Family dinners were what Jane dreaded most as once every month, Jane's mother had a family dinner.

It was a ritual started by their father, and when he passed away Maisie took it upon herself to keep going with the ritual. A random day was selected unanimously by the family members and everyone gathered at their home, no matter what they were doing or what they had got to do, it was compulsory to come.

The death of their father had started a kind of a dispute between them and their relatives, started by her grandmother. She, being the oldest of them all, liked to think that it was all their fault that her son died. Had they been attentive to him he would still be here, she said. That was why, being in her presence was a nuisance. And spending an entire evening with her around was more than a disaster.

And now with Des included in their little family, Jane was dreading it even more.

"Is every thing ready?"

Maisie asked while coming into the kitchen where Des and Jane were preparing dinner. They both nodded.

"Good." She heaved a sigh of relief. "I don't want anything happening like what happened at the last dinner."

That got Matt's attention. "Mum, even you know that that's impossible."

Jane chuckled while recalling the memory. Maisie frowned as she looked at both of her children.

"Besides," Matt continued, "All of that was Grandpa's fault. He should know better than to mess with the devil's incarnate."

"Oh, hush Matt. None of it would have happened had you made sure that the dog was locked in the room."

"But it was Grandpa who brought him to the table, Mum."

Jane added, laughing at the memory. Before the last dinner, Matt had found an injured dog and brought him home, promising their Mum to keep it away from their grandmother as she had immense hatred for dogs arising mostly from the fear of them. At 86, she was still scared of them. Despite everything, their grandfather had found that dog and brought it to the dining table saying, "Look at this cute little thing, Penelope."

All hell had broken lose with their grandmother saying that they had intended to bring the dog in front of her along with the poor dog ending up in animal control centre.

"By the way, Mum," Matt started, "Do you know where I can find another dog?"

☆

Within an hour or two, their house was crowded by people Jane called her family. It consisted of her grandparents, two uncles, three aunts and all of their children. Including Jane, Des, Matt and Maisie, there were altogether twenty people in the room. Needless to say, the quiet atmosphere had turned to a fish market.

Jane remembered being passed around in this lap, bounced on another when she was merely a toddler. She, being one of the four children present at that time including Matt, would say by their grandfather as he would tell stories by the time she was around ten. Sometimes, the story would be an old tale passed to him by his ancestors and sometimes, the story would be created right on the spot. Nonetheless, the stories never failed to amaze her.

But now, she saw her grandmother seated in the far left corner of the room with a sour face. She looked like she would do anything to get out of there. He grandfather, on the other hand, mingled happily with his children and grandchildren. Jane wished she could be like him - this happy - when she would get old.

Unfortunately for them, the stories had come to a close when her grandfather started forgetting things. Now it took him a good three or four hours to come up with a decent story.
Maisie arrived, saying that she needed Jane's help in setting the table. She got up, right when the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it."

Des left to grab the door while Jane followed her mother to the kitchen. She was grabbing plates from the cupboard when a voice surprised her.

"I'm sorry, Maisie. I hope I'm not late."

"Oh, no Harry dear!" Her mother squealed. "You're just in time."

Harry. Jane didn't remember her mother ever telling her that he was invited too.

She buried her face in the cupboard, pretending to be searching for something as she didn't want to face him. Everything she needed was right in her hands, but she needed an excuse to get away from him and save herself the embarrassment.

But all of her struggles went down the drain when she heard the next words.

"Do you need any help?"

"Oh, no, Harry dear!" There's that statement again. "Jane's helping me-"

"I'm serious, Maisie. I could help, it's no big deal."

"Well, in that case, I'll leave you two to it."

Jane heard her mother's footsteps fading away. A minute or two passed before the silence was painfully broken.

"Have you found Narnia yet, Jennifer?"

She felt her face heat up to an unimaginable extent as she lightly closed the cupboard. With her eyes casted down, she moved with the plates beforehand a hand stopped her.

"Are you ignoring me, Jenny?"

She turned around furiously. With a slam that left the plates clattering, she slammed them on the table. Pushing Harry with all her might, she finally snapped.

