At five, when I told dad that Mrs McLane had invited me to dinner, he said that he had something to discuss with me quickly, before I left.

It was weird that dad had something to 'discuss' with me about. The last time he had made this statement was five years ago when mom left us. Perhaps he had stumbled on the picture I found? Or... It was too early for him to get married to Miranda, right?

I fiddled with my fingers nervously as he spoke, "Annie, I know you're all grown up now." This was also almost how he'd started the conversation then. The only difference was that he'd said, 'I know you're all grown up now, enough to understand certain things.'

"-and your well-being is the first thing I care about." Oh my. What was he about to say? "But each time I'm out at work and you're home alone, I don't usually feel at rest." Okay, that wasn't what I expected him to say.

"Miranda and I were talking about something the other day." Oh no! This wasn't happening. He wants to get married to her so that her children could keep me company? I think I was really going to move to Africa to hibernate for a few hundred years .Well that was if my lifespan was that long .I couldn’t stick around to become a kind of modern day Cinderella having a nice stepmother and evil step siblings.

“So I planned something out.” He said, cutting me out of my outrageous thoughts. I met with Mrs. McLane next door. We talked over a cup of coffee and she’s a very nice person. She was the best candidate and she also thought my plan was great.” I stared at him, still left in the dark about what their plan was.

“Anytime I’m late at work or I have an emergency that makes me stay the night at the office, you should go over to the McLane’s. My mouth dropped open in disbelief. What had my Dad done? He was planning to ruin my life. Nicole wasn’t my problem as she was a ray of sunshine but her son was the exact opposite. This was definitely worse than being modern Cinderella. Okay, maybe being Cinderella was worse.

“I can go over to Chloe’s.” I suggested, hoping that it was a great idea. Better than his.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Annie. Chloe now lives miles away. If you don’t like my idea, I can ask aunt Dorine to move here.” That sounded like a threat. Dorine was my dad’s elder sister and I hated every of her visits each year, during thanksgiving. She was over fifty years old already, old and probably old enough to be a grandmother but she wasn’t married and she had no kids. And no, she wasn’t a nun. I thought she was mean but dad said she was only being strict. She always made me watch TV shows that were meant for old women and when I snuck up to my room because I couldn’t take it anymore, she’d take her revenge on me. Her revenge was always so cruel and it was the highlight of her life. Once, as revenge she’d made me shovel the snow in the driveway while it was still snowing heavily. I could’ve died of hypothermia. Worst of all, she always brought her ugly black cat with her. The typical ugly black cat you see that belongs to a witch in a movie. Now, dad was suggesting for her to move here? She’d always said she wished to live with us until she got married. Interpretation: She’ll live here until she dies because she isn’t ever going to get married. Any other torture in the world was better than living with aunt Dorine.

“What do you say, Annie?” My dad asked, sounding impatient.

“Ughhhh. Fine. I’ll go over to Nicole’s anytime you’re at work.” I could always sneak back in, though.

“And don’t you dare think you can sneak back in. I spoke with Nicole about keeping an eye on you.” I face-palmed myself. My dad was practically destroying my life slowly and painfully.

**                                                           **                                                **

After my talk with dad, I went over to the McLanes. I should’ve stayed home since I would be seeing so much of them soon but I didn’t want to give Mr Arrogant that satisfaction. Nicholas was the one who answered the door and he gave me a half smile, making me guess that his mom had given him a pep talk about how to behave around me.

“Her, Nicholas” I waved at him as I walked in.

“Hey, Annabelle.” He replied in my same chirpy tone. I scrunched up my nose at the sound of my name from his lips.

“Just call me Annie.”

“Just call me Nico.” I groaned internally at his response. Guess that pep-talk wasn’t a success after all. The boy was just like his brother. Stepping into the living room, as I settled into the couch, Nicole emerged from the kitchen, beaming at me.

“I’m glad you could make it.” I smiled at her.

