BXBX NOVEL Chapter 48 - Party Starts
It wasn\'t long after everyone had taken their seat at the table before Samuel\'s father returned with the items his wife had requested for the birthday party. His initial expression upon entering the kitchen indicated that he had forgotten that Lena was going to be joining them that morning, but it was only for a brief second before his attention turned to his daughter Jessie whom he could tell wasn\'t thrilled about the stranger being with how closely she was sticking to her mother.
"Jessie, it\'s okay. There\'s nothing to be scared of, she\'s going to be family soon." He tried to reason with his daughter who seemed to hardly believe him more than she had her brother and mother. It didn\'t stop her from eating, but it was obvious by how quiet she was being that she was cautious of the princess still who was also being to feel uncomfortable after the meal had started and Sam\'s parents began asking questions about her.
She tried her best to be polite as she answered, but she never much enjoyed when the the spotlight was on her and people wanted to talk to her outside of a business setting. She was great at putting on a professional business persona for those times, but in casual settings such as this, she wasn\'t quite sure how to deal with it without coming across as rude or short tempered. If she was back home, she wouldn\'t care if they thought poorly of her, but her wanted her to be polite and give a good impression since it was her first time meeting Samuel\'s family and Zane couldn\'t be there himself. She could do her best though if it was just for one day and they didn\'t try to ask too many questions that were invasive, which they didn\'t thus far.
Once breakfast was over, Lena wasn\'t quite sure what to do with the waiting after she had asked Samuel\'s mother where the best place to put her gift was. She had a table that was setup in the far corner of the kitchen that was out of the way that she told her would be space to place it.
Now that it was getting later in the morning, it wasn\'t going to be long before some of the other guest would be showing up according to what Samuel had told her and the reason why his mother was getting on some of the smaller preparations that she wanted to have in place by the time they came, especially the rest of their family that would be there.
Lena would\'ve chosen to wait outside if she wasn\'t concerned over the fact that would leave her open to being the first person that any guests who arrived would see. Thus, she decided to wait back in the living room where she still felt very out of place while Sam interacted with his parents as they both worked to get last minute things finished.
The princess was interested in listening to what they were talking about, but was glad to not be a part of the conversation for a while. She was aware though that there were two pairs of eyes that were intently watching her while the rest of the adults were preoccupied. She chose to not recognize their presence though because so far they were only interested in watching her and not trying to interact with her. Plus, she didn\'t want to scare the younger of the two more than she already had just by being there. It wouldn\'t make a good impression to make a kid cry even if it was on accident.
The sound of the doorbell drew their attention away and seemed to make them excited which indicated to Lena that whomever was there, they expected it to be family that they would be excited to see.
"Lena, could you get that please." Samuel was the one who asked her this and she hadn\'t been expecting it.
"Sure." She replied even though she didn\'t really want to be tasked with opening the door and greeting people that she didn\'t know. She would do it anyways though because it was the polite thing to do as the guest. She took a slow deep breath before she opened the door.
"Welcome." She greeted as she opened the door, offering a polite smile to the two women who were on the other side. They seemed a bit perplexed at first to see someone that they didn\'t recognize opening the door for them.
"Did we come to early?" The young woman asked as he peeked around Lena\'s shoulder as though to see if anyone else was home.
"Not at all. I believe you\'re on time. I apologize for the lack of introduction. I\'m Lena Scarlett." She offered her hand to be shaken. The older of the two was the first one to take it as he spoke.
"Oh, you must be Sam\'s girlfriend. I\'ve heard a bit about you from my brother-in-law." She replied offering a smile "I\'m Charlene and this is my daughter Fran." Knowing that they were related, Lena began to see the similar facial features that the two shared. "My husband John will be here in a moment to introduce himself, he\'s just grabbing a few gifts that we brought with us." She told Lena as she moved passed her to come inside. Fran also introduced herself as well, a bit more apprehensively than her mother had, but still with a polite handshake and smile.
"It\'s nice to meet you." Lena said to the other two as she held the door open for whom she presumed was John, he could\'ve probably gotten the door himself, but the way he was carrying the packages looked rather awkward and unsteady. He thanked her, but didn\'t say such as he headed into the kitchen to drop off the gifts and greet the rest of the family with this daughter and wife in tow.
Lena had an idea by the way that John and his family dressed that they came from the more financially fortunate side of the family and were perhaps a touch on the snobbish side because his brother\'s family hadn\'t been as fortunate. If such was the case, Lena couldn\'t see herself getting along well with them. Samuel did come over and thank her for letting them in and apologized for this less warm reception towards her than his parents had had. She shrugged it off though because it didn\'t bother her all that much. Plus, both the younger siblings had decided to leave her in favor of their uncle whom they seemed certain must\'ve brought something for them as well.
The party had began to get started at this point though as more guests continued to show up over time. The rest mainly being the friends Samuel had invited and two other people that his family were close with in the area. The only person who had come that Lena had recognized was Roger who seemed more surprised to see her than she did to see him. She didn\'t offer him anymore of a warm reception than she had anyone else, but at least it seemed like after he and whomever the girl who had accompanied him had shown up, that appeared to be the rest of the guests for the time being which meant that Lena was off greeting people at the door and instead found herself being mixed in with the crowd of guests as people had begun to move out of the kitchen and dining room area and into the living room.
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