Love and Its Lies

Eleven - Dinner part 1

“Okay, so we’re cousins on the way to the West for a family reunion next week. We’re very distantly related through our mothers—they’re cousins. We were both coming from the same city so we decided to take the trip together and take the long way—”

“Will you chill out, Danny?” Aly sighed as she looked at Danny on the mirror. She had just finished changing her clothes three times, and was finally—or at least Danny hoped it was the last time—done picking out an outfit for dinner, while he sat impatiently on the chair behind her.

“We'll make it up as we go,” she gave him a confident smile and tauntingly patted his cheek as she passed him on her way to the bed. “We’ll be fine.”

Danny rolled his eyes. “Fine, right. Totally A-okay,” he grumpily muttered as Aly started packing her handbag. “Are you done yet? It’s almost 15 minutes until 6. We are going to be late.”

“Early is too early, and on time is still too early. We have to be fashionably late to give the host some time to prepare.”

Danny frowned at her. “I don’t think that’s how the saying goes,” he commented, which Aly only ignored. He watched as she inserted a roll of tape and a small container of clay inti her bag, further increasing his confusion. “What are you packing? You are aware that we are going to have a dinner for adults, and not an arts and crafts play date, right?”

Aly looked at him and simply smiled. “A lady can never be too prepared.”

“I’m no woman but I’m pretty sure that clay is not a necessity for meals. Where did you get that, anyway?”

Aly zipped her bag close and checked herself out in the mirror one more time. “I did a grocery run this morning – and you’re right. No woman would ever dress like that,” she scoffed as her eyes judgingly scanned an offended Danny from head to toe.

“What’s wrong with my outfit?” He asked, looking down at his shirt, tweet jacket and sneakers.

“Nothing that can be remedied tonight,” Aly mumbled as she headed to the door. She turned to Danny and gestured for him to stand. “Let’s go, it’s time to prove to you how my John is an innocent man.”

Danny lazily got off the chair with a grunt and dramatically opened the door for Aly. “Get ready to be disappointed, m'lady.”

It was a beautiful night outside. The sky was clear, making way for the moon to brilliantly cast a dramatic yellow light on the houses and trees. A few people walked along the streets, some of them bidding the two to have a good evening — something Aly was delighted by, but still could not get used to.

“The town people are really kind, aren’t they?” she whispered to Danny as they walked side by side. “I think I wouldn’t mind living in a small town like this — especially if John gives me a reason to stay. It’s a refreshing contrast from the city.”

Danny raised an uncaring eyebrow at her, disregarding her wishful statement about John. “They are too kind and too gossip-y for my taste. It makes it easier to get information, which is good for my line of work. But, having had a glimpse of your lifestyle — I mean, yoga clothes and all the beauty products you have in your room, really? — you wouldn’t last a month.”

“I can live without those things, Danny,” she glared at him then muttered under her breath, “there’s also this thing called online shopping.”

They stopped as they reached the gate of John’s property.

“The delivery itself would cost you hundreds,” Danny stated as a matter of fact. “You remember our back story? Or do I have to repeat everything?”

Aly sighed as she recited, “Cousins, related by mothers, family reunion, blah blah.”

Danny was unamused at how she was taking things too lightly. Sternly, he said, “Don’t do anything rash, don’t blow my — our cover — and don’t mention anything about my work. Are we clear on that?”

Aly bounced impatiently on her toes. “Yes, yes, I know. It’s common sense, so can we go now?”

Danny narrowed his eyes at her in doubt, then hesitantly rang the bell. Aly let out a small squeal of excitement. “I can’t believe I’m going to see his childhood home!” she whispered, to which Danny only rolled his eyes at.

John emerged from his house and welcomed the two of them with a wide smile. He was neatly dressed in a collared shirt, with his curly hair brushed up.

Danny smirked and quietly said to Aly, “He looks like a Stepford dad.”

Aly shushed him as John opened the small gate to let them in. “Right on time!” he exclaimed. “Come in, come in.”

He led them up to his house and Danny handed him a bottle of wine he randomly picked out from the grocery store that afternoon.

“We couldn’t come empty handed,” Danny said with dazzling courtesy. “The store offered limited choices, so we chose whichever looked best.”

“Thank you! And yes, they don’t have good wine here, they’re more of a beer people here.” John ushered them inside his living room. “Please, make yourselves feel at home.”

It looked like a normal old house with an off-white paint and hanged framed paintings on the walls. The windows were covered by light blue curtains and long fluorescent lights were stuck to the ceiling. The living room had a long brown sofa and black couch perpendicular to it, with a small flat-screen TV by the wall that divided the living room from the dining room.

Aly could not believe her eyes were laying on John's property — the place where he had slept, eaten, played in during his entire childhood. The place that made him. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity! She wanted to take Polaroid photos and tape them to a journal, just so she could remember all the little details forever.

“You have such a lovely home,” she commented, every word evidently coming from the heart.

“Thank you, it held up pretty well over the years,” John shyly replied. “I hope you’re both hungry. I prepared a bit too much, I think.”

“Starving,” Danny said.

“Alright! I’ll just go bring out the food and finish preparing the table.”

Aly was quick to speak up. “Oh, do you need any help?”

“No, it’s fine, thank you. You both can take a seat or have a look around,” John said as he made his way to the kitchen.

Danny and Aly took up his offer, as Danny inconspicuously looked for clues on or behind furniture and Aly excitedly viewed old framed photographs by the stairs.

“This is quite a big place you have. Do you live alone, John?” Danny called out as he tried to take a peek of what was on the upper floor, leaning on the post at the end of the stairs and squinting his eyes.

“Uh, yes. I live alone. My father passed away a few years back,” they heard John answer from the kitchen, along with the light clattering of dinnerware. “I haven’t given you a tour, but there really isn’t much to see. There’s just the living room, dining room and kitchen on the first floor, and on the second floor is the bathroom, my old room which I’ve turned into a study, and the master’s bedroom.”

Aly gave the journalist a look, as if to ask “what are you up to?” but Danny continued to ask, “I’m sorry to hear about your father, but how about your mother? Does she live some place else?”

There was a few seconds of uncomfortable silence from John, before he came back to the living room while taking off his kitchen mitts. “She… left town a while back,” he answered as if he was choosing his words. Then, with a smile, he gestured for them to follow him. “Dinner's ready. Would you like some wine or iced tea?”

With John's back turned to the two behind him, Danny gloatingly smiled at Aly and mouthed “Told you so.”

She hissed back, “Still doesn’t prove anything.”