Chapter eight
•Morgan•
"Get up", Romeo walks into my room, throwing a bag on my stomach. I grunt, sitting up as I put the bag beside me. "My mom is having a family dinner and she said I have to bring you. There's a dress in the bag and I've arranged for you to go and do whatever you have to do with your friend in-", he looks at his phone. "Thirty minutes".
"Uhh, okay. Thanks?" I say, confused.
"Welcome", and with that, he leaves.
Once I'm ready, Jon takes me to meet Hayley at the mall. He stays behind, discreetly; Romeo's orders, of course. We walk around for a while before Hayley informs me of our appointment. "We're going to get our eyebrows done, then our nails".
"Why?" I furrow my eyebrows. "We only do that for special occasions".
"Yeah", she drawls. "But, don't forget your mission", she whispers, mimicking the word 'mission' because she hates the word, for some reason. She says it's 'cringy and childish'. I roll my eyes at her, continuing to walk.
We make it to the store where we're getting our eyebrows done. Hayley drags me over to the counter, getting the woman's attention, "hi".
"Hi, I have an appointment to get my eyebrows threaded and she has one to get her upper lip threaded", I look at her with wide eyes. I've never got my lip threaded before, but I heard it hurts.
"Oh, yes", she types on her computer. "Take a seat and someone will be right with you", we take a seat and I lightly hit her arm.
"What?"
"Threaded? That shit hurts", I whine.
"It'll be fine", she waves me off. I don't need my eyebrows threaded because I made the glorious decision of getting my eyebrows microbladed. That basically means I got my eyebrows semi tattooed. Not that they needed them, it's just easier.
Once we finished, we went to the nail salon. I just got mine white gel whereas Hayley got a sapphire blue, to match her eyes. "Can we go now?"
"Yes, but", she drawls. "You have to let me do your hair nice", I roll my eyes at her OTT-ness.
"Relax, it's not like I'm going anywhere fancy. I don't need to get all dolled up".
"This is important. How else do you think you're going to complete this. If his parents like you, he will like you".
"I'm not sure it works like that.. but okay", I sigh in defeat.
✯✯✯✯
As soon as we get back, Hayley drags me upstairs to my room. She makes me wash my hair and begins straightening it once it's dry.
"Where's the dress?" She asks, looking around my room.
"Over there", I point to the couch.
"Put it on", she throws the bag over to me and pushes me toward the bathroom.
I walk into the large en-suite, taking the dress out of the bag and examining it. It's short, black and off the shoulder. I slip my jeans off, changing into the dress, careful not to mess up my hair.
I walk back out so Hayley can do my makeup. She goes for a more natural look; apparently it will make me seem 'friendlier'.. her words, not mine.
"Okay, can I go now?"
"Yes", she smiles, proudly. "Personally, I think I did a pretty great job".
"Yeah yeah, I guess I don't look too bad", I roll my eyes, playfully.
"Ha ha. Now go on", she ushers me to the door. I walk down the stairs and into the kitchen.
"You ready to go?" I say as I see Romeo sitting at the island. He looks me up and down and smirks. "Ew, stop", I turn and walk away.
"What?" He chuckles, following behind me.
"Let's just go".
Approximately twenty seven minutes later, we pull up to a large house, relatively smaller than Romeos, but not by much.
Wait.
Shit.
"You coming?"
"Yeah. Uhm, just give me a second, I need to make a call", I grab my phone.
"Okay, I'll wait by the door", he walks up the large steps and stands by the front door.
I quickly call the first person that comes to mind. "Hello?"
"Gabe! Gabe, hi. Uhh, I'm kind of in a situation", I say, sheepishly.
"Why, what's wrong?" He asks, concerned.
"Well, I'm outside the Mazzaros' house and I'm scared they might recognise me. I mean, I knew Romeo wouldn't but his dad obviously knows our dad so-", I ramble.
"Wait, why are you there?"
"I got invited for dinner but, that's not the point. What do I do?" I whine.
"Okay okay, calm down. Just go, if he recognises you, he recognises you, what's the worst that could happen".
"I really hope you're right", I groan. "Oh, and don't tell dad. Thanks, bye", I drawl. "Sorry about that", I run up the steps to Romeo.
"No problem. You ready?"
"Yep".
"Hello?" Romeo yells as he opens the door. Diana walks over to us, I'm assuming from the kitchen, as she's wearing an apron. "Hi, mom", he hugs her.
"Morgan, you look lovely. Romeo didn't tell me you were going to be here", she hugs me.
Romeo said she wanted me to come.. weird.
"Thank you. Your home is beautiful", I say, looking around.
"Thank you, dear", she pauses. "Now, right this way, your father is in the kitchen", she says to Romeo as she walks away. I begun to follow her however, I stop when I see Romeo not following.
