Inside His Basement (Editing)

Chapter 13

Carmen's POV

Once we get home, I'm already being bombarded with text messages. They're all from the same guy. They're all from... Miles. This guy really pisses me off. He's acting like a clingy boyfriend.

Ivan turns to face me as I look through the texts. His face brightens up with a smile, a smile I've never seen before. It makes him look cute. Ivan reminds me of a puppy sometimes. It was a bad idea bringing him to the park.

But he's happy, my mind tells me.

He's happy here with me and Silvia, I answer it in my head.

Let him go. Let him move on. Why are you so mad at Miles when he only asked for a phone number? Maybe Ivan's found someone he can spend the rest of his life with. He can't be with you forever.

They don't know each other all that well. I'm the only one who can help Ivan with his condition. He needs me to keep him calm.

But he hasn't had one of those episodes for days. I think it's fine. You sound like... you're jealous.

"Fuck!" I yell, shoving my phone into my pocket. Ivan takes two steps away from me. "Sorry. I didn't mean to yell. I'm just having an annoying argument with myself."

"About what?" Ivan asks, now standing far away.

"Not important. What do you want for dinner? How about some meatloaf? I haven't had meatloaf in months."

"Can I listen to music on your phone? I really like the songs you have on there."

"Fine. Go ahead. Just use the earphones and keep the volume low, so you'll hear when I tell you dinner's ready."

"Okay. Thanks!"

I take my phone out of my pocket and hand it to Ivan. He takes the earphones and plugs it into the phone and places them in his ears. The sound of the music is low enough for him to hear me call out to him. The singing voices are barely a whisper. I go into the kitchen and start cooking.

After a while of cooking dinner, I hear Ivan laughing. It's nice to hear him laugh. It helps me to know that he's not scared or sad. He won't be having another episode anymore either, I hope.

Ivan seems to be doing a lot better.

He laughs again, louder. I pause my cooking and go into the living room. There's music playing for sure, but he's laughing a lot. Curious, I look over his shoulder. Well, fuck me in the ass!

"And then Vince got his ass smacked by her textbook," I read quietly.

Ivan laughs again. I tap his shoulder and he turns around to look at me. His face goes from smiling to frowning with worry.

"H-Hi... C-Carmen," he says, stuttering.

My phone vibrates. "Now he's asking you out to dinner tomorrow. Tell him no. We have plans on going to the park tomorrow."

"Fine," Ivan says, glaring at me in annoyance.

I would love to, he texts back.

"I told you to tell him no!"

"It should be fine, Carmen! I haven't had another panic attack for days! I want to go out and do things with other people! Why can't I!? I can't just spend all of my time with you! Besides, Miles is nice and I like him! He's funny!"

"Fine then! Go live with him since you don't need me anymore!"

Why am I acting like this? I'm being too unfair. Ivan needs to go out and make friends with other people. I'm the one who suggested that. Now that he's got a friend, I'm so pissed.