Easy

Chapter 12

“So, my cousin’s coming over later. Were you planning to stay the night?”, Julie asked as they ate dinner. They have been officially together for two weeks now, which means they’ve known each other for about a month and a half. For Julie, nothing much really has changed between the two of them in terms of companionship and comfortableness in each other. In fact, if it was at all possible, it seemed as if she was much more open to him now. She had dropped the always-sarcastic-and-always-snappy attitude around him. They’d even had serious conversations lately, where there usually was laidback, innuendo-laden ones. She had to admit, the kissing had gone down to a minimum. In fact, she was pretty sure the only kisses they shared now were the smack-on-the-lips-goodbye types. But she didn’t mind. She knew how Elmo was when it came to relationships. He was conservative and it was probably one of the things about him that got her interested. Rarely did she meet guys who were as traditional as he was. And while for some people, he would’ve been a bore, for her, he was much more interesting this way because she is able to focus her attention to his characteristics that actually matter: his generosity, his caring nature and his kind heart. Besides, we’ve already shared enough kisses to last us for the next three months, she thought to herself with a mental laugh.

Elmo choked on his water and she laughed as she pounded on his back to help him cough out.

“Are you okay?”, she asked, the laugh still lingering in her voice.

He cleared his throat and replaced his glass of water on the table. “Yeah, yeah, I’m fine”, he mumbled, grabbing his handkerchief from his pocket and wiping his mouth with it. “Uhm, and no, I have to go home tonight. Sorry”, he mumbled, staring at his plate, not being able to look her in the eye.

Her face fell and she was glad he couldn’t see. He hadn’t stayed the night for the whole time that they’ve been officially together. And while she could understand that he had a lot on his plate, what with exams coming up and all, she just missed having him around for longer than just dinner. She shrugged it off and forced a smile. “Yeah, sure. It’s alright. We’ll see each other tomorrow anyway”, she said, letting her hand fall from his back and on to her lap. She turned back to her food and speared a piece of chicken nugget from her plate, popping it into her mouth.

Elmo cleared his throat again. “Actually, I can’t come over tomorrow. I have, uh, family stuff going on”, he said vaguely.

Now Julie couldn’t hide the disappointment from her face. When they were simply friends, Elmo had been over her place every night. Lately, he seemed to be only there every other day or every two days. She knew she had no business demanding more from his time. After all, she was just a girlfriend and family would always weigh more and come first. But she just wasn’t used to not having him around that often anymore.

“Oh, okay. Just text me when you can come over again and maybe we can go out for dinner for a change”, she suggested, playing with her food, not really having an appetite anymore.

Elmo nodded and finished off the last piece of chicken nugget from his plate. They were silent for a while. He finished off his water and looked at his watch. “I need to be going soon. Will you be fine washing the dishes or should I? I can stay for a few more minutes for that if you need me to”, he said, finally looking at her. He knew he was being such a jerk to her, not just tonight, but lately. He couldn’t bring himself to break the news to her that he was still seeing Bianca. How could he? Julie was a great girl. And he knew it wasn’t fair to her about what he was doing but how do you tell someone you really like that you’re still with a girl who you liked before but aren’t sure of anymore, but because you hadn’t really broken up before that you had the responsibility to stay with her? Even that question was confusing to him, adding to his already confusing relationship status.