One More Year

Chapter 4

"Hey, mom." I walk into the kitchen dropping my backpack next to the kitchen island on the floor and she smiles up at me from preparing dinner.

"Hey, honey. How was school?" She asks as she gets back to working on dinner.

"It was good. Penelope will be coming over." I tell her. Knowing she'd want to make extra food if she's here.

She beams up at me, "I'll make extra." She turns and opens the fridge, pulling out more items.

"Mom, did you have any other boyfriends before, Dad?" I find the courage to ask. I want to know if I'm making a mistake. I really thought my first relationship and hopefully only would be special. Now I know it won't be the only one and there's nothing special about it.

Her eyes widen a little and chuckles, "Where is this coming from?"

I sit up, on the counter, "There's this boy at school. I just... I just want to know that if it doesn't work out, that I'll be okay."

"You have a boyfriend?" She gasps.

Crap! Too soon!

My eyes widen, "No. But, I think it's getting there." She's going to have to also think of him as my boyfriend if he's going to be taking me to school events.

She frowns and then smiles, "My advice. Just follow what you think is right at the moment. Don't let yourself think about fearing the future too much." Great. That doesn't help my situation. "But to answer your question. Yes, I did have a boyfriend in high school and although I thought I was in love with him, nothing compared to the way I felt about your father when I met him in college."

I smile now. I know all about that story. My dad was shy, much like I am and my mom always brought snacks to class and was persistent about him eating with her. Soon they started hanging out and she won over his heart with food. 

There's a knock at the door, but soon after Penelope opens the door and lets herself in. She walks into the kitchen with her mini-12-year-old sister at her side and looks at me curiously.

"Hey, sweetheart. Will you guys be staying for dinner?" My mom asks.

Penelope shakes her head, but CiCi nods, "Yes. I'm starving." 

My mom meets Penelope's eyes for confirmation and Penelope gives her a small smile. "Sure. Thank you, Mrs. Romano."

"C'mon." I get off the counter and have them follow me to my room. I shut the door and put music on for background noise. I don't want my mom to hear this.

"Spill the tea." Penelope throws her bag on the floor on my bed, CiCi throws herself on my pink bean bag and takes out her phone, swiping away at her screen.

"It's fake." I plop down on my bed and Penelope sits at the end of it. I think I've caught CiCi's attention because she's dropped her phone and now her eyes are on me too. 

I tell her all about how he approached me in the library. I'm not sure why he wouldn't tell Austin, but I tell her that's why I didn't tell her then.

She takes a deep breath and frowns, "You're going to get hurt Liv. You're not the type of girl he thinks you are."

CiCi scoffs, "Of course you're going to get hurt. It's a recipe for disaster. You're a big softy and you're going to cry when he finally runs into this girl Zoey's arms. And you're also not a pretty crier."

"CiCi!" Penelope frowns at her, throwing a pillow at her head. "That was mean. You wouldn't know anything about being heartbroken."

CiCi sits up on the bean bag and smiles widely now, "And you do? Ms. Talk-To-Austin-All-Night-Til-They-Fall-Asleep." CiCi sarcastically cups her hands against her chest as if she thinks it's cute and my eyes widen.