Treat You Better

Chapter Thirty-five: Going 360°.

Angelo had decided to leave when I got up to continue serving and even though several minutes had passed my mind just couldn't stay in the right place.

I sighed, putting an empty tray on a random empty table and holding my forehead in distress. "Why would she do this? She can't just show up out of the blue like that. It's not fair-"

I was well away from the large window by now but I couldn't stop my hands from shaking from all the pent up anger and disappointment and even love I couldn't help but feel towards her.

With a groan, I let my head fall against the nearest wall.

What did she want? Why today? So much had happened already, I couldn't handle this properly today.

I couldn't think straight enough to provide myself an answer yet but when I turned and looked across the room, I saw Dad coming out of the kitchen just as the main doors opened.

Thoughts of running to tell him what just happened flew out my head when I realized my mom just walked in. They were walking to each other!

"No! She's coming in?!" I whispered and turned back to face the wall, my eyes squeezed shut. "I thought she was just passing by! I wish she could just... leave us alone."

Leaning back, I peeked over my shoulder to see where they were seated and it was far across the room in a corner.
What were they talking about?
Luckily for me, where they were seated was a perfect place for eavesdropping.

Newly determined, I hurried along the walls of the restaurant, staying out of sight till I was right beside them; hiding behind a wall with square air holes for flowerpots.

Taking out my phone I put it on silent, making sure there'd be no accidents.

"...and so after South Africa, I decided to stay here a bit, you know, to get better." Mom was saying.

She was sitting right opposite Dad, her legs crossed as she leaned back into her seat. Dad had his arms folded and on the table, he might have looked nonchalant from above the table, but below it, his leg was bouncing.

"Well you don't look sick, I assume you're fine now." He said. "Why aren't you half way around the world already?"

"Why are you here?" I whispered, narrowing my eyes. There was a black bag on the floor near her seat and I could see the edges of a stack of papers jutting out of a side.

"Keith and I..." Mom started.

"Ah, yes. The boyfriend." Dad said dryly.

She had a BOYFRIEND?!

"Well he wants us travel together next so I'm waiting for him to sort some things out." She said, tapping her black nails on the table.

I raised a brow.

"I'm sorry, he wants?" Dad asked, leaning forward. "When did you start doing anything someone wants, Princess Olivia?"

"Don't call me that."

Dad scoffed.

"Keith and I discussed and agreed that I'll wait."

"That's really hard to believe."

"Maybe it's because we've never wanted the same things, Jimmy."

"We are two people, we're not supposed to want the same things, but we're supposed to find our middle ground."

"Obviously, we're too different for a middle ground."

"I bet you and Keith get along really well, he tells you what to do and you think your minds are so compatible that you just go along with it. I've never seen you even talk back to the guy."