For Tobias' Sake

13

At the end of my story, my mom has a huge smirk on her face, making me frown and wonder what she's thinking now. It doesn't take a genius to realize that my mom thinks me and Elias are somehow a couple. No idea how she got to that, but I'm not as bothered by it as I probably should.

Before she could say anything, Elias comes back into the kitchen, smiling at us as he is leading Tobias in with his collar. I watch him put some chicken in his food bowl, filling it with dry food and placing it down on the ground. Tobias runs over to the food, almost tripping over his own feet. I laugh along with Elias.

"Would you look at that?" My mom smiles, watching the scene with interest. Elias looks over at us, after patting Tobias' head. He smiles and sits back down next to me. I feel my cheeks warm up as his hand finds mine under the table. I cough and pull my hand away. His touches have never been a huge deal, before mom looked at me like that.

What if she thinks I'm having sex with him? Giving away my virginity without marriage? Oh god, what if my dad finds out? I could still deny, but my blushing would give them a wrong impression. But that's just because I like him- I like Elias? Oh god.

"Uh." He clears his throat, looking at my mom.
"What did I miss?" He asks. I blush even harder when my mother looks at me.
"Nothing much. She just told me how you met and all. It's a really cute story." She says and Elias chuckles, before nudging me playfully.

"Yeah, really cute." I say uncomfortably, making my mom laugh. She stands up and places her plate in the sink. Elias nudges me again and I look back to meet his slightly confused face.
"Is everything alright?" He asks and I nod, not really wanting to talk about it. He nods slowly, before his eyes look up at my mom, who's approaching us.

"Thank you so much for the dinner, it was delicious. But I fear, I have to go. I want to talk to my son, before he gets to bed." My mom says and we stand up and walk her out.
"Don't be too hard on him, I understand." I say as I hug her good bye.

"I know he might be upset, but his behaviour was not okay." She says and I nod quietly. My mom moves towards Elias, who sticks out his hand, which she takes and shakes.
"Thank you again for the dinner. Promise me to come by tomorrow." She says, making Elias' eyes wander to me, silently asking me if it was okay and I nod.

"Of course, ma'am." He smiles, but she shakes her head.
"Margaret." She corrects him, making him smile even wider.
"Margaret." He says and we say a final good bye, before she leaves our sight.

I sigh and lean the back of my head against the door after closing it. Elias chuckles, before standing right in front of me. In those four days of living with him, I realized that he doesn't believe in personal space, which I oddly find okay. He smells good at least.

"How was meeting her for you? Are you okay?" He asks, intertwining our fingers again. I look down, gulping before pulling away and passing him.
"Yeah, I am. I'm just tired. I think I'm gonna head to bed." I say, hearing his footsteps follow me.

"Okay." He says, his voice sounding a little irritated. I'm confused too. He has been touching me like this ever since I moved in, why do I have a problem with that now? His voice stops me, before I get to the top of the stairs. I look down, finding him stand at the bottom of the stairs.

"Is something wrong?" He asks, but I shake my head. A little too enthusiastically for my liking. He nods and I turn back around. Of course there's something wrong.

I sigh as I fall down on my bed, face first. I can't believe I'm catching feelings for Elias. I'm catching feelings for Elias. That sounds so weird. I have a crush on Elias. Sounds even weirder. But what did I expect? Letting him touch me like that in the first place. What is wrong with me? I need to bring up some rules, before it starts getting a little more serious.