Taste the Rainbow (Editing/Rewriting, slow progress)

XXIII.

chapter twenty-three: accepted

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I nearly jump when the door opens, with the know scratching sound, even though I'm the one who opened it. I can hear Carly laugh next to me and I turn to her but I don't manage to glare at her. She looks way too perfect for me to be mad at her and it was my fault after all.

"You're home early," my mom says when I enter the kitchen where she's preparing lunch. 

"Yeah. School was over earlier today because of some conference which is taking place in the afternoon," I explain.

"Well it's good that you're home. You can help me then," she says and when she looks at me she sees Carly. "Hello Carly," she greets her, "It'd very nice to see you again. Do your parents know that you are here?"

Carly shakes her head, "No, but they won't expect me home until five." We made the decision of her coming here very spontaneously when Clearwater announced that school would end earlier. 

Mainly we decided so because I wanted to tell my mother about our relationship right away. If I don't then the possibility of someone else telling her about it is higher then if I tell her about it now. 

She will be the first one to know about it when I find the courage to tell her today and Carly and I decided to tell Hotaru at the party tonight.

"You're right," my mom answers on Carlys explanation and jokes, "It's great that you're here, because now I have four more hands to help me." We laugh a little and help her with preparing the food. 

It takes us about one hour to get everything ready and then the whole food just has to warm up. My mother goes into her bedroom at some point and leaves me and Carly alone in the kitchen.

"You are going to tell your mother, aren't you?," Carly asks me while she's stirring the soup we are making. I nod but I have still have this weird and scary feeling in my stomach. It makes me want to cry and there are already tears building up in the corners of my eyes

Carly sees how uncomfortable I seem to be. She comes to and hugs me. "It's going to be fine Auden." I rest my head against her chest and close my eyes. The tears don't go away and I feel them burning behind my eyelids but her touch makes it way better then it was before. 

I look up at her and smile. "Yeah," I say and look down at the floor again. I'm still feeling like I could cry and when she puts her hand on my cheek I'm close to it.

My mother comes in the room again and sees Carly comforting me. "Auden?," she asks with a anxious voice, "Is everything okay?" I can hear her hurry towards us.

Carly steps aside to let my mother embrace me. "What happened?"

"It's fine mom," I say and smile again, still with tears in my eyes. 

"You're crying," she notes, "If you're crying it isn't fine. Please tell me what happened."

I look at Carly and seek for help in her eyes. She nods and smiles at me, assuring me that it will be alright.

"Do you remember how we joked about me not having a boyfriend? When Meg told us about the boy who bought her flowers?," I start and think that it's a good way to begin. 

"Yes," my mother answers and smile at the memory, "You're sister has been teasing you with it for almost a whole week." 

I nod, "Yeah... Well now she can't really make fun of it anymore..."

At first my mom looks a little shocked and I can see in her eyes that she doesn't actually believe me. "You have a boyfriend?," she asks and the happiness finally shows in her face, "That's great. Who is the lucky boy?"