dinner

Naturally, Kyle got there before Eric did. And Ellie sat there on the couch in a staring competition with him. No blinking. No way. It was the dead stare kind of thing, and she couldn't really enjoy looking at him anymore than he could her. And that delighted Ellie, somehow. She would thrive in the stillness as long as it lasted.

And then Eric arrived.

Kyle was an angel then. And this made Ellie even more angry. There he was shooting the breeze and everything else with Eric. Ellie thought for a moment with all the conversation that Kyle was Eric's date instead of her.

What was this about? Eric's new best friend, Kyle. Ellie could hardly smile. She just wanted to get this over with. And of course, to show all the southern hospitality her mother knew, that meant waiting on the men which made Ellie fume more. She thought for sure her mom was going to cut up Eric's meat as well as Kyle's.

Then there was the whole bean thing.

"Like, what the cowboys eat?" Eric asked with a smile which Ellie found more mocking than anything else. It was if he never had beans before. Everybody stared at him. "Uh, cowboy food. Home on the range. Ranch style beans? Is that what these are?" He was digging in deeper the more he spoke. Eric finally looked at Ellie then Kyle for help.

Kyle naturally went into a whole spill about chuck wagon cooking and how he thought he and her father should try a competition, sometime. "I bet we could win with these pork chops, here." He bit into as if he was ready to make a commercial.

Ellie could hardly taste a thing. She didn't want to eat. She felt fat. She felt mad. She wanted to be alone with Eric. She never wanted to do this again, but somehow the dinner went on and Eric remained quite as possible.

Luckily, her mom hadn't even asked him one question. Ellie just knew he'd be tested on something, but he wasn't. Ellie had no idea if her Mom liked him. At least there was no flirting, like she imagined. That would have been so much worse. But as it was, her mom sat there no emotion at all. Ellie felt all the more uncomfortable. She knew Eric did too, yet she just couldn't seem to save him from dinner. Of course, Kyle was the only one who could finish his plate.

It helped that Kyle and Eric washed dishes, afterwards. Ellie thought she hadn't really seen Eric at all, and it didn't seem fair to her. This just wasn't fair. Especially, with Kyle around. They were such buddies. What was going on?