Found it! [ girlxgirl ]

||THIRTY-FIVE||

-"Hi mom!" I say enthusiastically over Skype.

After laying with bed with Avery for almost an hour, falling asleep occasionally because she kept stroking my hair, we finally got up to eat lunch. We ordered pizza and I spent the entire lunch time convincing Avery to talk with my mother over skype.

My mother is pretty annoying when she wants something, and she's been nagging me about this for a while now.

-"Hey Avery! How are you? So nice to finally meet you!" She says with a high-pitched voice.

-"Jesus, mom! Thanks for ignoring your daughter!" I mumble while Avery greets my mother.

-"Emma, I talk with you every weekend. Let the spotlight go to Avery now." She says accusingly. "Avery, you are gorgeous."

-"Oh...Thank you Mrs. Agostini." I look at Avery and see that's she's blushing. I chuckle at both her shyness and the way she addressed my mother, although she was told to call her Maria before.

Avery shoves me and I fall on the couch, still laughing.

-"Avery, please. It's Maria." My mother corrects her. "And you really are beautiful. It does not surprise me...Emma was always picky, so you had to be."

Now it was time for Avery to chuckle.

I shake my head and look at the screen to see my grandmother staring and smile.

-"Ciao nonna! Come stai?" I ask her how she's doing, since she can't speak or understand English.

She tells she's been great, but that she misses me every day.

That made me feel a little sad, and Avery noticed that. She places her hand over my knee and gives a little squeeze. I grab her hand and hold it, while telling my grandmother than I miss her too, and I can't wait to see them in two months.

My mother stepped aside for a while, to let me and my grandmother talk. We talked for a couple more minutes until she said that Avery looked like a lost cat and that I should start speaking with her again.

I laugh and lean into Avery whispering in her ear.

-"My grandma says you're beautiful, even when you look like a lost cat." I kiss her cheek, making her show us that shy side of her that I rarely get to see.

-"So, Avery...have you been treating my daughter well?" We hear my father but we can't see him on screen.

-"Dad!" I scream, laughing at Avery's face with her eyes wide open. "At least show yourself!"

-"Hi sweetie. Hi Avery. How are you girls doing?" He leans over my mother's shoulder, speaking with a sweeter voice.

-"Don't be intimidated by him, babe." I tell Avery, that still has that awkward smile on her face.

-"We're good, Mr. Agostini. Thank you! How are you?" Avery answers him before I could.

-"Good. Good. Thank you. So...my question..." He asks again, narrowing his eyes, trying to look serious.

-"I believe I've been treating her well, Mr. Agostini, right Ems?" She winks, and now it's my turn to blush. I'm praying that my parents can't see the mischievous look on her face.

-"She has, dad." I clear my throat. "Don't scare her please. I've told her you are the sweetest man I know, but she's still nervous."

-"Nonsense. I'm messing with you, Avery. Even miles apart, I can see that Emma is happy and I know you are responsible for it." He says with his characteristic reassuring smile, making us all smile too. "But if I sense a little bit of unhappiness related to you..."

-"Dad!!" I interrupt him.

-"It's okay, Emma." Avery chuckles. "If I hurt her in any way, I deserve your...wrath."

-"Good." He says. "Now, off with formalities please. Call me, Victor."

-"Nice to meet you Victor, and Maria. And..." She looks at me and I mouth her my grandmother's name. "Amelia."

My grandmother first narrows her eyebrows in suspicion, but after my mother translates what Avery said she smiled and nodded.

After getting over with my father's attempt to threatening Avery, we kept talking for nearly 30 minutes.

My parents loved Avery, but how could they not, right?

-"Alright, sweeties. We'll talk next weekend!" My mother addresses both of us which brought a surprising warmth to my heart. "Oh, and start planning your trip here. It's about time."

I look at Avery and she looks at me. English is a tough language. I'm not sure if my mother was talking to us both, or just me.

I wanted to ask Avery if she would like to go with me to Italy, but I was waiting a while longer, and now my mother just put me in an awkward position.

-"Bye! Love you all. Addio." I tell them, and the same words echo back to us.

I shut down my laptop and lean back on the couch.

-"Wow! I like them, Ems, but I was nervous." Avery releases a deep breath.

-"And they like you, Ave." I pull her by the hem of her shirt until she's leaning on me.

Silence fells over us and after a while I decide to break it.

-"Would you like to learn Italian?" I ask. "I mean, some basic words."

-"Why?" She looks at me quizzically. "I mean, of course I would...I will."

-"You will?"

-"Yes. I will learn the basics, at least."

-"Good." I huge smile appears on my face. "It would be amazing to see you exchanging some words with my nonna."

-"Nonna is grandma. Ciau is hello. Addio is goodbye. First lesson completed." We both chuckle.

-"Wanna know two more?" I cup her face and give her a little peck on the lips. She nods. "Ti amo."

-"Ti amo, too." We kiss between chuckles.

-"You know..." I start once we pull apart from the kiss. "My mother was talking to both of us...about planning our trip."

-"Oh..." That's all she says and I'm suddenly nervous.

-"I told her before that I was going to invite you, but I completely understand if you want to spend Christmas with your sister and your parents."

-"Emma..." She hesitates and looks at me apologetically. "I was going to ask you the same, actually."

-"Oh..." That's all I say, mentally face palming myself right after.

-"I want you to meet them soon, too." She speaks again erasing the silence. "I thought you would like to spend a Christmas here."

-"I would like to, but...I couldn't. I can't. It's a huge deal in my family. I couldn't be apart from them. I miss them a lot." This time we both look at each other apologetically.

-"I understand. If it weren't for my little sister, I would accept your invitation." She smiles.

-"Of course." I kiss her and she kisses back.

We pull apart and snuggle again letting the silence settle in.

I feel both our bodies getting tenser than they were minutes ago.

I believe we both just realized that another part of my life is miles apart from here.

We both just realized how uncertain the future is...our future.

Will I stay here or go back to Italy? If I go, will she come with me? Will we always have this problems with holidays?