Megan

"Oh that must be him," she said before quickly leaving me to open the front door.

Oh hell no. This is gonna be an awesome dinner. I can't wait.

I followed my mother to the main entrance to meet the guest reluctantly. He was already inside the house and had his back to me and was kissing my mom on the back of her hand. His tall frame and broad shoulders looked impressive next to my petite mother. I wondered how he looked like.

I cleared my throat to reveal my presence and they both turned to lookat me. "Megan this is Smith. Smith, Megan," my mother introduced us. What kind of a name is that? Was it his last name? Why would my mother refer to him with his last name? "Smith?" I asked as I stretched my hand out to shake his. "Smith Wilder," he said with a grin as he turned around to get closer to me.

"Pleasure to meet you, Smith Wilder." He held my hand, but instead of shaking it, he lifted it to his lips too to give it a small peck,"Pleasure is all mine, Megan." When he looked back up and stared into my eyes I was impressed by his grey eyes, I had never seen eyes with that color before, at least not this close up.

He had thick brows, strong cheekbones, a prominent nose that seemed to have weathered a bar fight or two, a three-day beard that surrounded his pink lips, of which the upper was thinner than the lower thicker one. His long dark brown hair was disheveled as if it had never seen a comb, ever. However, it didn't matter because it just added to his I-don't-care-how-I-look look as he had to have been fully aware of how hot he was.

After checking him up and down in his black pants and boots and grey form fitting shirt that revealed his muscular built, I could feel an instant pull towards him. The alarm bells that started to ring after my optical appraisal of him should have been warning enough to let me know that the guy was trouble. However, I chose to ignore it then. I wanted to give him another chance to prove my gut instincts wrong, for once.

I decided not to let the rest of my family know how I felt as I couldn't predict how they would have reacted. Had they been aware that I felt attracted to him, it would have been the first indicator for them that he was bad news. That was just how very on point my magnetism towards troublemakers was.

My mother led the way to the living room, and we followed suit, he gestured for me to walk ahead of him, which I did. All the while I felt his eyes checking me out, and I felt goosebumps spreading throughout my whole body. In the den, he and I sat down while mom busied herself with the drinks at our fully stocked bar, "What do you want to drink, Smith? Henry has prepared an Italian dinner for us tonight. So how about we start it off with an Italian aperitif too? Aperol spritz or Campari with soda?"

Mom looked at him expectantly, but before he could answer, "Aperol spritz for me, mom. Thank you." He looked at me before saying that he wanted the same. I couldn't help but feel his stares on me, as if he was trying to figure me out. It wasn't uncomfortable per se, but something else I couldn't quite put into words that made me shift in my seat. We were served our drinks and mom sat down with us for a chat. Dinner would be served once the twins arrive, Henry had said that they were already on their way.

"So, Smith. What do you do for a living?" My mother asked conversationally.

"I own a bar in the city, ma'am," he replied.

"Wait. First of all, mom, how do you know him?" I interjected before we began talking about anything else, I needed to know.

"He is the son of a friend of mine from back when I went to college, whom I met again just few weeks ago after not seeing each other for such along time. He is the same age as Henry, if I remember correctly. The last time I saw him, he was still a baby."

"Ah, I see." I took a sip and nodded my head while avoiding his gaze, unsure of why I was behaving the way I did.

"So, this bar of yours, Smith," my mom began again.

DINGDONG

"Ah! Your sisters are here!" She said before standing up to welcome them inside.

We waited in the living room, sipping our drinks. Me smiling at him awkwardly, and him staring at me in curiosity, as if I was a puzzle that needed solving. The way he pierced me with his gaze was not the normal kind of curiosity one throws at a newly introduced person, but something else. Does he know me? Have we already met? If so, why didn't he say anything? The alarm bells in my head were growing louder by the moment. Danger! Danger! Stay away from him!

My mother returned to the den with my sisters and introduced them to our guest. At that moment Henry joined us and greeted the twins as well as Smith, " Dinner is ready. Let's all go to the dining room.Dad and Sienna are on their way downstairs too."

Henry led the way and we all followed suit, my mom and me were last. I held my mom's hand and stopped her, "What is this exactly? Have you invited Smith as my plus one to the wedding already?"

"Oh no, dear! Of course, not! I invited him over to introduce you to each other. And, well, I was thinking, hoping that maybe you would hit it off."

"Promise? You didn't mention the wedding to him?"

"Promise."

"Well, because I don't think that he and I..." I began. She looked disappointed and was about to say something, but couldn't as my father and Sienna reached us and were looking at us with questioning eyes. We both shook our heads to tell them it was nothing of importance, and continued to the dining room.

*

Henry had outdone himself with the food. All were full of praise for thechef. The atmosphere at the dinner table was relaxed as everyone seemed to get along.