"You okay. You look like you've seen a ghost", I chuckle, slightly. He takes a deep breath and holds his hand out. I take it and he intertwines our fingers, giving my hand a squeeze as we enter the kitchen.
"Romeo!", Mr. Mazzaro, also known as Manuel, exclaims as we enter.
Please don't recognise me. Please don't recognise me. Please don't recognise-
"Do I know you?" Fuck.
"Uhh, no?"
"You don't sound too sure about that", he chuckles, humourlessly. "What's your name?"
"Morgan", I mumble.
"Morgan what?"
"Manuel, leave the poor girl alone", Diana waves a dishcloth in his direction.
"You just look familiar, that's all", he looks at me skeptically. I squeeze Romeos hand, hoping he'd get the memo.
"Dad, leaver her alone. What do you want?" Romeo seethes.
"How about we go outside and chat", he stands. "You can stay here", he looks at me suspiciously as they walk out of the kitchen.
"I'm so sorry about him", Diane apologises.
"No, don't worry", I wave a hand, dismissively as I take a seat at the island. "Do you want any help?"
"Do you mind?"
"No, of course not. What do you need me to do?"
"Do you mind calling them in for dinner, please? They should be outside", Diane asks, once we finish cooking.
"Okay".
As I walk outside, I hear the two talking angrily. "I said I'm not fucking doing it", Romeo growls as his dad grabs his arm. "Get your hand off of me", he tries to pull it away however, Manuel doesn't let go.
"Uhh.. dinners ready", both their heads snap in my direction, and Manuel immediately releases Romeos arm. Neither of them say anything, so I quickly make my way back to the kitchen.
I help Diana put the rest of the food on the large dining table. We take our seats as Romeo and his father enter the room, taking their seats too. Manuel at the head of the table, Diana to his left, me to his right, opposite Diana, and Romeo next to me. "Why is there an extra plate", just as the words leave my mouth, someone walks in, taking a seat opposite Romeo.
"I didn't know we were having a guest", the man says. "My name is Rafael, spelt with an 'f' because my parents are extra. I'm his older brother", he motions toward Romeo.
"We're twins", Romeo says. I turn to him, furrowing my eyebrows, trying to find the resemblance. "Fraternal.. obviously".
"I'm still older", Rafael chirps.
"By a couple minutes".
"13—", he gets cut off.
"Shut up and let's get this dinner over with", Romeo groans beside me.
"Hold on", he holds a finger up to Romeo. "What's your name?"
"Morgan", I say, softly.
"Now can we eat?" Romeo asks.
As we're eating, Manuel begins to speak. "So, Morgan. How did you end up living with Romeo?"
"I uh—my dad kicked me out", I mumble, wanting to drop the subject.
"What? Do you not have a mother? Did she not get a say in this?" He pesters. Before I can answer, he carries on. "Any aunts, uncles? No other family you could've stayed with?"
"Dad, shut up", Romeo snaps.
"I'm just getting to know your friend", he shrugs. "Look at her, so quiet; she's pathetic. What's wrong with her?" He says, teasingly. I look down at my hands in my lap, shaking. "She's useless, she doesn't even speak. You're what? 22/23, and you don't have a job? Are you incapable of living alone?"
Why are my hands shaking?
I don't care.
It's okay. I'm okay.
I feel Romeo put his hand on mine to stop them shaking. "We're going now", he stands up, pulling me up with him. "Thanks for dinner, mom", he kisses his moms cheek, waiting for me.
"The dinner was lovely, Diana. Thank you", I force a smile before walking out with Romeo.
We walk out to the car in silence. He walks over to my side, opening the car door for me. "Thanks", I mumble, almost inaudibly.
The drive back is silent, until we pull up into the garage. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine", I say as I get out of the car, walking to the front door. The truth is, I'm not fine, I'm far from fine. The dinner brought back bad memories from when I was younger.
As soon as Romeo unlocks the door, I rush up to my room, jumping on my bed. I open the drawer beside my bed and take out the black notebook with 'M' on the front. I flick through the pages, picking a random one to start with.
March 17th 2015
17 years old
You haven't tried every ice cream flavour
I flip to a different page.
July 9th 2015
17 years old
You haven't forced Gabriel to watch Pitch Perfect 2 with you yet
I chuckle at that one, wiping a stray tear.
November 13th 2015
18 years old
You need to live to see your next birthday
I stop at that one. My birthday's soon.
January 24th 2016
18 years old
You haven't found your favourite dog breed yet
Before I could flip to a new page, the door opens. I immediately close the book, putting it back in my drawer. "What's that?" Romeo refers to the book as he takes a seat next to me.
"A book".
"No shit", he says. I chuckle, leaning my head on his shoulder. He wipes a tear from my cheek and puts an arm around me, until I decide to kick him out so I can shower and change.
Sleep comes easy that night.
hmmmmm. i mean, i like the chapter but idk :)
hope you like it