Is this seat taken?

A girl to bring home

The next day, I awoke earlier than usual. Tom was completely passed out, but I managed to wriggle out from under his arm. He turned, momentarily disturbed by my movement, but soon settled back into the same snoring state as before. A small grin crept across my face as I watched him sleeping. After all the stress he had been under over the last week, it felt good to see him so peaceful. His features were completely and utterly relaxed, and as I watched, he smiled slightly and mumbled something incoherent. I kept my eyes on him as I pulled on a pair of clean jeans and one of Tom's robes, not bothering to tie the waist string. 

With a final glance at Tom's sleeping form, I padded downstairs. When I entered the kitchen, I was surprised to find Tom's mother already up. She was washing dishes and evidently hadn't heard my arrival. I rapped my knuckles lightly against the door-frame and she turned around with a start. "Oh Gabi, it's you. You frightened me, come in dear, come in."

I smiled and stood next to her at the sink. "Why don't you let me do these dishes?" I asked, feeling that it wasn't right for her to always be the one cleaning up.

"No darling, go sit down, I'm almost done anyway."

"I insist," I said, gently prompting her toward the table by the window. 

She laughed and shook her head, but sat in one of the chairs. "I can see why he likes you," she said. 

I blushed and began concentrating very hard on getting a particular spot off of one dish. I wasn't really sure how to respond. 

Right then, we both looked up at the sudden sound of footsteps on the stairs. Tom strolled into the kitchen wearing running pants and a t-shirt. His headphones hung around his neck. "Going for a run, care to join me Gabi?"

I smiled, but shook my head, "Go on, I'm good here."

He shrugged and turned around, heading out the door. When he was gone, I returned to my task of finishing up the dishes. 

I dried my hands, and joined Tom's mom at the table. My eyes followed Tom's retreating form as he crested the hill.

"He's never brought anyone home before."

I had almost forgotten that I wasn't alone, and I looked up at her.

"Whenever he dated a girl, we would ask about her and he would politely answer, but he never seemed to want to dwell on the subject. So, we didn't push it. But with you, do you know what he did?" I raised my eyebrows, curious. "He called me as soon as he arrived back into his dorm. He said 'Mum, I think I've found a girl to bring home'."

I smiled, slightly embarrassed at becoming the topic of conversation. She smiled back kindly, and she again made me feel perfectly at ease. It was amazing. Usually it took me a while to warm up to people, but apparently the saying "the apple doesn't fall far from the tree" proved true. I had never felt more immediately comfortable around anyone as I did around Tom and his family.

"I can see a change in him," she continued, "he's different than he was before. Happier. Thank you."

I quickly denied my having anything to do with his change in disposition, but she wouldn't let me go without the credit. "I've seen the way he looks at you, like you're the center of his whole universe. And you're totally oblivious because you're too occupied looking at him in much the same way. Trust me Gabi, I raised Tom. You can't see the change that we see in him, because you're the source."

The blush returned to my cheeks full force and I laughed. "Well, I feel the same way about him. It's crazy, I mean we've only known each other for a few months, but I've never met anyone like Tom. I love everything about him."

"I'm so glad he has you," she told me with a grin. I smiled back at her, and right at that moment my eyes caught a bit of movement out the window in my peripheral vision. Tom was coming back up the hill towards the house. That was strange, I thought, he usually runs a bit longer. He had only been gone 15 minutes or so. 

We heard him open the door, unlace his running shoes in the foyer, and come to stand in the door frame of the kitchen. "You're back early," I remarked. 

"Yes, well I didn't want to take too long, we have your surprise to get to." I had completely forgotten about his words last night with the way the conversation had turned this morning. He intended to take me somewhere he was sure I would love, and the mischievous glint in his eyes when he said this made me nervously wonder at what exactly he had in store for the day.