For dinner, her mother served fried chicken, and butter layered collard greens and homemade wheat biscuits, her favorite meal. Alecia's father and Ryder talked the whole dinner about politics while her mother told her of the three new babies she helped bring into this world over the last semester. Alecia looked around the small dining room, with the china cabinet behind them, full of her mother’s wedding day china from Belks. Her wedding china wouldn’t come from Belks but some upscale store she had never heard of or ordered from France.
This seemed odd, surreal for Ryder to be here dining at the table that her grandparents had
eaten off of until they died. But in some ways it didn’t. Maybe because there was never a moment of breath between Ryder and her father. The two were almost like two lost kindred souls.
After supper, Alecia and Trina helped their mother clear the table and wash the dishes. The men’s conversation turned to Iran, and from the kitchen her father’s laugh floated into the room when Ryder said President Richard should get it over with and just drop a bomb on the county.
“I guess Daddy likes Ryder,” Alecia said. Her mother smiled. “He seems like a nice boy.”
“He is,” Alecia said as her cheeks warmed.
“Are you two dating?” Trina asked, dumping some bones into a trashcan.
“Trina, don’t pry into your sister’s business,” her mother said.
Alecia put a plate she had just rinsed off in the dishwasher. The ring around her neck lay like a weight against her chest. “We’re definitely close.”
“What does that mean?” Trina walked up to her and handed her the plate. “You know we talk every night, and you’ve never told us about him.”
Alecia shrugged her shoulders, and put the plate in the dishwasher. If she had told them about him, they would have drilled her every night and she just wasn’t ready to introduce her family to him. She had to wait until he’d committed to her before risking her family’s ire. “I didn’t know what to tell you.”
“We tell each other everything.”
She mouthed ‘tonight.’
Trina bit down on her bottom lip, but the smile escaped from under her teeth as she nodded.
They finished the dishes and then the girls grabbed their coats and Ryder's, heading to the dining room. Alecia stopped behind Ryder, who rested his chin on the top of two fingers, as her father talked about an educational policy he wanted the federal government to implement. When the conversation didn’t subside, Ally put her hand on Ryder's shoulder, but he remained focused on her father.
“I think the girls are ready,” her father said, leaning back and placing his hands behind his head.
“Yeah,” Ryder said. He stood, shook her father’s hand and promised that they would finish talking later.
Alecia took Ryder's arm and led him outside, before one more word could be said between the two.
Outside, Alecia spotted Kyle walking towards them in a light brown suit. He was really taking youth council meetings seriously. She had forgotten all about the fight against werewolf domination.
A small pain shot through her. She had never thought about the youth council, or their course since she’d first slept with Ryder. Alecia pushed the thought from her mind. What was done was done and she could always start campaign s for freedom again once she returned to school, she hadn't signed any form to get protected after all had she?
They took Kyle's mother’s car, a black Toyota that had some years on it. Ryder looked silly crammed in the back, his knees touching the back of the front seat. She held on tight to his hand.
They walked into the blue-carpeted fellowship hall that would house the youth meeting. A few fake palm trees stood against the wall next to several rows of folded up metal chairs. Alecia glanced around the room. Several of the faces looked familiar. But everyone looked so much younger, like they were still children. She wrapped her arms around her waist. She shouldn’t be here. The place that was once a second home, no longer felt comfortable. She had changed. Alecia stole a quick glance at Ryder. He had the same confident look in his eyes. What could he be thinking? He would find tonight silly, and a complete waste of his time?
They were gathered today to talk about ways to uproot the werewolf dynasty. Wasn't he angry? Even though she knew he was sure they could never do that, didn't it bother him that they attended a meeting against werewolves.
Sri Lanka was populated by humans, and most of them had never seen a werewolf before. They were all just so naive about the true politics that went on in the nation.
“Ally, how is Carli uni?” her youth minister asked. His brown hair had a few more gray strands and he had gained some more weight, making him plump.
“Hey James, I love it there.”
“Well. Good I’m glad you are here tonight.”
The entire meeting seemed boring and uneventful, except when the youths all gave accounts of how they had kept their purity pledge even in college. Alecia felt tears sting her eyes. She was no longer pure, untouched.