Foreign Love

XVII - Surprise?

Chapter 17: Surprise?

What a beautiful day it was! The sun was shining, Lupi didn't wake me up, no one called me in the middle of the night and I woke up exactly one minute before my alarm started beeping.

I stretched my back on the bed and got up. I walked to the window and opened the curtain, taking a glance at the street.

Empty and silent as usual: the only sound that could be heard was laughter from downstairs. I recognized one of them as my mother's, but the other one was masculine, which I assumed to be my father's. Sometimes he wakes up with a different voice than usual, but it only lasts for about fifteen minutes or so.

I shrugged and went to the closet. I used to choose my clothes the night before, but since all I could do on that special night was fall into bed and sleep, I had to choose them in the morning this time. This sucks because I take a long time picking what I'm going to wear to school.

Once I'd figured out what to wear, I started making my way downstairs. The laughter had stopped and had since been replaced by conversation. I recognized one of the voices before I even entered the kitchen. It wasn't my father's, although I could hear his voice as well: it was Andrew's.

I stepped into the kitchen and my mother's attention suddenly turned to me, which made Andrew turn on his seat to face me. "Honey, Andrew's-"

"What the hell are you doing here?" He showed no surprise by my 'warm' welcoming, but my mother widened both eyes, in an expression that resembled Andrew's the moment I first addressed him this way.

She and Dad shared a look and he quickly got up from his seat, "Let's give them some room, shall we, dear?" She asked, or rather, implied.

"Yes, we can continue our conversation elsewhere," he suggested, grabbing his cup of coffee and walking out of the kitchen. Mom followed him, but not without saying goodbye to Andrew.

"Hey, Tom. How are you doing?"

"I'll be better once you answer my question." He swallowed.

"I'm sorry."

I sighed, here we go again.

"Don't you know any other word? Let me know when is your birthday so I can give you a dictionary." He got up from his seat and walked closer to me, so that we were about three steps apart from each other.

"Stop it, okay!" He shouted. two steps apart. "You haven't let me apologize not even a single time! You're always interrupting me and insults won't make me stop trying."

"I don't wanna hear your apologies!" one. "Ever since that day, we've talked to each other plenty of times, both in and out of school and all you say is sorry. Guess what? I am sick of hearing sorry." I spun on my heels to walk out of the house, but he took the final step to grab my arm and turned me to face him. His grip was too tight. It was hurting me.

"But you'll have to hear it now. I am sorry for forcing myself on you last night. I shouldn't have done it. it was wrong and I feel terrible doing that; I am also sorry for not being man enough to admit what I feel for you, but if only you knew my family, you'd be able to understand why I couldn't do it. Why I still can't do it."

Fuck, that was all he had to do. All he had to do since the beginning was to explain to me why he couldn't be with me. Was it really this hard for him? It must have been because he was shaking. He let go of my arm once he figured I would still stay there and listen to whatever else he had to say.

"I lied to you about something."

"Not surprising."

He seemed to ignore me. "I am not sorry for being your first in so long. I am actually really happy that I did it because it means you'll always remember me. And I know I bloody nailed it because I felt it that night at the party and I felt it last night." He wrapped an arm around my waist. "And I am feeling something right now, as well. But don't worry, I won't kiss you again. That's not what I came here for. I came here to ask you for forgiveness. So, can you forgive me?"