viola's dad pauses dramatically, a sour expression coating his features as a slight shiver shakes his body. "Date thing?" He coughs, placing a hand at his forehead as he takes a sip of his orange juice in an attempt to calm down the sudden flush of his face.
"Dad, it's a date." Viola grumbles, rubbing her temples tiredly. "I'm not going to get eloped." David Lancaster continues to babble on about boys and drugs, marriage and babies which makes absolutely no sense on his side of the table and couldn't even take the soft caress of his wife's hands on his shoulders to calm him down.
"How did you get you a date?" Finny snorts, leaning on his palm with a smug grin twisting into his arrogant features amongst the ruckus on the parental end of the table.
"Oh, I don't know." Viola rolls her eyes with a sigh. "Maybe when your friend asked me out." She retorts, a sweet smile sliding onto her features and competing with the fallen expression on her twin brother's face as a red tinge of rage heats up the olive tone of his skin. Silence looms over the table and Viola swallows nervously, sliding further and further into her chair in hopes that the floor would open up and swallow her whole.
"That's my girl!" Her mother suddenly cheers.
"His friend!?" Her father cries out, spewing his gulp of orange juice across the table.
"I'm going to kill him!" Her brother growls, reaching for his phone.