Changes

“Bonnie pulls no punches when it comes to you mate! You’re always going to look too much like mum for her to like you…” Luke said as they reached the top of the stairs and were definitely out of earshot of their family downstairs. Harry rolled his eyes and looked at his brother in agreement.

“I’m wearing my hair down just to get on their tits!” He spat as he stalked into their room. Luke followed him in with a sigh. Although a small part of him relished in the fact that he was the favourite, he despised them just as much as Harry did. He might not be as close to his mother, but she deserved more respect than she ever got from them.

“She’s having a laugh…” Harry said stopping and glaring at the outfits laying at the end of the bed. Luke’s expression mirrored his brother’s when he saw what he was referring to. He held up the blue checked shirt that his mother had left on the end of the bed, scrunching up his nose in disgust. There was no way in hell he was wearing that. He looked at Harry who was holding up a blue clip on bow tie with raised eyebrows.

“No.” Luke said bluntly as he dropped the shirt on the floor and turned to their shared wardrobe. Harry looked between the wardrobe and the bowtie and then tossed it aside, following his brother’s lead. Luke ran his fingers over the selection of clothes on his rail and settled on a black button up shirt instead. Five minutes later the boys were dressed and went back downstairs.

“Why aren’t you wearing the clothes I picked out?” Their grandmother’s eyes going wide at the red and blue paisley shirt that Harry had picked out instead of the white one he had been given. Luke watched as she looked his brother up and down, pursing her lips in irritation at his hair long hair resting on his shoulders but Harry didn’t get the opportunity to say anything when she looked past him and at Luke.

“Both of you?” She asked incredulously, looking past both boys, her eyes landing on their mother and narrowing into cold slits.

“Did you lay out the correct clothing for them, Elizabeth? I really didn't think it was too hard of a task for you!” she hissed looking down her long nose. Luke instantly felt bad as his mother's face reddened, he didn’t want her to get in trouble for his disobedience.

“She did grandma…” Luke said quietly and taking a small step sideways blocking his mother from the old woman’s view. Her eyes darted up to Luke’s face and then instantly went back to Harry.

“You need to learn to do as you’re told Harold, not influencing your younger brother to be disobedient!” She scowled at Harry who clenched his fist at his side in response as the anger boiled inside of him. Luke knew that if there was one thing his brother couldn’t stand more than anything, it was being called Harold.

“Grandma it was my decision to go against the clothes, we’d never wear that stuff…” he said confidently, interrupting Harry who was probably about to say something he would come to regret. Luke was mildly amused to see how much their grandmother seemed to struggle with this information. She wanted them to wear the clothes that she had chosen as was evident by the way she was glaring at Harry’s garish choice but Luke could do no wrong in her eyes, so she clearly didn’t want to tell him off.

“I’m less bothered by people who have taste.” She said finally with a small smile at Luke and one last disapproving look at Harry, before turning to their grandfather, “Okay Frank, the boys are ready, let’s go!”

Their grandfather demanded silence whenever he was driving so the journey dragged on with both boys giving each other wide eyed looks of frustration across the backseat. They arrived at the restaurant ten minutes later and Luke had to suppress a groan. Their grandma had picked one of the nicest restaurants in the city, le Bosquet de Poivre and Luke was already worn out. It was the type of place where you just had to take a blind stab at something on the menu because you couldn’t read it anyway and when it did turn up, half of the plate was dedicated to presentation and garnish that wasn’t supposed to be eaten. Luke had found that out the hard way when he mistakenly ate a few orange peel swirls thinking that they were carrot last time.

“If it says ‘poulet’, it’s chicken and is probably safe…” Harry muttered under his breath as their grandparents led them through the carpark toward the looming open doors. As they approached they could dainty light piano music above the hum of quiet conversation. The waiter led them to a table in the middle of the room with an over enthused smile and Luke couldn’t help but think the guy must be dying inside having to deal with stuck up people like his grandparents every evening.

“Well, isn’t this nice boys?” Their grandma said, looking approvingly around the room as she was handed her menu.

“Just lovely!” Luke replied sarcastically. If she heard the tone, she pretended not to as she looked at him pleased and then to Harry expectantly.

“Yeah, lovely.” Harry added quickly before reaching for a piece of bread from the basket in the middle of the table. Luke was taken aback to see his brother’s hand be slapped back by their grandma. They looked at her confused.

“You don’t eat bread before there is a course on the table, Harold! Has Elizabeth taught you nothing about proper manners?” She hissed under her breath, trying her best not to draw attention from the tables around them. Luke saw his brother’s fist clench and his face harden. Luke could see that he was about to reply and judging by his expression it was probably not going to relieve the tension at the table.

“Grandma, have you spoken to Dad?” Luke blurted out quickly as his brother opened his mouth to speak, drawing the attention on himself. Harry shut his mouth but continued to glare at the woman as she turned her attention away from him, smiling at the new topic.

“I spoke to him yesterday! I told him that we were seeing you boys today and he mentioned that he sent your presents from New Zealand a while ago and they should be arriving any day now!” She said proudly. Luke nodded only half listening as he glanced at the menu, looking for the ‘poulet’ that Harry had mentioned in the carpark. His eyes widened as there was no trace of anything with chicken in as far as he could understand. He looked at his brother who was reading the menu looking as though he would rather be anywhere else and decided that he would just get whatever he was having.

“… missing Astoria.” At the mention of their step mother’s name, Luke looked back to his grandma and realised two things. Firstly, that his grandma was possibly the most mind numbingly boring person he had ever had to sit at a dinner table with and secondly, that it was going to be a long fucking night.

Notes

Hey guys!

Hope you're enjoying my story... if you're out there reading, let me know by commenting and telling me what you think!

Lois xo