Where Do We Go From Here?

I gripped the envelope in my hands while walking up Tony’s path to his home. Upon his mother’s request, she wanted to have a small dinner at their house for his birthday. However, the real party—the one Austin will be hosting—will take place the following weekend. As of right now though, Tony’s family—which consisted of his mother, step-father, Rosie, and Maria—were invited along with myself. Gabby insisted on inviting my family, and I did for the sake of her insistence. My mother being the southerner she is accepted her request and plans on showing up with my father and Ronnie along with Yia Yiá, since Yia Yiá is dying to meet Tony’s family.

As I lightly knocked on the door, wearing one of the dresses I purchased from Santorini—a modest navy blue dress that framed my figure nicely while pairing it with my plain black flats with a bow on top—Maria opened the door, looking extremely gorgeous. She curled her chocolate hair, which fell nicely upon her shoulders. She lined her eyes lightly and wore a red dress which flared out over her thighs—she looked stunning.

“Hi Maria.” I greeted timidly.

“Verity! You look gorgeous.” She exclaimed.

“I could say the same to you.” I reciprocated.

Grabbing my hands, Maria pulled me into the house with gusto. “Ma!” She yelled even though their house was small enough to speak regularly. “Verity’s here!” She shouted once more.

It was then that Tony turned the corner, wearing a simple white button up and black slacks. I blushed because he looked very handsome.

“Doesn’t she look beautiful?” Maria pressed, igniting another crimson blush to grow prominent.

Tony blushed as well before saying “She looks perfect.”

“Hi.” I greeted bashfully. “Happy birthday.” I added, almost skipping that formality.

Tony laughed. “Thanks.”

I neatly tucked his present in my purse as Maria tugged me towards the kitchen where Gabby was pulling out a homemade cake from the oven. Tony followed us in tow while taking hold of my free hand—the one Maria wasn’t holding onto.

“Ma!” Maria yelled louder.

“I heard you!” Gabby yelled then quickly composed herself when she saw me. “Verity, so nice of you to come by.”

“Of course, I wouldn’t miss another dinner over here.” I answered. “It’s nice to eat something different as opposed to my mother’s southern recipes.” I explained.

Gabby laughed. “Well, I’m glad you like it.” She answered pleased.

I’ve noticed that Gabby did take pride in her cooking. I’ve witnessed how she would spend hours cooking and preparing a meal until she deemed it perfected. I always enjoyed her cooking and probably gained another five pounds from eating her food—it was to die for.

“Someone’s scoring some major mommy points.” Tony teased.

I slapped his shoulder while Gabby and Maria chuckled.

“Hey! No hitting the birthday boy!” Tony whined jokingly.

I laughed. “No way, Perry. In my house, the tradition is that we get to distribute hits.” I countered.

Tony pouted. “That’s not fair.”

I smirked. “Well, now that you’re 18 you get 18 hits and one for good luck.”

“I like that tradition.” Maria commented.

“You will do no such thing.” Gabby scolded then turned to me and said “But if it’s a family tradition at your house, then I can’t force you to stray from tradition.”

Tony gaped at his mother while I stuck my tongue out at him.

“Verity!” I heard Rosie cheer as she came running into the kitchen. She was wearing a princess costume with a tiara.

“Hi Rosie.” I smiled warmly.

She looked absolutely adorable with her pink tutu on paired with sparkly sequenced heels—you know, those plastic kid ones that almost every girl has owned at least once in their lifetime. She pulled me down for a hug before animatedly talking about her volleyball team.

It took another ten minutes before my family arrived. Ronnie wore one of her nicer dresses—it was a simple black number that had a scoop-neck neckline and paired it with simple accessories and her black flats. It was by chance that Ronnie was allowed to stay the night at my parent’s house. After gaining ten pounds and remaining that weight for the past month, the head doctor gave her a weekend pass. She didn’t plan on using it for Tony’s birthday, but the dates did coincide perfectly. Ronnie, however, wasn’t exactly thrilled. My mother walked in next; wearing a black pencil skirt and a purple blouse she bought from Charlotte Russe. My father on the other hand wore one of his work suits—thankfully it had matched my mother’s attire or else that would have probably—unintentionally—offset an argument. Yia Yiá wore one of her nicer blouses and paired it with black jeans. Yia Yiá never really cared for dressing up and didn’t own much formal attire, but due to the occasion she decided to step up her attire a notch.

Introductions went pleasantly. Gabby, Manuel, Rosie, and Tony already knew my parents and Ronnie and vice versa; however, it was Yia Yiá and Maria who didn’t really know anyone. Yia Yiá was utterly adorable during the whole introduction montage. She particularly found Rosie and Maria adorable and called them “arketá chroftés” which is Greek for “pretty dancers”. However, I found it surprising to see how Ronnie and Maria responded upon their introduction. If I didn’t know any better I could have sworn that they were interested in each other, but I didn’t press it any further.

