My Dad is wearing a black suit with a black tie, a white dress shirt, and black dress pants. He is wearing black socks and dress shoes. His hair is a mess of brown and gray curly hair. He has a beer in his hand and my mom, a wine glass with red wine. My mother has her blue dress that holds her waist with black lace heels, and the pearl necklace I got her for Mother's Day. They both look at me. My dad has a face of guilt. He looks back down and turns his head to Luke. My mom gets up and sits her wine glass down. She walks to us and stops in front of Luke. She turns her head to me and asks, "Alex who is this? Is he a new friend?". I nod my head and say, "Yes, he's new here in Smithfield.", I turn my head to Luke and say, "Luke this is my mom, mom this is Luke.".

They shake hands and Luke says, "It's nice to meet you, Mrs. Cortez.". She smiles and says, "Oh please! Call me Kathy.". My dad stands up and walks over to us. He holds out his hand and says, "Hi Luke, I'm Kameron Cortez, Alex's father. Nice to meet you.". "N-nice to meet you too Mr. Cortez". I could hear the nervousness in Luke's voice. My dad and Luke shake hands.

After that, he looks at me and stares. There's tension in the air. You can feel it...taste it. My mom breaks the tension and says, "Well, I'm going to get dinner started.".

"Need any help?", Luke and I say in unison. We look at each other and smile. My mother nods her head and says, "You can help me if you want.". We follow my mom into the kitchen and she tells us what to do.

"Luke grab a pot out of that top cabinet and fill it up halfway with water. Alex you can go get the spaghetti noodles. I've already cooked the meat and sauce. I'll be right back you two. I'm going to go outside for a minute with Kameron.". I nod my head and go get the noodle.

I come back into the kitchen to see Luke on his tippy toes trying to grab the pot. Cute, I think to myself and smile. I lean against the doorframe of the kitchen and say, "Need any help getting that?". He turns around, blushes, and nods his head. "Y-yeah.". I walk over there and stand in front of him. I grab the pot without looking. I sit it beside me and look at him. "There you go.", I say. "T-thanks", he says, still embarrassed. I nod as a reply of your welcome. My head inches towards his, and his toward mine.

My mom comes barging into the house and says, "Alrighty boys!" She lifts her head up from looking at her phone and sees me and Luke with pink cheeks and across the kitchen from each other. "Y'all okay?", she says with suspicion in her voice. We nod and continue to cook.

Dinner is done and we are sitting at the dining table, eating the spaghetti. My mom breaks the silence and says, "So Kameron, when are we going to see this woman your seeing?". He finished chewing his food and says, "I've invited her over here for dinner tonight.". I stop eating and see my hand shaking in anger.

"If you invited her then where is the b**** at?". My mom opens her mouth and says, "Alexander!" Do NOT call her that word!". I stand up and say, "Excuse me.". I'm about to walk out when the front door opens. I see my best friend Nikki walk in. "Hey babe, I'm here!". She turns around and sees me. She stops in her tracks. She looks from my dad to me. My dad breaks the silence and says, "Hey baby! I'm glad you could find your way here!". He walks over to her and kisses her on the lips. I could see her shaking when he put his arm around her waist. "My dad whispers in her ear and by her expression, what he said wasn't good. She looked at me with a scared look in her eyes. Like she was pleading me to get him away from her. Like she... is... scared of him.

My dad looks at all of us. With a smile, he says, "Everyone! We have an announcement to make!", he looks at her and says, "Babe, tell them what the announcement is.". She nods her head and takes a step forward. I see her close her eyes and take a deep breath. She opens her eyes and looks straight at me when she says, "I-I'm pregnant a-and the baby belongs to Kameron.".