9. Julian

       Something was up with Mom and Dad, and it was very evident when they suggested we all go out for dinner. We normally went out for dinner on special occasions; birthdays, graduations, straight A's on a report card.

       Never on such a random day.

       I wasn't the only one who though something was up. Once all of us were sitting down at a table in The Gold Mine, Noah said, "Alright, what's up? Why are we all here?"

      Dad furrowed his eyebrows. "What do you mean? We're a family, and your mother and I wanted us to all have a nice family dinner."

       "At a nice restaurant?" I asked. "You never want a family dinner out unless it's a special occasion. Is there a special occasion?"

       Noah gasped. "Are you having another baby?!"

       "What?" Mom asked. "No, definitely not. You and Julian were our last children."

       "Technically Julian was because I'm older," Noah said. "So... If it's not that, then what is the special occasion?"

       "We told you, there is no special occasion," Mom said. "We just wanted to go out for dinner, especially because it's so close to Christmas time."

       I didn't believe them, but they weren't going to say anything about it, so we didn't question them anymore. I just hoped it wasn't about my early acceptance into McGill University, because I hadn't told anyone else yet and I still didn't know if I was going to take it or not.

       Shaw ended up being the waiter for us, and I couldn't help but notice the tension as soon as he walked up to the table with the menus. I didn't know why, but Mom and Dad looked a bit angry to see him.

       "My name's Shaw, and I'll be your waiter today," Shaw said, handing each of us a menu. "Can I start you all off with anything?"

       "Can we get a new waiter?" Dad asked.

       "Dad," Josh said, looking awfully confused. I felt the exact same way. What was with the hostility between our parents and Shaw? I thought they were close.

       "Sorry, but that's not possible," Shaw said. "Again, can I start you off with anything?"

       After we all said the drink we wanted and Shaw walked off to the kitchen, Josh said, "Alright, what was that about? Could you be any more rude?"

       "Oh, trust me, after what he did, I can be more rude," Dad said.

       "What did he do?" Noah asked, but neither Dad nor Mom replied.

       So we were just sitting here all confused as to what happened and why Mom and Dad were acting so hostile towards Shaw.

       "Holden?" a voice behind us suddenly said.

       I looked over to see a girl I didn't recognize, but obviously Holden did considering he said, "Jane!" before getting up from the table and pulling her into a hug. "What are you doing here?"

       "My grandma lives here, and I'm visiting her for the holidays," Jane said. "I didn't know this is where you lived."

       "Holden, who's this?" Dad asked.

       "Oh, this is Jane," Holden said. "She's my, uh... friend from boarding school. Jane, these are my parents and my brothers Julian, Noah, and Josh."

       "Why did you hesitate before you said friend?" Noah asked.

       "Did I?" Holden asked. "I don't recall."

       Jane chuckled a bit. "We did date for a bit, but we both decided that we were better off as friends."

       "Oh?" Mom asked. "And how come we weren't informed of it?"

       "Well, I'm sure you didn't care to know much about what was going on with me while I was in boarding school," Holden said.

       There was even more hostility in his voice than in Mom and Dad's.

       What was going on with everyone? Next thing you know, Noah and I were going to be mad at each other, which shouldn't even be possible because we were never mad at each other.

       Mom and Dad, however, ignored Holden's tone. "Do you have anything going on, Jane?" Mom asked. "You can join us for dinner if you like."

       "Oh, no, I wouldn't want to intrude," Jane said.

       "Don't worry about it, it's fine," Mom said. "Consider a 'Welcome to Spruceworth' dinner, even if you are visiting."

       "Are you sure?" Jane asked.

       "Yes, of course," Dad said, right as Shaw came back to the table for the drinks. "Ah, Shaw. Mind getting a drink for Holden's friend?"

       "You know what? Forget dinner," Holden said. "I'm going to show Jane around the village instead." Holden left the restaurant with Jane before Mom and Dad could stop him.

       "Now look what you did, Shaw," Dad said.

       "Me?" Shaw asked. "That was all one you, emphasizing the word friend. I just came here to give you your drinks and take your orders."

       "Actually, Dad was right emphasizing the word friend," Noah said. "That was Holden's ex-girlfriend."

       "Ex-girlfriend?" Shaw asked. "When... when did they date?"

       "Dunno," Noah said. "Sometime when Holden was in boarding school."

       "I, for one, think they make a cute couple," Dad said. "You know, if they were still dating."

       It didn't take long for me to finally understand what was going on once I saw the jealous look on Shaw's face.

       Either Shaw liked Holden, and Mom and Dad found out, or something happened between Shaw and Holden.

       Though my money was definitely on the latter because Holden was definitely hiding something.

       ...It would explain why he would always go into work to stare at Sh--soup.

       "Can I take your orders?" Shaw asked, so we all gave him our orders before he headed off towards the kitchen.

       "You two are unbelievable," Josh said to Mom and Dad. 

       "Don't start this right now in front of the twins," Mom said.

       "Uh, don't treat us like we're imbeciles," Noah said. "We're a family full of geniuses. Julian and I caught what's going on. At least I did. Not sure if Julian did."

       "Yeah, I'm pretty sure if you, Mr. Head Stuck in a Toilet, can figure it out, then I can too," I said.

       "Hey, that was only one... five times," Noah said.

       "Forget all of that," Josh said as he looked at Mom and Dad. "Stop blaming Shaw for all of this. Have you not noticed how gutted Holden has looked ever since they broke up?"

       I knew it was the latter. Everything now made perfect sense.

       "Like we told Holden, it's for the best," Dad said. "Shaw is only going to drag Holden down."

       "You might think that, but I bet you anything something will happen that proves how much Shaw would never hurt Holden," Josh said. "But even then, you're still going to deny it."

       "Josh, we know what's best for our children," Mom said.

       "Do you really?" Josh asked. "Because to me it doesn't seem like it."

________________

Yes Josh tell your parents off.

I made so many Sholden gifs today, so I shall insert one here before I go to bed:

There was so many to choose from. cx I'll definitely be using some mid-chapter. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡° )