Dinner NIght

Sara

“Remember we’re having dinner tonight, darling.” I was on my way up the stairs when my mother’s words suddenly made me freeze. I stopped because those particular words sounded strange coming from my mother. We were not a regular family. As a matter of fact, we’d stopped being a family when my father died. That was the last time we had dinner as a family.

“Dinner? What dinner, Mom?” I asked, rushing down the stairs. 

Gwen didn’t flinch, but her eyes betrayed her disappointment. I’d grown too familiar with it not to miss it.

“Don’t tell me you forgot Sara. I told you we were having dinner with Ben and his family tonight.” 

I was about to refute when the memory suddenly reeled in. “On the 26th of August. Right…” I said, pinching my nose in frustration.

“That’s today. So get ready. They’ll be here in forty minutes.” She said and held my face gently, “And honey, try not to mess anything up tonight. I want to make a good impression.” Gwen said with a wry smirk and walked away.

I couldn’t believe I’d forgotten about tonight. In all truth, I’ve been trying to forget everything in the last two days, especially that night. I still couldn’t believe that I’d slept with Dame Casian, and the worst part is I couldn’t even say it was bad. I hate to say it, but I don’t think I’ve ever felt that way before.

It’s been two days now, and I still can’t completely get the image of that night out of my head. They were like tiny memory flashes tormenting me throughout moments of my day. It’s probably why I forgot about mom’s dinner.

I heaved a sigh and shook my head, trying to dismiss the thoughts. I had less than forty minutes to get ready, and so I made my way to my room, grabbed the first good outfit I saw, and threw it on. I didn’t think I had to make an impression. And why was she even making me sit through this? She knew how I felt about things of this nature.

I didn’t have a problem with my mother dating, but we always had an understanding; she would keep her love life personal and not try to involve me like some pretend family. So why did we have to do this tonight?

I was still in my head when I heard her voice loudly, “Sara, they’re here! Get the door.”

I sighed reluctantly and trudged downstairs, thinking of how to get away from here. I was twenty-four, and I was still living with my mother. 

‘She needed me here.’ I kept telling myself, partly because I knew she might break down if I moved out. She was a good woman, but a difficult one. There was never a win with her. She wasn’t always like this, but when he died, the soft part of her died too. 

I reached the door and slowly opened it, forcing the most polite smile that I could. But slowly, it began to fade as quickly as it formed as my eyes fixed on him. “Good evening, Sara.” He greeted with a soft smile.

“Ben?” I muttered in disbelief, and his brows arched in confusion. Mom never told me she was dating the Ben Casian. Why would she leave out that very strong detail? Our families were business competitors and had a strong, colorful history. What was going on here? My mind was filled with many thoughts and questions. And just when I thought it couldn’t get any worse, standing slightly to his right was none other than Dame Casian. 

A soft gasp escaped my mouth when I saw him, but I quickly covered it with my palms. I wanted to pinch myself and hope to wake up from this nightmare. Cause that’s what it was. A nightmare.

Staring at him now, I could remember everything clearly that night. The way he bent my body under those sheets, the look in his eyes, the way he felt, and even tasted. I could feel it again, together with the second-hand embarrassment that came with it.

“Ben!” Mom yelled in surprise, walking past the hallway. “What are you doing outside?” She asked and started hurrying towards me. “Sara, why are you holding the door? Let them in.” She said and pulled the door wide open.

I was still frozen in horror when they walked past me towards the dining room. 

I wish I could leave the house, but I knew that would only bring more problems with my mother, and there was no way I was going to avoid this forever. And so I took a deep breath and steadied myself before walking to join them. 

The entire dinner was just as you would guess, awkward and tormentful. I hated that I had to sit there and laugh at every poor joke that Ben made and pretend that just a couple of days ago, his son’s dick wasn’t ramming into my guts, and trust Dame to make things more difficult. He was constantly edgy, staring at me intently as if there was a connection or silent feud between us. But I knew even he wasn’t that stupid to say something about that night. It was the most awkward dinner ever, and the whole time I was just waiting for it to be over. 

But then suddenly Mom raised her wine glass and clinked it. “I’m so glad we could all be here tonight.” She paused and reached her hand out for Ben with a soft smile. As she continued, it felt like I was getting a bad Deja vu, like I’ve experienced this moment, and I could tell where it was leading to. My eyes started to widen, and my heartbeat raced. It felt as if I was watching a horror movie when Ben stood and gently helped my mom up. “We wanted you kids here so we could tell you the news ourselves,” Ben said with a hearty smile.

‘Don’t say it. Don’t say it.’ I muttered inwardly, trying to keep myself composed. But I could still feel it coming. It was like a boulder rolling downhill that could not be stopped, or a ticking time bomb waiting to explode. “Gwen and I have decided to get married,” Ben said with a wide smile, and I could feel my heart skip. He was about to raise a toast when suddenly his excitement was interrupted by my scream.

“No!!!”