One after another, the Roberts children were introduced to Smith, what our occupation was and so on. We found out more about Smith too. He was a college dropout. Studying was just not his thing. After a longtime of working as a bartender at the place he then already called his own, he took the opportunity and bought it off the previous owner who wanted to sell it as he had grown old and wanted to retire.

It was apparent how much he loved the place because his eyes revealed a softness while he talked about it. There had to be a great story behind his sentiment for the bar, and I was very curious to know the tale, but I kept quiet. I didn't really say much throughout the entire meal, only answered questions that was directly aimed at me and those only in brief sentences.

Every member of my family alternately darted questioning glances at me, andI could have sworn that my older siblings wore a knowing gaze. A look that said she isn't attracted to Smith, hence he might be a good guy who had passed my bad boy radar.

I had to have been pretty good at feigning disinterest towards our guest for them to think that. I had to admit I was kinda proud of my achievement because it rarely happened that I could fool anyone in my family, especially since we were very open with each other and knew one another well, better than in other families, I supposed.

My mom then began to talk about her friend, Smith's mother, and their time together in college, and he enjoyed hearing about his mother's past. I threw inconspicuous glances at him, I gave my best at being nonchalant about it, that is. What I saw was that his genuine smile while listening to my mother revealed his deep fondness for his own which was an endearing sight, I had to admit.

Everyone at the table also were aware of how very carefully my mom avoided the subject of Smith's father. There had to be a story behind that too,and once again I was interested to know about it. Of course, all of us caught the drift and nobody asked a question that could have put a spot on that particular topic.

By the end of dinner everyone was content and satiated, and we moved back to the living room to continue the chatting there. Sienna excused herself and went upstairs to her bedroom, probably to talk to her bffs on the phone or to busy herself with social media sites.

My father engaged Smith into talks about sports and it didn't take very long for my twin sisters to get bored, and they too left for their old room to talk in private. Mom asked me in detail about work and I told her about my then current project. She was very interested in her children's lives and always stayed informed about all of us, her kids, and we loved her for it. My mother never meddled, but only asked questions and was satisfied with whatever and however little we were willing to share with her.

It didn't take long and my exhaustion began to show, as I couldn't stop myself from yawning several times. When my mother asked why I was so tired, I told her about the previous night and mentioned Sam, my new found friend.

She asked me why Eden wasn't with me, and I had to lie to her, telling that she had been at work when in reality she wasn't. My best friend had gone to a place I didn't know about without telling me, and she had broken up with her high school sweetheart boyfriend, apparently in a very explosive manner. I couldn't tell my mother anything about it yet, as I myself didn't know much.

The thoughts of Eden saddened me and I just wanted to be alone and talk to her. She had said that she was the one who was going to call me, but maybe she would pick up when I tried contacting her then. I decided to leave and stood up to bid my goodbye just when Henry came from the kitchen after cleaning it, as he couldn't stand mess at all.

I thanked my brother for the delicious meal and apologized, explaining to him how drained I was from my recent drinking spree and he understood. All the while I felt Smith's gaze on me again who also stood up when I did. Initially, I thought he did so to say goodbye tome too, but I soon realized that he also wanted to leave, and I couldn't blame him. He was a great guest, very charming, well spoken and polite. I was starting to doubt my radar. Maybe he was the very first guy I was wrong about and he wasn't bad at all?

We waved our last goodbye to my parents and my brother and walked next to each other for a few moments. An awkward silence was beginning to make me want to run away when he said, "Which way do you have to go?"

"This way," I said pointing at the direction to my car.

"Ah! Me too."

Again, we walked in silence and I couldn't wait to get away from him. I just couldn't tell where the urge to distance myself from him came from, I just did. When we reached my car, he pointed at a motorcycle, "This is mine." I admired his vehicle. It was a classic one, very beautiful. I didn't know much about motorcycle, but I had the feeling that it was a rare one.

"So," he began, "Are you going home right away? Or can I persuade you to come to my bar for a chat?"

I was stunned by the question, as I didn't expect it. Why would he want to spend time with me?

"Why? I mean, why would you want to spend more time with me?"

"You mean despite you ignoring me almost the entire night and had me doubting my visibility? Had your family not paid attention to me, I could have sworn I had become a ghost, as you didn't even glance in my direction."

I was speechless, opened and shut my mouth several times, not knowing what to say. Not in a million years did I want him to feel like that, it was a very rude thing what he was describing and I blushed profusely at the realization that I was the one who did it to him. I had never before treated anyone thus.

"I'm so sorry! It was never my intention to make you feel like that! Trust me! I'm really sorry!"

"I'll forgive you if you come to hang out with me."

***

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