“Thank you for inviting me over.” She waved me off with her right hand.

“It’s great to have you here.” I smiled at that and she turned to Nico.

“Keep her company.” I heard her say. “Dinner is almost ready.” She told me, still smiling.

“Is there anything I can help with?” I offered, because I’d rather watch a pot of water boil than to be kept in little Mr Arrogant’s company.

“Thanks for your offer. You’re such a sweetheart and you are also our guest tonight so I better round things up myself. I’ve got things under control.” She gave her blue apron a pat.

“Nico’s going to be eight next month.” She turned back to him.

“Why don’t you tell Annie your plans and probably invite her to your birthday dinner?” She headed back the way she came, her pleated skirt swaying as she moved, leaving me with Nico who was busy flipping through channels on the TV.

“So, you’re going to be five next month.” In started, looking at the boy.

“You know my mom only started that conversation to try to make things less awkward, right?” As he spoke, his focus was still on the TV. Wow, he was such a rude kid and I shouldn’t be surprised, right? He had the world’s biggest jerk as his big brother. Should I be surprised at his attitude? No.

My tongue was itching to give him a piece of my mind that included not so beautiful words characterized by thousand dozens of words. I imagined being in a reality show and almost every word in my sentence being censored. It was at that moment that the arrogant king himself, decided to grace us with his presence. He wore a grey t-shirt over black sweatpants and his hair looked darker because it was wet. Coming down the stairs, his eyes caught mine for a second before he looked away, heading to the kitchen.

I found myself straining my ears to catch what he was saying to Nicole. Not that it was any of my business but come on, who wouldn’t do that? I soon figured I didn’t need to do so because his voice was loud enough.

“Mom, why do you keep calling my phone when I’m home? If you need me, you can just yell.”

“Oh, so that our pretty neighbor can conclude that I’m a crazy yelling banshee?” I chuckled at the same time Nico snorted. I didn’t need to guess that he’d snorted at his mother’s adjective for me. Damn, I felt like biting his little head off.

Nicole came out to the living room, sending a smile my way.

“Nico, please set the table and uhm.” She looked back at Jamie who was behind her now.

“Jamie… Call to ask if your…dad is almost here.” At his mother’s order, he did a double-take.

“What?!” He exclaimed, making his mother glance quickly at me and back at him. It seemed like she was trying to communicate something to him but his look of anger said he wasn’t listening.

“Mom, you said dad wasn’t coming this weekend.” Nico took that moment to speak calmly and I looked down, watching an imaginary fly perched on my shoe because what would one do in this situation?

“He changed plans.” I heard the quiver in Nicole’s voice and Jamie merely scoffed.

“Yeah, right. ‘cause you didn’t beg him to?”

I felt like an intruder here and I mentally scolded myself for declining Chloe’s offer to meet the mouse today.

“Jamie!” I heard Nico and his mom scold at the same time. Nothing was making sense now, the same way I was swatting my hands against an invisible smile wasn’t making any sense. I tried to look at them. Jamie’s hands were balled into fists at his sides and his face looked like he was trying to suppress any biting remarks; Nico had moved to hold his mom’s left hand and she looked like she was about to cry. I looked at Jamie and he was already staring back at me, expression hardened. My eyes snapped back to my fly.

“You know what, Jamie. Just go back up to your room. I’ll call you when dinner’s ready.” I thought I heard wrong Nico was the one who had spoken. He told Jamie to go back to his room. The boy was little, yet, he spoke like he was older than Jamie. Who was the king now?

Jamie sighed and surprisingly, went up the stairs as Nico led his mom into the kitchen. Whatever had happened here to bring a rise in the tension, the only subject of course that came up in my head was ‘Dad’. Jamie’s dad. How horrible was their relationship?

Just then, I heard the bell ring and the little boy ran to get the door. There was a pause and then, I heard the kid speak,

“Why are you here dad?”

The night hadn’t begun and I just ended up with many questions to last me a lifetime.