Moonlight

"so, i'll see you around?"

It was cold and rainy when we arrived in Amsterdam, surprising weather for the last week of our summer vacation. The streets were empty and no one was riding a bike at all.
'Come on, does it have to be this kind of weather when we're here?' my little brother complained.
'Please, Ralph...' I didn't want a grumpy brother by my side for the rest of the day.
'Shut your mouth, Anna. You're here for your best friend. I'm here for... for what again? Oh, yeah, for nothing. We aren't even seeing my friends. I'm just here in freaking Amsterdam to keep you company. I didn't ask for this!'
'Ralph!' my mother said angry. 'Can you please stop talking for five minutes? We're almost at Emily's house.'
'Finally.' He put his earphones in, and I sighed in relieve.

'Anna, you're finally here! Please, come in, it's freezing outside!'
My father, mother and Ralph followed me inside Emily's cute Dutch house.
'Mum! Anna's here!' Emily shouted in Dutch. We decided to talk in that language for the rest of the day, because it's our native language.
'Oh, really?' a loud, girly voice shouted back. 'I'm coming!'
Then, a woman who was twice my weight but two times smaller than me, appeared on top of the staircase. She had playful and curly brown hair, and she was wearing a pink pair of glasses. Her clothes weren't that unrevealing too; she wore a combination of blue and green.
She was nothing like Emily, who was blonde and skinny, wearing casual but pretty clothes.
'Anna, darling, I haven't seen you in... forever!' she said with her loud voice again, as she started walking down the stairs.
'Mum...' Emily said embarrassed, while holding her hand in front of her eyes. 'Believe me, this is her weirdest outfit.'
Then she turned to her mother. 'Does it have to be today, mum?'
I did nothing but giggle. Emily had always been ashamed of her mother. Not only because of what she wears, but also that she is not ashamed of anything at all.
Her mother gave me a tight hug. 'It's lovely to see you again, darling.'
'It's good to see you too, Maria,' I said, a little uncomfortable.
Emily rushed to the living room when we heard the oven. 'The cake!'
'Please, give your jackets to me,' Maria said, while pointing to the basket in the corner of the hallway. 'You can put it in there. I'll dry it.'
'Oh, Maria, you don't have to do this,' my mother said, but she took her coat of anyway.
'That's my job! I love doing it,' Maria said, while walking away to help Emily. She did the cooking and cleaning in the house, Emily told me once, and her father had a full time job at an office.
After we took our jackets off, we followed Maria, towards the living room.
'What the...' Ralph started, but my father quickly held his hand in front of his mouth, so he couldn't finish what he was about to say.
'Don't you dare,' he said, a little angry.
Maria giggled, walking out of the kitchen. 'It's okay. It is impressive, I know.'
The living room was even more spectacular than Maria. It had all the colours you could imagine, and all kinds of the weirdest furniture.
'It's... colourful,' my mother said impressed.
'It is.' Ralph tried not to curse again. He looked around him in disgust. I knew he didn't like it at all.
'The cake is ready!' I heard Emily say from out of the kitchen, and after a few seconds she brought a black with white cake towards the dining table, in the corner of the living room.
'Take a seat!' Maria said, while walking back to the kitchen, to help clean up.
'She's crazy,' Ralph said. 'But I'm not the only one, am I?'
Emily grinned, and started cutting the cake. 'She is, indeed. But she is a lovely mum. I wouldn't want to have another mum.'
I saw Maria watching from the kitchen, with a huge smile on her face.

'So, how's life in London?' Maria asked with still a piece of cake in her mouth.
'Mum...' Emily said annoyed.
I giggled. 'Well, it's pretty good. But of course not the same as Amsterdam.'
'We really miss it here,' Ralph said a little disappointed. 'I miss my friends and stuff.'
'London is amazing, you have to admit. And...' I didn't want this to be a negative or sad conversation. '...we have a dog now!'
'Really?' Maria said curious. They always wanted a dog, but Emily's father was allergic.
'A German shepherd,' my father said, with a huge smile on his face. Having a dog was a dream of his too. 'We have him for about five months now.'
'And what's his name?' Emily wanted to know.
'Dobby.' I sighed. 'Yeah, the character in Harry Potter.'
'The former owner of Dobby is a huge fan of the books,' my mother said. 'And he didn't want us to change the name.'
'He's here with our grandparents near by,' I said. 'But because your father is allergic, we didn't want to bring him here.'
'But dad is at work today,' Emily said. A smile appeared on her face. 'So...where do your grandparents live?'

•••

Not even thirty minutes later, Emily and I were walking Dobby around Amsterdam. It was still raining cats and dogs, but I really wanted Emily to see him.
'So...' Emily said all of a sudden. '...are there any cute boys in London?'
I grinned. 'I don't know, Em, I'm not like you. I don't look around for cute boys, or something. As far as I know, they are not as cute as here.'
I had never been such a boy freak, like Emily. She used to always introduce me to her new boyfriend, and those relationships didn't last any longer than three weeks.
'Really? And what about the accents?'
'What? Accents? Nothing fascinating about. You're used to it in no time.'
'But... so there is no cute English guy in London? At all?' she wanted to know.
It started raining harder, so we decided to find shelter by the entrance of a hotel. It was an expensive hotel, you could tell.
'What did you want to hear, Em? It's not that you just bump into a cute guy with a British accent in no time!'
'I wasn't expecting that! I just wanted you to be a little more open about your new life, okay? You're not saying anything positive about London, but you know it's my dream to live there someday. So, if you don't mind, I'm going to the bathroom just stay here until I come back.'
'Emily! Please, let me expl...'
I couldn't finish my sentence, because someone suddenly pushed me from behind, and I fell on the street. My face was covered with gravel, and my hands hurt.
'What was that supposed to mean?'
Someone, I think the one who pushed me, helped me to get on my two feet again.
'A-are you alright? I didn't see you, I'm so sorry.' It was a boy, with a British accent. He was talking English, although I though he was Dutch.
I looked up and saw someone my age and my height. He had brown curls and big brown eyes. He was... cute.
'I'm... I'm fine. Thanks,' I answered, in English this time. 'Are you in a hurry or something?'
'Well, this is my hotel.' He pointed at the building in front of us. 'I mean, I'm staying in it.'
'Isn't that like the most expensive hotel in Amsterdam?'
I grinned. Gosh, for the first time I know what Emily meant with cute boys.
He smiled back, a little confused. 'I don't know, I didn't pick it myself.'
'What do you mean?' I asked in confusion.
'Never mind. Do you live here? In Amsterdam, I mean.' He coughed uncomfortable, and acted strange.
'No, I live in London for a year now, but I used to live here. I'm visiting my best friend, but I'm leaving tomorrow afternoon, because she has this concert tomorrow evening.'
Telling basically my life story to a stranger wasn't that easy before.
He turned a little pale. 'I'm sorry, but I have to go now. So, I'll see you around?'
He winked at me.
'I don't think so,' I admitted.
But he couldn't hear me anymore, because he already left in the building.