Labyrinth of Life

Chapter 4

My dad and Jared Mama are in the kitchen cooking, while my mom and Lolita Aunty continue their weekly gossip session, about our relatives, in the living room. Each week, our parents alternate on who cooks. The days we eat at our house are the days that the fathers cook us lunch, and on the days that we eat at Jonathan's home, the mothers cook lunch. Although Jonathan and I occasionally try to help out in the kitchen, our parents don't trust us to cook with them, rightfully so. So instead, on the days that we want to give our parents a break from cooking, Jonathan and I buy food for lunch.

The only times I ever really see my parents converse with one another is when Jonathan's parents are over at our house. Although the three of them are aware of our family situation and the fact that my parents barely talk to each other, whenever the six of us are together, the tension in the room always disappears.  

While our parents spend their time downstairs, Jonathan and I are upstairs in my bedroom, catching each other up on how we've been doing since the last time we saw each other, which has only been a week. It still comes as a shock to me that my parents are okay with me and Jonathan being alone in either my bedroom or his because she becomes frantic at the mere mention of a guy that could potentially be in my life. "So, you just left the poor guy hanging like that?" He asked me. I had given him a quick summary of the events of last night, in hopes that maybe, talking about it would help clear my mind of the constant thoughts of the Amber-eyed man. Ever since our encounter, he's all I've been able to think about. "I didn't leave him hanging, at least I think I didn't. But even if I did, I'm sure he had a lot of other ladies he could have picked from to remedy the situation," I said as I let out a chuckle.

"Not only did you kiss the guy and leave him hanging, you didn't even give him your number." Jonathan paused to let out a dramatic sigh before he continued, "He took one big loss that night." He playfully shakes his head as his chuckle turns into full-blown laughter.

"Okay well, I wasn't going to give my number to the man. He seemed like a flirt, and I'm not trying to get myself involved in that," I explained.

"So then why'd you kiss him?" Because I had never been that attracted to a man before, and my lips couldn't resist feeling the way his mouth felt on mine. But there's no way in hell I'd say that out loud. So instead, I humorously say "Can't you just be proud of me for finally being spontaneous for a night?"

"Alright, alright. You, Kid, get an A-plus for spontaneity," he said with a chuckle. "Aside from the fact that you gave him a fake identity, a bad one at that by the way, did you get his name?" Jonathan asked. I don't want to tell him the truth because Jonathan, for some reason, seems to know a lot of people. This means that even if there's the slightest possibility that Jonathan happens to know the man that I kissed last night, that's not a risk I'm willing to take. So instead, I say, "Nah, I forgot to ask. To be honest, I kind of didn't want to ask."

"So, what's your kiss count with a stranger at now? Two?" My first kiss happened to be with a stranger as well. It happened when I was out at a nightclub with Mina and Rosi. I had a little too much to drink that night and ended up kissing a man that I was dancing with. The only reason why I had gone through with it was because he leaned in for a kiss, and an intoxicated Serenity was curious about what a kiss felt like. "Sadly, yes," I said as I playfully rolled my eyes at him. Before the topic can switch over to all the stupid things I've done throughout my lifetime, I change the subject by asking Jonathan how everything has been going with him at work. Jonathan works as a front desk clerk at the bank, so even if we don't have anything to update each other on, he always has an interesting story to share. Today, he tells me of a customer who deposited a large amount of money using only nickels. "Who the hell even collects nickels like that?" He asked as he shook his head at the memory of the event.