Moonsland (EN)

James (XVI)

  I arrive at Emily's house at almost one o'clock in the afternoon. I walk slowly from the car to her front door, trying to put off the conversation as long as possible. I feel nervous and that makes me uncomfortable. I ring the doorbell and, while I'm waiting for them to open, I look down to make sure I'm dressed properly. I put my shirt on straight and wiggle my toes so that my pants shift a little. When I hear the door open, I startle mentally and immediately look up, pretending to be natural when I hear it:
- You forgot your keys again... Ah! James. I'm sorry, I thought Emily had forgotten her keys. - says Emily's mother.
- She's gone out, hasn't she? - I ask.
- Yes, he went out with Lisa. I thought you were all going to meet. - Say. - Come in, come in, you don't have to stand at the door.
- Thank you! - I say, entering shyly. - I... I was going to talk to Emily, but I realized I didn't come at a good time.
- Is everything all right, James? You seem nervous. - Ellen asks me, putting her hand on my shoulder and then taking it away because I've moved away.
- Yes, it's just that I really wanted to talk to her about something important and... and you have ten minutes to talk to me? - I ask nervously.
- Of course I do. Come with me. - she says, heading for the kitchen. We both sat down on the benches on the peninsula, she in the kitchen and me in the living room, and I began to tell her everything that had happened:
- I swear I didn't do anything. - beginning.
- Bad, you're not the first to come and tell me that and, in the end, it turned out that they were lying. - tell me. Emily has probably been cheated on before, a topic I'll want to raise with her. But it's not the subject of this conversation.
- But I'm telling the truth. Yesterday, there was Amy's birthday party...
- Yes, Emily asked me to go.
- ...and I was there waiting for someone I knew to show up, but in the meantime, Amy called me over to see something and it was obvious that she was drunk, but as is 'normal'... - I say, making the quotation marks with my hands. - ...I didn't really care.
- Yes, and what happened next? - she asks me, curious.
- She took me into a room and started hitting on me, only I like her daughter, so I told her to get dressed, only...
- I'm sorry to interrupt you again, but can you just repeat what you said? - ask me.
- Yes, so... - I think about what I said for a moment. - ... she took me to the ...
- No, after that.
- And I like your daughter?" I blush as I process what I've just said.
- How do you like it?
- I... I can't explain it. When I'm with her, I can let go and show more of myself. I can laugh, joke and talk freely and, when we're not together, she invades my thoughts as if she's always belonged there. - I try to explain. - It may sound a bit crazy or something, but that's how I feel.
- Do you know what that is, James? It's passion. You're in love with her and you don't even realize it. Have you told her how you feel?
- No, I didn't, and isn't being in love too strong a word? I know she's different from everyone I know, and that alone makes me admire her, but I don't know.
- Having doubts is normal, I myself had doubts about whether I liked Emily's father or not. It was only when he kissed me for the first time that I realized he was the one. But it's something you feel, you can't explain it. That's why I say you have to talk to her about how you feel, but first you have to talk to Amy, who is the reason your relationship is the way it is. Only then will you talk to Emily.
- Thank you so much, I don't know what I'd do without your tips. - I say, hugging her.
As I turn to leave, Ellen says to me with a serious look on her face:
- I trust you and please, "when you're arguing, don't forget that it's the two of you against the problem, not you against it" (2) .
- Thank you very much. - I say, heading for the door and leaving with at least two years more emotional maturity than when I arrived here.

  I arrive at Amy's house and this time I stop right in front, as there's a lot more space to park and I don't think there will be any drunks vomiting in the street. I walk through the garden, while glaring at the kids sleeping in it. One with his ass up and his face on the ground, another with an empty bottle of vodka in his hand, another with his sunglasses on his forehead and, finally, a boy with his shirt off and drooling like an English Bulldog. When I get to the door, I turn on the voice recorder on my cell phone and walk in, since the door is half open, and I see Amy looking like the living dead with a huge bag of garbage in her right hand and her left hand picking up all the bottles from the floor. I walk over to her, but she hasn't noticed me yet, so I slam my feet down harder on the floor and that's when Amy looks up at me, with a face like she's looking straight into the sun.
- James? I didn't expect to see you here so soon after yesterday. - Tell me.
- That's exactly why I came here. - I'll get straight to the point. - We need to talk about what happened yesterday.
- Yes, that's right. - tell me.
- I'm willing to forgive you, because I know you were drunk and weren't in complete control of what you said or did.
- The worst blind man is the one who doesn't want to see, James. - he says, standing up with his hand on his forehead. - Haven't you realized that the alcohol only meant that I didn't inhibit myself and say what I felt? I know it was wrong of me to approach you, but I had a bad feeling when Emily told me she was in love with you...
- She's... she's what...!? - I ask, flustered.
- I started to like you first, it's not wrong to be fighting for my happiness. - she continues.
  It's true that we've only known each other for a short time, but I felt that Emily was different and that made me like her. I've been constantly wondering whether or not Emily liked me in the same way, or if I was just being 'emotional', but it turns out she feels the same way. I'm not sure what to do now. I think I need to go and talk to her and tell her how I feel. But should I? If she hasn't told me she likes me, it's because she might be having doubts. I don't know if I can open up my feelings like this, it's a huge step that I don't know if I'm ready to take. But if I don't take the risk, I could lose the person I care about, and her mother told me to do it. It's decided, I'm going to talk to her.
- You're not going to change, Amy. - I say, turning away. - Good luck picking up all that garbage and curing your hangover before your parents get home from lecture. - I finish, laughing. I know where her parents are, because mine go to the same lectures as hers.
  Before I leave, I make as much noise as I can with the car to wake up the parasites sleeping in the garden. How good it is to be bad.

2 - Authorship unknown