A Normal Family Dinner

It was dinner time in the mansion for the family of Colette, Ariette, and Cole.

Colette was sitting at the table, eating her mashed potatoes. Ariette and Cole, her loving mother and father, were sitting across from her. Cole looked beaten up and bruised, and Ariette looked like she had been stuck in a book for the past hour.

“So,” Colette asked after taking a bite out of her mashed potatoes, “How was work, dad?”

Cole groaned. “Exhausting, dearie.”

Colette waited to hear more out of her dad, but that was all he could say about the work day. She knew working for the royal guard came with a lot of adventurous details, but none of them would be shared with her, and in many ways, that peeved her off slightly.

She decided to shift focus to her mom. “Mom, how was your day?” she asked.

“Fine, sweetie,” Ariette replied, “Better than your father’s, most likely.”

“What do you mean?” Colette’s eyes lit up with the prospect, no, the idea of a proper conversation for once between her and her parents.

Ariette sighed. “It’s nothing, Colette. It was a slow day, so the less I had to deal with, the better.”

Colette let out an exasperated sigh. “Ugh! You two are so boring sometimes! Why can’t we have a real conversation between each other? You both just say one word about your days and leave it at that!”

“Colette,” Cole said, “It’s not that we don’t care to share our day’s events with you. It’s just that we go through the motions every day and it gets exhausting.”

“Exactly,” Ariette added, “And we would not want to wish that explanation of repetitive stress upon you.”

“But it’s fun to hear you both talk about your day!” Colette argued. “We always seem to be eating at this same table, silent and unnerved. Can’t we just eat and talk for fun? It’s like how Chris and his big sister do it! They eat and have a lot to talk about!”

“They’re commoners,” Ariette explained, “They have their ways of conversation, and so do we. One way of talking does not necessarily mean it is worse than the other way of talking.”

“Besides,” Cole asked, “Didn’t you say you broke up with that Zorua?”

Colette nodded. “I… did. But, that doesn’t mean I cannot hang out with him anymore!”

“Oh, ‘hanging out’,” Ariette scoffed, “That is such a simple term. Try to use something more congenial. More refined, sweetie.”

“Ugh!” Colette yelled and pushed her plate forward, food there and half-finished. “I’m not hungry anymore!” She got up and left the table, heading for her room without another word.

Cole sighed and waited until Colette was out of earshot before asking this question. “Do you think we are boring, Ari?”

“Nonsense,” Ariette answered, “Colette will come around. She always does.”

Ariette and Cole both went back to quietly eating their food, their daughter now up in her room and possibly expressing  her anger in more ways than one.