After all our showers, we all piled into the kids car. Mr. Atkins drove, with Mrs. Atkins next to him in the passenger seat. Zeke sat between the twins in the middle row, emitting such a scary aura that the twins didn’t say a word on the way to dinner. and Noah sat in the very back which is normally used for storage apparently. Noah looked squished, but I felt quite comfortable.
The Atkins took to a place called Da Vinci’s, an Italian restaurant by the looks of the nu. We were able to sit at a round table that fit us perfectly. After ordering water and pasta for everyone, Mr. Atkins got down to business.
"You want to tell us your side of the story, Zeke?" His dad asked, not sounding overbearing, just average like how you would ask soone how their day was.
Zeke straightened up more so than he already was. "At lunch-"
"At lunch?" Mrs. Atkins interrupted. She looked around the table. "What happened at lunch?"
Zeke eyebrows pulled together. "What were you asking about then?"
"Let’s start with what you have to say about lunch." Mr. Atkins looked concerned.
"I’m not exactly sure. We all ate lunch together outside. Jake acted a bit strange like I scared him." Zeke stayed plainly.
"How?" Mr. Atkins asked the sa ti Mrs. Atkins asked, "What did you do?"
Dave smiled broadly. "I’ll tell you what he did. He slapped upside the head for no good reason and that was when Jake started to avoid eye contact."
"Wrong. He slapped you for antagonizing Noah with cookies." Kyle corrected. Dave stuck out his tongue.
Mrs. Atkins looked at sympathetically. "They’re just ssing around, Jake. There’s no reason to be afraid."
Mr. Atkins sighed. "I think we should address this now. Boys, Jake has a severe aversion to violence. His birth family wasn’t very kind. Actually, he ended up in the hospital for a few months and just recently started to get better." He eyed Zeke. "So I would prefer if he didn’t run extra laps. I’ll be calling your coach to talk about easing him in. I don’t want him to aggravate any old injuries."
All the boys looked at making feel like I was a freak show. I studied the table, keeping my head down.
"I’ll keep an eye out for him." Noah spoke first. "As my only younger brother, I’ll make sure no one picks on him. Especially these three monsters." I cracked a smile.
"Hey! I’m not scary at all compared to Dave and Zeke." Kyle said. Looking at , he faked a sad face. "I’m the second least scary one here, right Jake?"
I gave a simple nod.
"Wait. That’s not fair!" Dave cut in. "Who’s the third least scary one then? or Zeke?"
I pointed at Mr. Atkins without even thinking. I haven’t been around him much, yet he made feel safe by how easy he could control the boys.
"What! You’re less scared of so man who is over a foot and a half taller than you?" Dave rolled his eyes. "Fine. Who do you think is the scariest one here? Just so we know what makes you so nervous all the ti."
Unconsciously, I glanced at Mrs. Atkins. It was nothing against her specifically, but the fact that she was a mother. I wonder if motherhood made my mom into the monster she had beco.
"Mom?? You’re afraid of mom?" Dave hollered, and starting laughing. Even Kyle and Noah started to chuckle.
I looked back at the table in embarrassnt. I should have just pointed at Zeke. He wasn’t really scary, just intimidating.
"Boys." Mrs. Atkins tried to calm them. "Jake, it’s okay. I understand why you feel that way. Don’t worry, I’m not bothered by it." I glanced at her, and she was smiling. But not in the creepy, an way my mom would before hitting . "Jake’s recent hospital stay was his mom’s doing." She told the boys.
All laughing ceased. The quiet this ti around was even more deafening.
Noah was the only one that didn’t look shocked. "She wasn’t a real mom like you mom." He nudged . "You’ll learn to like her. She makes good cookies so that’s a plus."
I nodded in agreent. That was a very true statent. And my mom and never cooked for before so that difference helped.
Mrs. Atkins laughed. "I’m happy to know that I’m only good for cookies."
"And for bailing us out of trouble." Noah added.
The whole table laughed and started to lighten up once more. The conversation changed to stories of the boys getting in trouble all over town and in school. I happily ate my food as I listened to them talk about the past. This is what a family should be like.
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