After having a few laughs, Gabby had ushered us to the table where I was kind of pushed—thanks to Maria—to sit next to Tony. I think the parents of the table found it adorable. However, I was being a little bashful since I felt like I was on display. I snuck glances at Ronnie, expecting her to look a little glum. However, Ronnie was sneaking glances at Maria while subtly smiling. Maria, too was doing the same.

“Have you figured out when you’ll be flying to New York?” Gabby asked as she served herself some salad.

I swallowed down my gulp of water before responding. “I’ll be leaving at the end of July. I still have to attend orientation and meet my roommate.”

Gabby nodded warmly. I snuck a glance at Tony who seemed to be pushing his food around in silence. I too grew a little glum from the topic, especially after I promised Callie that I wouldn’t speak of any future talk. Manuel picked up our shift of mood and steered the subject into a much brighter topic. He spoke of Rosie’s upcoming tournament which will take place the following weekend. My mother and father pressed the issue until there wasn’t much left to say on the topic. Desperately looking for something to talk about, Maria asked about Santorini and practically begged us to deluge the details on the matter.

“Santorini is beautiful. The summer’s there are magical.” Yia Yiá began to explain. “I originally grew up in Athens as a little girl, but would venture to Santorini whenever the weather would permit it—those were the grand days when I could take a small row boat to and from Santorini.”

“Verity did explain that you owned an Inn.” Maria brought up, taking interest in my grandmother’s stories.

Yia Yiá smiled widely. “I built that business with my husband. We got married in Athens and decided to invest our savings into owning a business—which is how Paraklésis started. At first it was nothing more than a large home, but then tourism grew and soon we had to expand the place.” She explained.

With Gabby and Maria picking my family’s brain about Santorini, I grabbed Tony’s hand beneath the table. He was tense, but at my touch I felt him relax. His hands were warm and a little sweaty, but I didn’t mind it though. I was just glad to be here with him. In my mind—even though this may sound a little pathetic, and apparently I’ve been pathetically in love with Tony for a while—I imagined that we were having some kind of rehearsal dinner before getting hitched the next day. Like I said, it was a dismal idea, but I liked it. After dinner, Gabby scurried off into the kitchen with Maria in tow. It was time for cake, and when I last saw it, Gabby had made a monster cake that probably took six containers of frosting to cover it.

“Are you having fun?” I asked Tony while leaning in close to him.

I could see my parents eyes cut to us; my mother wore a warm expression while my father was wary in his eyes.

Tony smiled at me. “By far, the best birthday ever.” He replied while gently kissing my nose.

My sister then made a subtle gagging noise from her seat. Yia Yiá then smacked my sister’s shoulder, making Tony and I chuckle. Ronnie rolled her eyes.

Gabby and Maria re-entered the room, singing happy birthday while carrying the double-decker cake. Of course we all joined in and sang along. Rosie was belting out the song off key while placing her tiara on Tony’s head. I laughed while Gabby pulled out her camera and began snapping pictures of the whole thing. The cake was placed in front of Tony, who smiled as the our singing came to a halt.

“Make a wish.” Rosie said eagerly.

Tony glanced at me then back at the candles before taking in a long breath of air. In a single huff of breath, he blew out the candles while wearing a toothy, lopsided grin on his face. I wanted to kiss the hell out of him for looking so damn adorable. And just as I was relishing in the moment, Maria walked over, picked up a piece of cake that was loaded with chocolate frosting, and slammed it right in Tony’s face. She then started hysterically laughing before Tony quickly wiped his face.

“Not in the house!” Gabby shouted.

Neither of them listened because Tony quickly grabbed a chunk of cake and smeared it across Maria’s face, silencing her laughter.

“You better have not messed up my hair!” She warned.

Rosie giggled before dashing away; not wanting to get caught in the middle. I started laughing because I never attended a cake fight before. I saw it portrayed in movies countless of time, but I never actually witnessed one. Tony then turned to me, wearing a devilish smirk on his face.

“What’s so funny, Verity?” He asked with chocolate staining his face.

I held in my breath because the look in his eyes resembled one of mischief. “Don’t even think about it.” I warned, but it was too late.

Tony splotched the remaining cake piece in my hand onto my cheek. Gasping, I glared at Tony through narrowed eyes. This meant war. I wasn’t particularly fast or agile or even good at aiming, but given enough motivation I was quick enough to fist a handful of cake and throttle it in the air, landing smack dab on Tony’s face.

Gabby let out a defeated sigh, and took out her camera. I felt bad because there were a ton of crumbs on the floor, but I was on a mission. Gabby began snapping pictures left and right. It was a bunch of candid’s that consisted of a cake war that lasted a good ten minutes. It was a good thing that the cake was large because half of it was used as ammunition. Even Ronnie joined the fun, smearing some cake into mines and Tony’s face.

Notes

Just got home from a 14 hour shift and decided to write this bad boy up. Sorry if it doesn't make any sense, but I am currently running on no sleep, coffee, and some ill-nasty tunes haha.

Hope you like this chapter. Not sure when I'll update again.

Thanks for reading and commenting! <3