"I have feelings for you." She said.
Her voice did not imply that she was joking around. It was loud as if she wanted everyone around to hear what she had just said. I coughed having almost chocked on my steak. I took some of the water in front of me and took a sip. I did not understand what it was that she was trying to do but I did not find it funny. I did not answer. I took another bite of my food. I knew that if I reacted, I would give her something to whine about.
"Aren`t you going to say something Al?" she liked to call me Al as if my name was not short enough.
She said that it made her feel that we were close. I did not like it but that did not seem to bother her.
"I have nothing to say. I will pretend that you never told me that and as I have asked you many times, do not call me that. My name is short enough."
I stood up ready to leave. I could tell where this conversation was going and I did not want to have to deal with it. She would start crying and then I would never hear the end of it from her father, 'do you have to do this every single time? Does she have to come home crying every time she sees you? Can`t you just not make her upset? You owe us at least that.'
The truth was that I did not owe them a single thing, but he made it seem like since he was the only family I had, I owed them every single thing that I had. She always had some outrageous demand every single time that we met that I tried my best to fulfill since I did not want to have her father breathing down my neck about but to some extent I was tired. At first it was expensive gifts that I did not have any problems fulfilling. Then it shifted to demands like having to show up for her in different occasions and that was not something that I had the time or luxury of doing. Then she would ask her father to urge me crying at his feet and being her father`s daughter she found a way to manipulate it out of him. I did not do as he asked. The dinner that I had to go to every year was the most that I could do. I was not about to become her little puppy that would jump when she said.
She got up from her seat almost tripping over her heels.
"Wait! Please!"
I could see that the water works were about to start. She held my suit, tagging at the ends. I pushed her hand off me, and in a dramatic move she fell to the ground sobbing. She would not stop until she got what she wanted. It was still a shock to me that even though she knew that her little stunt would not work on me she still tried. I guess being the spoiled little brat that she was she thought that everyone on earth had to play to her tunes. Usually, I ignored such a stunt, but looking at my watch, I realized that her little stunt had made me late.
"You know the kind of people that I hate the most Samantha? The kind that think that they deserve every little thing that they desire."
She looked up at me, the tears still streaming down her cheeks. She looked lost for words for the first time since I had met her. She was usually the one who did the rambling, I just sat quietly and listened. As much as I wanted to space out and not have to hear a single word that she said, the trained leader in me had to listen. Perhaps that was what shocked her, the fact that I was actually saying what I thought.
I left before she could pull herself together.
"I`ll drive." I said as soon as I got to the car.
Gregory gave me the keys without any questions and locked the door as soon as I got in. He then took a few steps back waiting for me to drive away. I knew that even if I asked he would not hop in. said that he was taught that he could not let his master drive him. I had asked one too many times to the point that I simply just gave up. I drove away.
I drove as fast as I could. I knew there was a good chance that she`d be awake and the thought of missing the start of her day made me accelerate further. I did not bother to park the car well. I got out and walked straight to my bedroom. Getting into bed I closed my eyes and there she was, standing in front of the mirror in an overall. Her cute glasses hung over her eyes as she stared at herself in the mirror.
'They`ll be mad that I wore these but I don`t want to dress up. Grandma will think that it`s cute. Oh granny, I miss her so much, I miss the pie that she used to bake. Speaking of pie, do you think, I should get a new book? I`m not done reading the one that I got. Do you think that I`ll get to meet Raven? Oh Raven. Oh, I have to go.'
I heard her thoughts shift from her clothes, then to her grandmother, then to pie, then to books and then to that damned Raven that she thought about all the time. I could see the connection between everything else but the crossover from pie to her book was one that made me chuckle. It was funny how she managed to move from literally any topic and somehow make it back to her books.