Embracing Rain

16 - Noah

1 6 - N O A H

"I don't believe we've formally met," Chance's mom says, shaking my hand. "Please call me Veronica. Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too, Veronica," I say, smiling faintly. It's all I can muster at this point; I'm so nervous that I feel like fainting.

"And I'm Robbie!" Chance's dad interjects, sticking his hand out.

"Noah," I say back, shaking his hand. "Thank you for having me over."

"It's no problem at all!" his mom exclaims. "Sorry we don't have anything fancier."

"You made more than normal," Chance says.

"Shh," she whispers. "I'm trying to make a good impression."

Chance facepalms, and I grin. "You should meet my mom," I tell her. "I think you'd get along well."

"That would be wonderful," she says. "I'll look forward to it! But for now, please come sit down. I wouldn't want the food to get cold."

I follow Chance to the table, taking the seat beside him. My mouth waters as I stare at the food—it all looks so good, and it's even more appetizing because of how hungry I am. I see Chance laughing at me out of the corner of my eye.

"What?" I ask.

"You look like you're about to start drooling."

I scowl. "No, I'm not. I'm just admiring the food."

"Please help yourself," Veronica says, handing me a serving spoon. "I hope you like it!"

"I will," I assure her, taking a large helping of salad, potatoes, pasta, and meatballs. She beams as I put a spoonful of pasta in my mouth, humming at the taste.

"Where were you today?" his dad asks curiously. "I know you went out, but I didn't catch where. You were gone for a long time."

"We went to a cultural festival," Chance says, looking at me for help. "I think."

"Yeah. It was down in the convention center. It's a celebration of culture and diversity, and a whole bunch of people set up booths with activities and foods and goods from different countries."

"What'd you do?" Veronica asks.

"We got food and I failed at calligraphy," Chance says, laughing. "And Noah went mostly to talk to people."

"Talk to people?"

"Language practice," I explain. "Mainly Japanese and French today."

"Japanese?" Robbie repeats. "Have you ever lived in Japan?"

"Nope. I've never moved. I just wanted to learn it because I thought it was cool."

"He's also learning Spanish and German!" Chance says eagerly.

His mom raises her eyebrows, impressed. "That's incredible," she compliments. "I wish I was smart enough to do that. Chance, too. He always refuses to learn."

"Mom," Chance groans. "He already agreed to teach me. Stop calling me dumb."

"I never said you were dumb," she counters, grinning. "I just said you could stand to be much smarter."

"That's the same thing," he grumbles, shoveling food into his mouth.

We make small talk for the rest of dinner, his parents asking me questions and Chance telling them to stop bothering me so much. I'm glad that his parents seem to like me. Even though Chance kept telling me that they would, I still had my doubts.