"Stay the fuck away from me, Harry! And stop with whatever game you're playing. Seriously, what did I ever do to you? And if you don't stop, I swear to God, Hunter, you won't be able to regret it later!"

Harry watched her, confused but amused to the next extent. In a small voice, he spoke, "Okay, Josephine."

That was all it took for her to go ape-shit. She marched over to him and before he could blink, slammed her foot right in his groin. He toppled over, a painful grown leaving his lips as he clutched his area.

"I'm sure you're happy now, Hairy."

☆

Dinner went on quite smoothly than Jane had predicted. No additional drama with her grandmother occurred. Adults occupied the table while every one else took residence on the couches and floor.

Aside from what happened in the kitchen, it was all set.

Harry spent the whole time passing stone cold glares in her direction. She answered each an every one of them with a shrug and innocent smile, sometimes making his lips pull up in a smile too. He was a mystery, that was for sure.

Dinner was over and everyone was lounging in the living room. That was when her grandmother felt obligated to pipe in her much aggravated opinion. All that was, fortunately, taken in control by Jane's grandfather who abruptly stood up and told his wife to let it all go. Safe to say, she hadn't opened her mouth since.

"I was positive that World War III was starting when Grandma opened her mouth."

Des chuckled while wiping the plates clean of water. Jane and her both had taken the task of doing the dishes, chattering non-stop.

"Yeah. I mean, I was like, 'Oh, shit's about to go terribly wrong'."

They both shared a laugh, before Des spoke up again, "Is he gonna be fine, your grandpa?"

Jane shrugged, "Probably. All that he's gonna get is silent treatment for some days. Grandma isn't all that bad."

The sound of the running water was the only source of noise between them. Jane's thought raced, the starting point being Harry and the end point also being Harry. She had no idea who he really was while she was pretty sure that he had completely figured her out. What was he to Des? How had they two met? Before she could snap, she found her tongue forming words before her mind could process anything.

"Hey, Des? Um- How did you meet Harry?"

Des froze midway, hair shielding her face as Jane watched her curiously. "Harry- He, um, he was my friend's best friend."

Was. "Oh."

"Yeah. Why do you ask?"

"No reason," Jane shook her head, trying to appear nonchalant. "Curiosity, that's all."

Call her curious or intrigued, she wasn't able to get him out of her head. When all of her family members had left and her mother had gone to bed, Jane, Des, Harry and Matt were all seated in the kitchen doing nothing. Matt was munching on a bag of chips he had stolen from one of his uncle's kid. Harry was playing with the numerous rings on his fingers, Des was telling Jane about her numerous adventures while Jane was pretending to hear her with all of her attention on Harry. That was when Matt remembered something.

"Jane? Where did the cupcakes go?"

She leapt on her feet in a second, going towards the fridge. She took out a tray out of it, whose sight made Des frown and look at Harry. His eyes were transfixed on the tray as Jane set them down. His face was a whirlwind of emotion that he was sure no one noticed, but he was wrong.

"Is that raspberry?"

He wasn't aware that he was asking that question until he heard his voice piercing his ears. He saw Jane nod quite happily, saw her lips moving as she muttered something that could have been My favourite but he wasn't sure. He wasn't sure that it was Jane he saw that night. Her eyes had changed to brown, along with her hair. But all other of her features remained same.

He almost took her name, he almost said what he had been dying to tell her. But his mouth had been sown closed.

He shut his eyes tightly while his chest squeezed in pain. The almost weightless object hanging from his neck began to choke him, tightening around him, till he could no longer breathe.

He opened his eyes.

Standing up suddenly, he averted his eyes that seemed to be frozen on Jane.

"I'm sorry, guys." He spoke, getting ready to leave. "I've gotta- I've got to go now."

Without further ado, he left without looking behind. His heart beat was erratic with his brain clogged up with events, laughs, memories, her voice. He kept walking and walking until he reached the playground he had been at mere nights ago. He found the same half-standing wooden bench.

His eyes seemed to burn with the emotion he was feeling now. But he didn't let himself cry. He reminded himself that he couldn't cry.

Because that didn't - or couldn't - bring her back. Not ever.

Notes

There you go.

Stay blessed.