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Paul wiped his palms on the thighs of his pants.
“Come on Paul, you can do this. You’ve known Sally for a while now, you knew you’d have to meet her kid eventually.” Paul internally chastised himself.
Wiping his palms on his pants once again, he straightened his tie and knocked on the apartment door.
It would be fine, obviously. Sally’s son—Percy she said his name was—sounded like a lovely boy from how Sally talked about him. But the looming fact that Percy has been kicked out of every school he went to weighed down on Paul.
Now Paul didn’t want to make any assumptions but you’d have to be some sort of druggie delinquent to be kicked out of every school, or something like that.
When there was no answer from the other side of the door Paul knocked again, this time louder.
On the other side of the door Paul heard a small thump, Sally laughing and a male voice calling, “I can get it!”
A few seconds later the door swung open, a boy stood in the doorway, he was a bit taller than Paul, maybe around 15-16. He had long messy black hair and bright green eyes that glinted with mischief. Right away Paul noticed the boy barely looked anything like Sally. Though if you looked close enough, he had the same smile and the same chin as Sally. The boy stuck out his hand to Paul.
“Hi, I’m Percy, you must be Paul Blofis, right?” He smiled kindly.
“That’s me,” Paul took his hand and gave a quick shake before Sally nudged Percy aside.
“Come on in Paul,” Sally kissed him on the cheek and led him into the living room. Percy shut the door behind them.
“We’ll only be here a minute, Percy needs to go change into something more presentable ,” she shot a glare at her son and he held his hands up in surrender.
“Fine, fine, I’ll change.” Percy spun around on his heels, he was wearing a pair of jeans, a gray t-shirt and a navy blue sweatshirt. But that did seem a bit inappropriate for going out to dinner at a nice restaurant.
“He just got back home so he hasn’t had a chance to change,” Sally explained with a smile, “I’m glad that you two can finally meet.”
“Do you think he’ll like me?” Paul asked quietly, he didn’t know how thin the walls were but he didn’t want Percy to hear.
“I think he likes you already,” she put her hand on his knee. A minute later Percy came out wearing a blue polo and a pair of nice pants.
Sally smiled, “I’m surprised that shirt isn’t wrinkled with how long it’s been in your closet.”
“Hey! I wore it… once,” Percy scratched at the back of his neck.
“Well, let’s get going so that we aren’t late to our reservations,” Sally took Paul’s hand and gave it a squeeze before starting towards the door. Percy looked over at Paul a bit longer than normal, as if checking him over. For a split second Percy’s face hardened, but it was only there a split second.
Percy grinned again and followed his mom out of the apartment.
Paul took a deep breath but eventually followed Percy as well.
The three of them piled into Paul’s car—Sally sitting in the passenger seat and Percy in the back—and Paul drove to the restaurant where they had reservations.
“So Sally, how was your day?” Paul asked, breaking the silence.
“It was good, Percy bagged me into making cookies, right honey?” Sally craned her neck to look back at Percy, who was staring out the window lost in thought. Sally furrowed her eyebrows worriedly, “Percy?”
“What?” Percy jumped and looked around as if just realizing where he was, “oh yeah sorry, it’s not my fault that you make the best cookies ever.” Percy laughed it off.
“How has school been Percy?” Paul hated how bland and awkward their conversations were, but he had to start from somewhere to get to know the kid.
“Eh well, I’m trying at least,” Percy shrugged then muttered under his breath, “or well if not Annabeth would kill me.”
“Oh, we’re here,” Sally said as Paul pulled into the parking lot. Paul cut off the engine and got out of the car. He walked around to the other side and playfully opened the car door for Sally. She chuckled and swatted his arm gently. Percy watched that interaction closely as he got out of the car.
Paul felt as if Percy liked him but he couldn’t be sure, the looks that Percy gave him were setting Paul on edge. Paul liked the kid, but he couldn’t be sure if Percy liked him .
“Aww, look at my two boys,” Sally cooed pushing Paul and Percy to stand next to each other. Percy shifted his weight from foot to foot awkwardly, stuffing his hands in his pockets.
“Percy, at least look like you’re enjoying yourself and you’re not dead on your feet,” Sally joked, patting Percy on the cheek.
“I was out all day—“ Percy faltered, “I was out all day… hanging out with Annabeth.”
There was the name Annabeth again, Paul wondered which she was.
“Right, well come on, we wouldn’t want to lose our table,” Sally hooked her arm with Paul and dragged Percy along into the restaurant.
Soon they were seated at a table in the corner of the restaurant, there was a fish tank just a few feet away which gave the table a bit of privacy yet also an interesting scenery.
