Chapter Eighteen

                                    

                                          
~Sayd~
I watched mom walk with Kace to the back of the house as I followed behind them. I almost felt sorry for him, my mom was great and all but she could get a little invasive. 
When we got to the back, sure enough, there was a considerable amount of people including some family friends and neighbours and my dad in an apron working the grill. 
"There my girl," he said immediately he saw me and enveloped me in a hug. 
"Hi, dad." 
"You're right on time for barbeque Friday sweetheart." Barbeque Friday was a thing that dad made up. He would invite friends from his company and family over for a small get-together on the last Friday of the month. "Where's your brother?" 
"Probably in his own world." He then turned his attention to Kace when he and mom stood next to me.
"Is this Dante?" He asked, his expression suddenly turning cold.
"No, dad-"
"No honey this is Kace Cohen." Of course, my mom was Kace's biggest fan. 
"Good afternoon sir," Kace said extending his hand. 
"Kace here was just telling me about how he majored in Urban and Regional Planning and made a business out of it. " 
"Really?" Dad said and his eyes sparked with interest." I'm an architect myself. You must be a smart young man." 
"I would just say I saw an opportunity and took it." 
"Don't be modest," Dad said patting him on the back. "Come, let's talk more over the grill. " 
"Yes sir." 
"Call me Michel."
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I was sitting on one of the patio chairs watching my family and neighbors leave one by one as the barbeque slowly came to an end. 
Kace was still talking to my dad about God knows what, first it was planning, then dad told him about his company and then Kace showed him a whole file of plans he made and dad made him promise to send in his resume once he got his Bachelor's. It wasn't hard to see that everyone liked him. Including one neighbour in particular who tried to pair him up with her daughter that was until mom jumped in the conversation and stopped that from happening by making a complete fool of me. 
"Hey," Kace said as he sat next to me on my chair. 
"Hey," I replied. " Had fun?" 
"Yeah, I did actually. I was just helping your dad take some stuff inside and clean up." 
"You didn't have to do that Kace." 
"It's alright, I wanted to." 
"You are probably the son they have always wanted by now," I said and he chuckled. 
"Or maybe, at this point, they'll accept anyone who isn't Dante," I joked 
He leaned back and sat comfortably on the chair before he asked. "What is it about Dante anyway? Did he leave that bad of an impression?" 
"Well, "I sat with one leg on the chair so that I was facing him. "Something like that. When I started dating him, he was a good guy, you know trying his best and all, then as time went by he started to change, he wouldn't text me as much anymore, or call. I was always the one arranging dates, it was really sad actually. Then it started to affect my grades and I ended up taking some courses. " 
"Really?" He asked with concern. 
"Yeah," I faked a smile. " You can imagine my parents were already furious that I was not doing well in school, but finding out that it was because of a boy I just couldn't dump."