“You look so beautiful Skylar, I’m really happy that you and your parents decided to have dinner with us tonight, it’s going to be fun.”
“I think it will be fun too.”
The driver came around and opened the door to the sleek black mercedes and I felt like a princess as I slid into the car. Jonathan’s parents were inside and siting right next to his mom was Boobs McGee with a huge smirk on her face. You have got to be kidding me. What the hell is Barbi doing here? I quickly composed myself because the last thing I wanted to do was come off as snarky in front of Jonathan’s parents. I dug deep and pasted a saccharin sweet smile on my face and said hello to her.
“Barbi, what a nice surprise, I didn’t realize that you would be joining us.”
She returned an equally fake smile. “It’s nice to see you Skylar.”
Okay, what’s going on here? Jonathan could not possibly think that he could get away with taking two girls out at the same time, especially when one of them had their parents coming along! I shot Jonathan a look and he didn’t seem fazed by the situation at all.
Jonathan’s dad spoke up. “Skylar, I probably should have mentioned that our cousin was joining us, my apologies.” Wait, what? Cousin? And, was that annoyance I saw on his face? Was he not happy that she was there?
I was shocked into silence as I processed what he just said. Barbi is their cousin? If she was related to Jonathan then why was she hanging all over him like that all the time? Ewww gross! I was still trying to process and the conversation continued on without me. Barbi was saying something to Jonathan but everything was a garbled mess to me as the words swirled in the air making no sense at all.
“Skylar dear you look gorgeous, simple breathtaking.” His mom was very sweet and it snapped me out of my confusion.
“Thank you Mrs. Hunter.” I was really happy that she approved. The words were feeble as my brain continued to try to figure out what was going on.
“Beautiful dress Skylar, just stunning.” Mr. Hunter gave Jonathan a quick look a small smile. I was happy that they both approved and really happy that Barbi witnessed it first-hand. I glanced at her and she had a bit of a snarl curling her lip at the compliments aimed toward me.
“Thank you.”
“I have to apologize if I seem a bit dazed, I had no idea that Jonathan and Barbi were related.” My gaze slid to Jonathan and I had to control the annoyance I felt about him not telling me she was his cousin.
Barbi piped in with her obnoxious baby voice. “Well, technically we’re not related. My mom married Jonathan’s cousin.”
Oh, so that’s why she was always all over him, there was no blood relation. I doubted that any kind of relationship between those two would be allowed in Jonathan’s family.
“Yes, Barbara’s mother is his third wife to be exact, and they were married less than a year ago.” That was definitely an annoyed look on his face. Mr. Hunter was not being subtle at all about his feelings. So, Barbara, huh? I knew her real name couldn’t be ‘Barbi with an i’. She’s a moron.
Jonathan finally jumped into the conversation to try to smooth things over. “I was trying to tell you when I walked you home from the library a couple of weeks ago.”
I noticed his mom glance at me and I couldn’t tell what she was thinking. I didn’t want them to know that Jonathan and I had any friction so I was anxious for him to get on with what he was going to say.
“Barbi’s mom is married to my dad’s cousin Ethan, which makes him my cousin too. It was a surprise for the family because it happened so quickly but I think they’re settling in just fine, and so are we, right dad?” Jonathan shot his dad a look and his father was busy tapping away on his phone.
“Joshua, your son is speaking to you.” Her voice was stern and his dad quickly put down the phone and looked at Jonathan.
“Yes, we’ve welcomed our newest family member with open arms.” His smile was cold and I could tell that it wasn’t genuine. He doesn’t like her!
I decided to needle Barbi a bit. “Barbara,” I gave her a pointed stare, “are your parents coming this weekend?”
She did not look happy with me at all and I seem to have hit a sore spot. I don’t know if it was because I called her by her real name or because I asked about her parents. Whatever it was, it put a pretty big scowl on her face and I was loving it. Mr. Hunter jumped in before she could answer.
“No, unfortunately my flighty cousin and his wife decided to go to Paris at the last minute rather than visit her only child during her first semester away from home.” Mr. Hunter definitely did not hold back his real feelings. He really didn’t like his cousin!
I glanced over at Barbi who’s cheeks were bright red with embarrassment. It sucked that her parents didn’t seem to care about her. I almost felt sorry for her but then she gave me a sly smirk as Jonathan put his arm around her.
“We’re here for you Barbs.”
Where I normally would have felt pangs of jealousy that Jonathan had his arm around her, my feelings for him grew even more as I realized that he was a genuinely nice person. He didn’t want her to feel alone and I could tell that it was nothing more than that for him. Barbi was another story. I knew that she wanted him and she seemed like the kind of girl that would do anything to get what she wanted. Hopefully Jonathan was smart enough to know that.
I glanced at Jonathan’s parents and saw subtle disapproving looks on both of their faces. The car pulled up to my parents’ hotel and his parents looked incredibly relieved and I couldn’t tell why until my parents got in the car.
“Hello you two, why don’t you sit over there. Barbara come sit next to me.” Jonathan’s mother was not playing around, she did not want bimbo Barbi next to her son.
Barbi had a definite pout on her face as she left Jonathan’s side. My parents sat next to me and I moved closer to Jonathan to make more room for them. His arm felt so warm and comfortable against mine, I didn’t ever want to move. Our parents were chatting away and his hand was resting near my leg and he discreetly and gently rubbed the side of my thigh with his pinkie. I gave him a quick glance from the corner of my eye and he gave me a small smile and winked at me. Uh, the butterflies went crazy.