Hate Is A Strong Word

17.

"Hey."

"Shut your mouth and come here." I grab his jacket and pull him into the hallway. He's finally back from fuckin Finland and we have a lot of things to talk about. He smiles at me even though they finished last, but he doesn't seem to mind. He smiles and follows me, thinking we're going to study.

I kind of told him, we're writing a test tomorrow, but that's not true. I needed an excuse to get him in here. Today is Wednesday and it's a national holiday. So no school or hockey, but knowing his dad, he was definitely on the ice today. He flew home on Monday, but somehow we couldn't make it, because he had practice and I wasn't in the mood to see his annoying face.

"You missed me so much." I slap him and he starts taking off his jacket instead. The only thing stopping me from yelling at Sebastian  from the top of my lungs, is my grandma and grandpa, two aunts, three cousin, my parents and Juraj sitting downstairs in the living room. Mum has decided to invite grandma and grandpa and the aunts, well only the ones she can stand, the rest she hasn't invited.

"Shut up. I'm so pissed at you." I hiss at him and grab his hand. I pull him towards the stairs and he doesn't know what's going on. We're almost at the stairs, but that's when I hear my grandmother's warm and welcoming voice. Oh, my God, what have I done? I love my grandmother, but she didn't need to see Sebastian.

"Justine, don't hide him from us."

"Fuck." I say quietly to myself and turn around.

"Grandma, it's Sebastian."

"Hello." He says and smiles.

"No, he's not my boyfriend, grandma. We're studying together."

"I trust you so much, peach" Oh, great. "Let's show him to grandpa."

"Grandma."

"You, don't be rude." I roll my eyes, grab Sebastian's wrist, and despite his expression, that says, doesn't he wants to go there, I pull him with me. Grandma walks ahead of us, smiling, happy that her oldest granddaughter has found a nice boyfriend. The reality is that, she plans to yell at him so much, it's going to make his head spin. He for sure can tell me, who can I see and who not. That's once again an irony.

"Hi, Seb." Mom says, finally remembering his name, but I'm not sure, that name would stay in her head for long. She hears so many names throughout the day, that she can't remember some Sebastian. When Juraj hears his name, he shoots out of his seat and jumps at Sebastian. He picks him up off the ground and Juraj grabs him around the neck.

"Grandpa, this is Sebastian." He says proudly, and my grandmother sits down next to my aunt, who runs her eyes down Sebastian and looks like she tries to remember, where she knows him from. I'm fucking sixteen, I'm supposed to be doing shit, not be here to dealing with some stupid rules this son of a bitch has set for his teammates. He's 16, he should start acting his age.

"My friend, grandma." I throw my grandma a look, and she just rolls her eyes in my face.

"Grandpa, Sebastian was in Finland." Juro says excitedly.

"Yeah. What were you doing there?"

"Playing hockey. For the national team." Sebastian says, looking ashamed. Well, the poor guy doesn't know, what's in store for him.

"That's young Miller, dad." Dad says to grandpa, who makes a face. Sebastian lets go of Juraj and he runs back to our cousins, especially the little one, who is lying on the blanket playing with her toys.

"We're going to study." I grab him by his hand and he still manages to tell them a quick goodbye. I drag him out of the living room, up the stairs, and into my room. We go inside, I let go of his hand and lock the door. I turn to him and he's looking at me like, I'm a total bitch.