Chapter 18 Improv

I rubbed my hands together anxiously, looking at Wes. "Ready for this?"

He quirked an eyebrow, seeming amused. Somehow. I don't know how he could be amused. I was on the verge of having an anxiety attack. "Don't worry about me, Fia. Are you ready?"

I let out a shaky breath, laughing uncomfortably. I thought trying to laugh would make me feel less tense. "It's ridiculous that I am losing my shit over seeing my own family, right?"

Wes shrugged, walking over to me. He placed his hands on my upper-arms, grounding me. His touch instantly made me relax. "You got this. This is why I'm here. Think of me as your personal peacekeeper."

"Peacekeeper?" I quirked an eyebrow, intrigued.

He nodded firmly. "Squeeze my hand when you feel like you're going to snap. I'll change the subject if things start to get tense, okay?" He narrowed his eyes slightly, a smirk growing on his face. "If an argument breaks out, I could even kiss you to stop you."

My mouth fell slightly agape. I scoffed, trying to ignore my whole face heating up. I pushed him away from me. "Funny, Wes. You were helpful for a second there."

He only grinned cheekily at me.

"Okay," I put my game face on and looked at Wes seriously. "My sister loves to talk about her life accomplishments or basically anything that praises her."

"Got it," Wes shot me a confident smile. "Her and Adam recently went to Ghana to work on their project to bring clean water there. Oh, and Ralph Lauren is personally designing her wedding dress."

I held back the urge to roll my eyes. I grinned, very impressed that he had such a sharp memory. He was good. "Wow. You pick up things quickly."

Wes smirking, giving me a knowing look. "I can do a lot of things quickly, if that's what's wanted."

I scoffed, giving him a tired look. "Gross. Speaking of Adam, he subtle and humble but wants his superiority to be acknowledged. Brings him an ego-boost."

Wes made a gagging face, rolling his eyes. "Yeah, yeah. Compliment him on how amazing he is, mention his law firm's success."

I rolled my eyes myself. "A lovely pairing, I know."

"And your dad loves to talk work and business, I got that covered."

"And my mom," I added. "She's just going to spend all the time she can pointing out my flaws. Don't argue with her, let her say her share but subtly deny her disappointments."

Wes nodded, "You got that in the bag because she is wrong, Fia. You're amazing."

I smiled softly, grateful I didn't have to do this on my own. "Thank you but I'm not sure she would agree."

Wes gave me a comforting look. "Be confident in yourself and your choices, in what you're doing. If you're confident and proud of yourself, it won't matter whether are or aren't."

I gave him one last grateful smile before holding out my hand. He took my hand, intertwining his fingers with mine.

"Let's do this."

"Weston Hamilton, sir. It's nice to meet you."

My father firmly shook Weston's hand. "You as well." I wanted to melt into the ground from how awkward everything was.

"Sister!" My older sister wrapped her arms around me, squeezing me tightly. "It has been so long since we've talked!"

Yes, because you don't care enough to text or call.

I forced a smile. "Let me see the ice."

She gave me a knowing look, a bright smile on her face as she held out her hand to me. The huge diamond on her finger practically shone as the light hit it. "Wow," I exhaled. "It's beautiful."

She inhaled deeply, a confident and proud look dancing through her eyes. "I know, right? Adam knows me so well." She leaned into her fiancé's side, smiling up at him.

After the introductions we all finally sat down at the table, Wes beside me. I was nervously tapping my foot on the ground, just waiting for the moment for this whole dinner to go to hell.

Wes easily placed his hand on my knee, causing my leg to stop shaking. I looked at him, taken aback by the comfort.

He simply smiled at me, giving me a small nod to say 'everything would be okay'.

"So," my father cleared his throat, bringing his attention towards me. That was not ideal. "How are your studies?"

"Good," I nodded my head firmly, remembering Wes's words of advice to stay confident. "Really well. I did great on my exams. My professor even told me I could switch to second or third year classes because I'm doing so well."

My father nodded his head, taking in all my words. "And you're still going on the pre-med route?"

I held back a laugh. "Yes, that has always been my plan, dad."

He pursed his lips. I could tell he was biting his tongue, refraining from having the same old discussion about me working in the family company.

"What happened to Nate?"

I snapped my head towards my sister who knew nothing about biting her tongue.

"Why?" I exasperated. How does it make sense to bring up my ex-boyfriend when clearly I was here with my new boyfriend? At least that was what they all thought.

