When Lightning Strikes

Chapter 7 -- You own a dress?

"Del, do you mind helping set the table?" My mom calls up to me as I sit in my room.

I don't respond, I just walk down the steps to the kitchen. Why does the table need to be set? We usually eat dinner in the living room on tv dinner trays.

"Who's coming over?" I begin to grab plates from the cabinet beside mom.

"Your boyfriend and his family."

I almost drop the plates stacked in my hands. Quickly I set them down to walk over to her side.

"What? I've never even met his parents before and you expect me to have dinner with them? What are we having?"

"Spaghetti." She sighs, exasperated with my tantrum.

"No! Gosh, that's like, the messiest thing we could be having!"

"Did you set up the table yet?" She huffs. Staring her down, I follow her orders and open the drawer with silverware.

"How many?" I finally break eye contact with her.

"Us four plus their three." I take a hanful of knives, spoons, and forks over to the table. Then I storm up to my room to call Mickey.

"Hey Del." He's way too chipper. Not for long.

"Did you forget something?" I grit my teeth.

"Um... No? It's not your birthday or our anniversary... Right?"

I'm fuming, "Dinner, Nick, dinner."

He mumbles something under his breath. He knows that once I've used his real name he's in deep trouble.

"I'm sorry, babe, I just found out about it yesterday. I forgot to tell you."

My foot taps repeatedly against the floor. Why wouldn't he have called me right away? It wouldn't be a big deal if I had met his parents previously. Now I get to meet them but my highly embarrassing parents will be by my side?

"Thanks for thinking about me." I scoff.

Now I can hear the anger in his voice, "Della, I'm sorry, but I came straight in from basketball practice, they told me about dinner plans, and I fell asleep."

He could've told me at school today. He doesn't have practice on Fridays and we went to McDonalds right after school today.

Besides, I was tired yesterday too. I had gotten a pretty good beating from Red Raven. Bruises and cuts covered my face, and let me tell you, they were not easy to cover up. Sophia Brown was more than willing to tell me I looked like I had too much makeup on. She called me a clown for the rest of AP bio.

"Whatever. I'll see you tonight I guess." I hang up, more annoyed now than ever.

A text from Ash makes me jump for joy, though. Our super suits are ready. Jonas is in the group thread, too, and he says he'll be over at her house tonight to pick it up. I hold back a squeal of delight.

After I've tossed my phone onto my bed, I rummage through my closet to find something decent to wear. By decent, I mean something that will impress Mickey's parents, but kept age appropriate. I don't want to look like a 14 year old, why do I still have this dress? Oh my, that dress is much too scandalous, when and why did I buy that?

"Hey, Mason?" I call out to him through the wall.

"What?" Even through a sheet rock wall I can hear the arrogant tone of his voice.

"What time is dinner?" I reply.

"Seven." I have an hour until Mickey and his parents show up. As much as I hate this last minute ordeal, I have to make the best of it.