He stares me down, not saying a word for an awkwardly long amount of time, “Well?” Carlos prompts, but the only response we get is him storming away, fists clenched by his sides.
“I’ve changed my mind, if you never want to speak to that douche again it’s fine by me” I say, pushing the door closed.
“I told you so” Carlos smiles weakly back. It doesn’t matter how aggravating Marcus is, he’s still his brother and that undeniably runs deep in anybody; sadly I know this won’t be the last we hear from him.
An hour later we are just about to leave the house, I'm reaching for the handle when someone knocks from the other side. I jump back startled, Carlos chuckles at my reaction. "You don't think it's Marcus again do you?" I ask, hoping it's not, but believing the worst.
"There's only one way to find out" Carlos says, pulling the door open.
We are greeted instead with his parents, they are both smiling politely, but after everything that's been going on recently I can only assume this can't be good.
Carlos moves forward and embraces his mother, kissing her cheek in the process and then nods to his dad, "What are you two doing here?" he asks lightly; in his usual cool and collected manner he does not show any of the concern I'm feeling.
"Well actually we were hoping to have a word with Kaitlin" Clara responds, giving me a sixty watt smile, now I see where Carlos gets his from.
"Actually we were just on our way out" Carlos counteracts their request.
"It won't take long" now Tom weighs in, knowing that Carlos will not be able to refuse them a second time without sounding rude.
He turns to me, his expression questioning, we've become so close that this one look says a thousand words to me; all I would have to do is give him one forlorn gaze and he would defy them, no matter what the consequence. But they are clearly concerned or they would not have come here and the last thing I want is to be responsible for another family fall out, so instead I smile sweetly "Of course, please come in" I sing in the most obliging way, stepping back to clear a path for them.
They both visually relax as they follow my lead, Tom pauses at Carlos's side, "Would you give us a moment alone please?" he breathes the words quietly into his sons ear.
Carlos frowns, but obeys all the same, "I need to pop to the office" he states, addressing his father, then to me "I'll be back in twenty minutes" I nod in agreement, smiling to hide my nerves as I watch him leave.
However kindly they put it, I know this is going to be awkward, for all of us, so I quickly decide the best course of action will be a charm offensive; they obviously appreciate manners, so mine must be impeccable to dispel any negative thoughts they may have formed about me, based of Marcus's lies.
"Tom, Carla, can i get you anything, a drink, something to eat? have you had lunch already? We don't have much in, but I can whip up a quick snack if you're hungry?"
They exchange a quick glance, which if I'm not mistaken, shows they are suitably impressed, but refuse my offer all the same. Instead we all take a seat around the lounge area and sit in a relatively uncomfortable silence until Clara finally speaks.
"You probably know why we're here" she starts, I could hazard a guess, but I let her finish, "all this business with the boys has us a little worried. When we met you, you made a great impression on us". I have to bite my lip to stop from giggling at this point; I know she is referring to the dinner we had, but I can't help but conjure up memories of when they actually first met me, naked. I always laugh in stressful situations, I don't know why, but everything seems more funny when you know it shouldn't be. I manage to hold it together as she continues "as you may know we have heard some derogatory things from Marcus and in light of what's happened since, we can only assume that he fabricated them, but as parents it is still our duty to make sure"
"I completely understand" I respond, relieved that they haven't been taken in by his lies, "it was nothing more than brotherly love, gone a bit