His Forever

7

'It's nice when someone remembers small details about you.'

He stood there with one arm leaning on the door frame and the other holding a basket. He must have changed from this morning as he was wearing a white dress shirt with black trousers. His black tie had been loosened, the top few buttons of his shirt were undone and his hair looked as if he had run his fingers through it a few times but he still managed to make it work.

I didn't know what to say. I opened my mouth but then closed it straight after when nothing came to mind.

He left in the morning and had not contacted me at all the whole day and now he turns up at my room in the evening with a basket in his hand whilst looking like that.

"I'm sorry I left so unexpectedly this morning. I had some important business to attend to but I said we would have dinner together tonight, sÌ?", he said, lifting up the basket in his hand as if it was some sort of peace offering.

Still not knowing what to say, I moved away from the door as a sign that he could come in.

He looked around the room as if to see what changes I had made but looked right back at me after realising it looked exactly as it did before I had come. The only indication that I stayed in the room was the suitcase neatly tucked under the bed and the few items on the table.

He walked towards the bedside table and picked up the photo frame I had put there. It was a picture of me with my family. I was sitting on the sofa in the middle of Lily and Luci, Sof was sitting on the floor holding Forza, and my mamma and papà were standing at the back.

We took it the day before I left to come here. I told my mamma that it wasn't necessary but the adamant woman that she is, she made us all sit down and smile for the photo. She got it framed and gave it to me right before I left.

"It's a beautiful family photo", he said, staring at it with a small smile. I could see some sadness in his eyes before he blinked it away and placed the frame back on the table.

"Shall we eat outside?", he asked, receiving a small nod from me.

He went towards the balcony door and opened it, placing the basket on the table and lighting some candles.

Once he was done he looked up and signalled to the table. "Dinner is served", he said with a bow, earning a small chuckle from me.

We both sat opposite each other with the candles surrounding us, illuminating the balcony and making it look almost magical.

"W-What's for dinner?", I asked timidly, trying to make the awkwardness disappear.

"I promised you pasta, didn't I?", he said, grabbing plates and cutlery from the bag.

He put food on both of our plates and took out a bottle of champagne from the basket.

He poured a glass and then asked if I wanted some, which I politely declined before he pulled out a bottle of lemonade for me and poured some into a glass.

I dug straight in, not realising how hungry I actually was until smelling the delicious food in front of me.

The atmosphere was tense and the only noise that could be heard was the cutlery against the plates. I wanted to say something to make it less awkward but I knew that if I opened my mouth, I would just make things worse.

Maybe he just came to my room for dinner because he didn't want to break his promise. Maybe he didn't want to talk about this morning. Maybe he didn't care and he thought it was none of his business to ask.

I decided to just speak what was on my mind instead of playing the dangerous guessing game of what he might be thinking. I've done that plenty of times before and I knew it would just end with me spiralling.

"When I get...overwhelmed, I tend to scratch my wrist. I must have scratched a little too hard yesterday that it started to b-bleed. That's why it was bandaged this morning", I said quietly, not once looking up from my plate.

My hands began to shake but I pushed down all the urges I had of scratching and nervously took a big swig of my drink.

Before he could say anything, I opened my mouth again. "I know it's probably not great dinner conversation but I think that if we are working together, you have the right to be able to ask me any questions that are on your mind", I replied a bit more confidently, knowing that I have nothing to be embarrassed about.

I am who I am and I have so many people who love me for that; I'm beginning to realise that now. I have nothing to be ashamed of and I was being completely honest about that fact that he could ask me anything he wished to and I would answer as truthfully as I could.

"Thank you", he said, dropping his cutlery and taking a sip of his champagne.

"For what?", I asked, confused.

"Thank you for opening up to me. I know I haven't really done anything to make you feel as if you could tell me anything but I appreciate it, and I want to apologise. I'm sorry for leaving so abruptly this morning. I was just going through some things that I'm not really ready to talk about but I shouldn't have just left you like that", he said remorsefully.

"Fresh start?", I asked holding up my glass.

"Fresh start", he replied, clinking our glasses.

We finished eating our dinner with light friendly conversation before I helped him pack everything back up into the basket.

I walked him to the door and with a small smile, he wished me a good night and left, leaving me alone to reflect on the evening.

I was just about to brush my teeth and get into bed before I heard a knock on the door.

"I nearly forgot to give you this", he said nervously, reaching into his pocket.

He pulled out a black box and handed it over to me. Just as I was about to open it, he put his hand on top of mine.

"I hope you like it. If you don't it's fi-", he rambled before I shook my head.

"I'm sure I'll like whatever it is", I said shyly, anxious to see what was inside.

"Good night", he whispered.

"Good night", I whispered back, before he turned around and left to go to his room.

Curious to see what he had given me, I quickly did my night time routine and then tucked myself into bed, grabbing the box and opening it carefully.

I first saw a note and decided to read it before looking at what the object was underneath it.

'The colours reminded me of you. Fiddle with this when you feel overwhelmed, I hope it helps.'

Inside the box was a hand-made blue and brown bracelet. The two different coloured strings created a zig zag pattern and attached was a small charm of an arrow.

The colours were the same as my eye colours and I smiled, already wanting to put it on my wrist.

Taking the bracelet out from the box, a small folded piece of paper fell out.

Curious, I opened it up and in small handwriting it read:

'An arrow needs to be pulled back before it can soar'.