Suffocating

Dinner

Calvin.

Sophie's house was big. There were two bedrooms on the second floor along with a master suite that her parents stayed in. The bathroom was bigger than his and the carpet was soft and squished under his feet.

She showed him every part of the house, apologizing several times for the various boxes that littered the rooms.

"Where's your room?" He asked, raising his eyebrows.

Sophie hesitated. "It's downstairs."

Calvin got the feeling Sophie didn't want him to see what her room looked like. Was it too messy? Was she afraid he would do something to her if they were down there? He waited, letting her decide what to do.

"I'll show you. It's just not very clean right now." Her face reddened as she led him down a set of steps to a bedroom the size of the living room. Her bed was in the corner and boxes surrounded it. There was a bean bag on the floor with a laptop on it but nothing more. Sure, she had unpacking to do yet it didn't look like she would put anything more up.

It reminded Calvin of his own room.

"It's nice." Calvin said, staying in the doorway to let Sophie have space.

She shrugged. "I wasn't expecting it to be so big."

"Was your old room smaller?"

"Oh, yeah. This stuff barely fit back home." She followed my gaze to the boxes.

"How come you haven't unpacked?"

"I'm moving away for college soon so I didn't think there was any need to unpack."

Calvin hated to hear that. He didn't want her leaving and making him isolated again. He just found a friend, someone who cared about him, and she was leaving.

"That makes sense."

"Sophie, dinner's ready." Her mother called from upstairs.

"I guess we better go." She said, her eyes on the stairs.

Calvin nodded and started up the steps.

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Sophie's father was absent from dinner. Her sister, Lexie, sat across from Calvin during dinner and kept staring at him. Maybe she knew he'd tried to kill himself. Maybe word got out between the kids in her classes. It wasn't much of a secret yet Calvin still hated when someone new found out.

Sophie's mother asked the basic questions all parents did when their child's potential boyfriend/girlfriend ate dinner with them for the first time. She asked him about his family, his hobbies, and everything she could come up with. She kept Calvin talking through the entire dinner, barely allowing Sophie to talk.

"Did Sophie give you a tour of the house?" She asked, taking a sip of her water.

Calvin nodded.  "Yeah, it's nice. It's a lot bigger than my house."

She smiled. "Do you live around here?"

"It's a fifteen minute drive. Closer in to town."

Sophie's mother, Francis, sat back in her chair. "I'm glad you could come over tonight, Calvin."

"Thanks for having me. The food was delicious."

"Good."

"I better head home. Mom's probably waiting up for me." Calvin got to his feet. "Thanks again for dinner."

Francis stood up. "Do you need a ride home?"

"I'll take him." Sophie interjected.

"Sophie-"

"It's fine. I'll go." Sophie grabbed Calvin's arm and headed for the door.

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Merry Christmas!