Percy stared at the fish tank, his eyebrows knitted together.
“Honey,” Sally put her hand on Percy’s hand.
“Right, yeah,” Percy turned his attention back to the table.
“So…” Paul was curious about Percy’s behavior but he decided not to comment about it, “what are you thinking about having?” Paul glanced over the menu.
“I was thinking of getting some spaghetti,” Sally said.
“Pasta sounds pretty good,” Percy agreed, he tugged at the collar of his shirt.
“I think I might have the shrimp,” Paul said, still scanning the menu.
Percy tensed uncomfortably but didn’t say anything. Sally furrowed her eyebrows, she looked like she was going to say something, then Percy sighed and shook his head at his mom. Even though his face was noticeable a shade or two paler, Sally didn’t say anything about the shrimp.
When the waiter came, Sally ordered spaghetti with meat sauce, Percy ordered chicken fettuccine Alfredo and Paul ordered a shrimp dish. He didn’t notice Percy flinch and glance over at the fish tank near their table when he ordered.
Paul wracked his brain, trying to think of something to talk about, with Sally it was hard to try and say things that wouldn’t be awkward but with her son it was even harder.
“Paul, aren't you a teacher at Goode right,” Percy started, playing with the straw in his drink.
“Right, I’m an English teacher.”
“Oh boy, English class ,” Percy said it like he had some bad memories about English class.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Paul asked, his tone must have come out more offended than he meant it.
“No, it’s nothing about you. It’s just,” Percy looked down sheepishly, “English class isn’t really my best subject.”
“Oh, well I can help you of course,” Paul offered. Percy seemed to brighten up a bit at that offer.
“Thanks, I’d appreciate that.” Percy smiled softly.
Paul vaguely remembered Sally mentioning the fact that Percy had dyslexia.
“Percy, why don’t you tell Paul about that science project that you and Annabeth did?” Sally offered.
Now Paul was really wondering who Annabeth was, but now seemed like an inappropriate time to ask.
“It was more of what Annabeth did,” Percy waved his hand dismissively.
“What was it?” Paul asked curiously.
“It was just a small thing of what materials would be able to hold more weight, so like what would be best to make buildings out of,” Percy said, scratching the back of his head awkwardly, “Annabeth could explain it a lot better I’m sure.”
“Here’s your food,” the waiter came back to the table with a tray of food. He set down a plate in front of each person.
“Thank you,” Paul nodded at him as he walked away.
The meal was filled with small talk. Paul desperately tried to learn more about Percy throughout dinner.
Paul was able to find out that Percy went to some sort of camp during the summer, Annabeth was his girlfriend, and that he liked the ocean.
“That was a very nice dinner,” Sally said as the waiter brought the check.
“It was,” Paul looked at the bill, he stuffed the right amount of cash in the slot and added to the tip as well.
“I’ll be right back,” Percy got up from the table, “I need to uh, use the restroom real quick.”
Sally smiled softly, “alright honey.”
Percy left the table, Paul briefly saw Percy take something that looked like gold out of his pocket.
“So I think this night has gone well,” Sally said, leaning her chin on her hand, “what do you think?”
“I wish I could tell what he was thinking, I don’t know if he likes me or not,” Paul fretted.
“Oh, trust me, you would be able to tell if he didn’t like you,” Sally patted his shoulder.
“He seemed a little on edge,” Paul pointed out.
“Oh, it was probably something about school you know how kids are,” Sally waved her hand dismissively.
When Percy came back from the bathroom, Paul drove them back to the apartment.
“Would you like to come back in for some cookies, Paul?” Sally offered.
“I would love to,” Paul agreed.
Percy was right, Sally really did make the best cookies. Though, for some reason as soon as they entered the apartment, Percy disappeared to his room.
“Oh, don’t mind him, he’ll… probably be out later,” Sally said, following Paul’s gaze to Percy’s closed bedroom door.
Around an hour later Percy appeared from his bedroom, he swallowed hard, noticing that Paul was still there.
“Uh… mom, I need to… go meet Annabeth for something,” Percy glanced nervously at Paul, “I’ll be back later.”
Sally frowned, “alright, be safe honey.”
“You just let him go out like that whenever he wants?” Paul asked when Percy left the apartment.
“Well, I trust that he’ll be safe and responsible and… there are some things that I need to take into account,” she didn’t explain further and that.
Paul didn’t see Percy for the rest of the night and eventually he had to go home to his own apartment. Sally kissed him goodnight and he drove home.
Hopefully Paul would be able to know Percy better in the future, but for now Paul was okay with the stable relationship they had right now.