She gave me a innocent look. "You guys were together for so long. I don't mean to make it awkward but... what even happened?"

Under the table, Wes squeezed my hand in an attempt to keep me from losing my calm. I inhaled deeply, his small action somehow helping.

"We grew apart," I muttered dully, glaring at her subtly. "We got together when we were 16 and didn't know anything about life. Of course we would grow apart."

"He was a fine young man," my mother piped up, obviously finding it very necessary to voice her opinion. I had to clench onto Wes's hand to keep myself from snapping.

I smiled bitterly sweetly at my mother. "No, he was actually a jerk."

My mother quirked an eyebrow. "Really? It never seemed like that when he spent time here while you two were in high school."

I let out a breathy laugh. "Of course it didn't. He's not going to be a class-act douchebag in front of my family."

My mother's eyes went wide as she looked at me horrified. "Fia! Watch your language!"

"Sorry," I smiled innocently.

Wes cleared his throat. "Mirah, I heard John Legend personally wrote your first dance song for the wedding."

Mirah beamed a bright, toothy smile. I mentally thanked God for Wes being here and having a hidden talent of being able to change subjects very subtly.

Mirah started musing on and on and on about the wedding song and the hired photographers and how amazing the cake was going to be. For the first time in my life, I was thankful for how much my sister loved to talk about anything related to herself. It saved me from having any sort of conversation with my parents about me.

"You're not much younger than your sister, Fia," my mother has to start, yet again. "I don't suppose you and Weston have thought out any future plans, have you? Considering it was Nate you were dating not long ago."

I clenched onto my form so tightly, I swear it could've bent. Wes, sensing my mood drop (once again) comfortingly drew circles on my thigh with the backs of his fingers. I knew he was weakly trying to help me remain calm.

I took a deep breath, licking my lips and keeping my rage bottled down before speaking. "I'm 19, I don't think I need to have everything planned out right this second."

"However," Wes spoke up, taking me by surprise. "Not that I am trying to set anything in stone because we are just taking it one day at a time, hypothetically if we are thinking longterm, wherever Fia choses to go to med-school I'd be happy to move alongside with her. I have interviews already set for after I graduate at JPMorgan Chase. I don't have a preference on location."

Wes looked at me briefly, giving me a reassuring smile. It filled me with a sense of calm I didn't know it were possible for me to feel around my family. I leaned back in my chair, feeling my body finally relax.

Wes was good at this. A lot better than I could have imagined.

My sister's jaw dropped. "JPMorgan Chase. That's..."

"Incredible," Adam nodded his head curtly, impressed but trying not to show how much.

My father quirked an eyebrow, his interests also peaked. "I agree, that is incredible. May I ask how you swung that?"

Wes nodded, clearing his throat softly. "I volunteered there while I was in high school and got an internship after graduating. The hours are minimum so I can stay at school and have all the time necessary for classes and studying."

My father pursed his lips. "That is very impressive. Good."

Mirah narrowed her eyes. "So you would really pack your bags and move to wherever Fia decides on being for med-school?"

"It'll likely take us to either Baltimore or California, maybe Boston but I know she prefers Stanford over Harvard. Either way, those all seem like fine places for me," Wes shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly.

He was speaking so calmly and confidently as if this were all planned out ages ago. In reality, we hadn't talked about any of this when planning the lies we would be telling my family. I was impressed but also stunned at how well he was playing this. I was also surprised her remembered my school plans that I had mentioned the night we had a pizza party in my dorm with Michelle and Chris.

"It's only a few years of school and assuming things remain well between us, we can decide anything else when we get to that bridge."

My mother inhaled deeply through her nose. "Seems like you two are... a lot more serious than I thought."

I bit the inside of my cheek, my chest feeling like it was on fire.

Wes took hold of my hand, smiling confidently. "I've always believed that when it's the right person, the person you click with immediately, commitment and compromise is nothing. We are still young though."

My father tilted his head, "That is right. You are still young. Perhaps... you two should just plan a vacation to our Hamptons house for the spring break for now." My father let out a small laugh.

I could not help my jaw from dropping at my father's attempt at a joke. That was surprising. Not just surprising, it was nearly mind-blowing and bizarre.

Wes turned to look at me, grinning.

I smiled back, shaking my head softly.

We really pulled it off. And it all went so much better than I expected.