A CRAZY DINNER

“I will not do it, nothing you say will make me change my mind Dad,” Kristen said to her father. She was angry, furious even. She could not believe that her father had so little faith in her; he didn’t believe that she could actually run the company on her own. Rather, he thought the grumpy asshole was a better candidate.

“I am not forcing you into this Kristen. All I am asking is that you get know him, who knows you might actually fall in love.” As her father was talking, Kristen was vehemently shaking her head in negation. She knew how it usually worked, her father was just stalling, he wanted her to marry Adrian and he would most probably guilt trip her into doing just that, Kristen did not want that at all.

“No daddy, there is no way I will marry him. Talk to him mother,” she said, finally involving her mother in the argument. Kristen’s mother was sitting quietly beside her father as Kristen marched to and fro in front of them.

“You should listen to your father Kristen, he is making a good point and besides you only have to get to know him,” her mother said. Kristen just glared at her mother. It was not as though she expected much from the woman. Regina Lancaster was a woman who loved her husband one who loved him to death. She would always stand behind her husband, especially when it was to gang up against her.

“Of course that’s what you think mother. We are not in the Eighteen hundreds, people don’t even arrange marriages anymore, especially when the two parties don’t agree,” she said, this time facing her words at her mother.

“I don’t know why you are so vehemently against this Kristen. You have barely met the boy, anything can happen,” her mother said as she shrugged. She still looked very calm and poised seated on the cream chair; her heeled legs crossed and manicured nails tapping on the arm of the chair.

Her mother was the most fashion conscious woman she knew she had to have the latest bag and shoes and by default Kristen had taken that character too, only that hers was not as addictive as her mother’s. She loved shoes and bags and clothes and shopping in general, but never to the extreme.

Her mother on the other hand was basically addicted to the entire thing; Kristen looked so much like her mother and acted like her that she was scared that one day she would turn into her mother.

They had the same shade of caramel skin, the same straight nose, the same round eyes, the same shining brown orbs inside. The major difference was their body structures, where her mother was bone thin, Kristen was padded with flesh, too much flesh if you asked her. If not for the lines of ageing around her mother’s eyes and lips, and the more mature look on her face, Regina would have passed as Kristen’s slightly older sister.

“But I don’t want anything to happen; I just want to live my life one day at a time. When I find the right man I will know. I am too young for this. Dad, do you really want your little princess to get married?” She argued again, looking to her father this time. The older man just shrugged.

“You are old enough Kristen, I was nineteen when I had you, you are twenty-one and no one is saying you have to get married right away, just get to know him. Is that so hard to do?” It was her mother that answered, her voice had risen from the calm and relaxed pitch and it was clear that she was getting frustrated.

When her mother talked that way, it made it seem like she was an errant child, who could not even do a simple task. But it was not like that, it was anything but that, she had already met him and she knew that there was nothing else she wanted to know about him. 

“I don’t know it must be the first son, I would have been willing to get to know the second son,” she grumbled and her mother and father shared a look and smiled to themselves.

“I think the lady doth protest too much,” her mother said smiling, and Kristen let out a tired huff, trying very hard so that the blush would not creep up her face. 

“I will try and get to know him, but I am not marrying him,” Kristen said and started walking to her room.

“We will plan a meeting,” her mother shouted behind her, Kristen could hear the excitement in her mother’s voice.

She had no idea why, but her heart seemed to pound rapidly at the concept of meeting the annoying bastard.

           

Adrian stared at the woman he was meant to marry from across the restaurant. She was sitting relaxed on the chair, tapping something on her phone.

Adrian released a sigh; it seemed that there was no chance of her getting angry that she was late and leaving anytime soon.

“Sir, do you care for a table?” The waiter asked him for the third time and it was getting obvious that he had just been standing inside the restaurant for close to ten minutes. He had already familiarized himself with the decor of the restaurant, from the glass chandeliers, to the red and homey feel, down to the overly friendly waiters.

“I am good thank you,” he said and to the slim man, that seemed to have been checking him out. He took a deep breath and started making his way to Kristen.

She looked much younger than the first time he had seen her, it was then that it occurred to him that she could be very young.

“How old are you?” He asked out of the blue, as he took his seat beside her.

She seemed startled by the sudden sound beside her, but the fear faded to annoyance as she realized it was him.

“Good evening to you too,” she said and placed her phone on the table.

“You’re late,” she continued.

“I am sorry, I was cut up in traffic,” he smoothly lied and she cocked an eyebrow.

“You have been in the restaurant for the past ten minutes,” she said and Adrian just smiled. He truly felt that she had not noticed him, but then again he was not really hiding.

“I was waiting to see if you would leave,” he said truthfully.

“I think you were rather hoping,” she said.

“Maybe,” he replied, shrugging.

“How old are you?” He asked again. Her face was clear and free of makeup, it was the first time he had seen her that way, her hair was packed up in what seemed like a bun and she was wearing an over sized T-shirt, he could tell that all that was some act of rebellion as she stood out in the posh restaurant.

“I don’t see why that matters,” she said. 

“We are here to get to know each other right?” He asked and she just shook her head.

“I don’t want to marry you and I am sure as hell that you don’t want to marry me. I see no need for us to continue in this farce, I would like to go home now,” she said and it was Adrian’s turn to raise his eyebrows. He did not really know why he she was too hostile towards him, but he decided that he did not like it, he did not like it one bit.

“Well we are here, so we should at least try,” he tried to reason, hoping that his anger did not show.

“Well I don’t want to try,” she said and took her bright pink purse from on top of the table and stood up. It was then that he noticed that she was wearing only the oversized T-shirt, nothing else; her long creamy legs were opened to every man in the restaurant. Adrian didn’t know why, but he saw red, hot and fiery.

“Kristen, sit down,” he said in the hardest, but lowest voice he could muster, she pretended not to hear him, but he could sense the change in her body.

“Kristen if you don’t want me to cause a scene, sit your ass down right now,” he said again, letting his anger show in his voice, of all people his father could match him with, it was a child, an errant child for that matter.

“I am only sitting because I want to. You are not allowed to boss me around,” she said and Adrian rolled his eyes.

“Why on Earth will you leave your house dressed like that?” He scolded her.

“Stop talking to me like that, I am not a child,” she said, her voice was getting high pitched as it seemed as though she was frustrated.

“I beg to differ.”

“Even if I was, I am not yours to scold. I am a twenty-one year old woman, and an adult in every part of the world,” she said, pouting a bit.

Twenty-one, even the twins were older than her. But then again, he thought she was about nineteen, she looked nineteen. But he was still very much older than her, nine years was a lot.

“You might be an adult, but you sure don’t act like one,” he said, and a hurt expression appeared on her face, he did not care, he wanted to make a point.

“I don’t see how any respectable adult will come into a restaurant, wearing that,” he said gesturing to her shirt and she stretched it consciously.

“What I wear, is absolutely none of your business,” she said, her voice had increased yet again, it seemed to Adrian that she was very touchy about the subject.

“I agree, but then I would not have to be saying this if you were mature enough,” he said. Like the first night, anger lit up in her eyes, she looked like a fierce lioness.

“Fuck off,” she said and walked out of the restaurant, even before he had the chance to even call her back.

He could not believe that there was a chance he would be stuck with that his entire life.