‘Mind telling me where you’ve been all night, young man?’ my mother says as soon as step into the house. She pulls me into a hug, telling me she was worried sick, and then takes a step back to take a better look at me. ‘What’s wrong? Does it have anything to do with that girl the twins wouldn’t shut up about? Is that where you were until now?’ Of course, my whole family knows about Florence by now.
‘It does and it is but it’s not what you think. Nothing happened. Well, something did but it’s not what you think.’ I exhale roughly and run a hand through my hair. I just want to take a shower and sleep. ‘I’m tired, mom. I’ll talk to you later, okay?’
My mom’s a short lady but don’t mistake her as harmless. She used to scare the shit out of me when I was younger. I was never scared she’d actually hurt me but god knows I didn’t want to test her by not eating my vegetables.
Right now her eyes are filled with sympathy and worry but she doesn’t try to stop me. Instead, she ruffles my hair and starts shoving me towards my room herself.
I feel a lot better after my shower and nap so I join my family for lunch. My parents seem to hold back whatever questions about Florence they might have and my brother keeps glancing at me curiously. When May finally drops her name it’s like a dam breaks.
‘Florence, that’s a nice name. Isn’t it, Robert?’ my mom asks. I hide a smile by taking a bite out of my toast. I love the girl’s name. It suits her really well, that’s why I insist on using it and not a nickname.
‘It is, Amelia. So, Eli, how do you know her?’ my dad replies.
‘She’s a classmate and Benji’s friend,’ I tell them. Sue me for not knowing how else to explain it.
‘And she’s Jamie’s girlfriend,’ May announces loudly, making everyone’s head turn her way. My family knows very well that Jamie does not have a girlfriend.
‘No, she’s not. He’s gay, May!’ Daniel says as if he’s had enough of this conversation already.
‘It’s not natural!’ my sister whines.
‘May!’ her father snaps.
‘Don’t May me! I just don’t understand why anyone would like men when there are women!’ Oh, thank god. I should have known that something like that was about to come but I was honestly scared I had a homophobic sister for a second. I’ll always support my family but I draw the line at that.
Besides, May hasn’t been able to shut up about Astrid from how to train your dragons. We don’t blame her though. She and Hiccup could gladly run me over.
Moving on. The laughter going around the table dies down a bit so my older brother speaks up.
‘She’s pretty. I saw her when I picked up the twins,’ Kai says. My dad raises an eyebrow at me but Daniel beats me to answering.
‘She looks like Ricky. Ricky was pretty.’ I groan, knowing exactly that my parents will now think I’m using Florence as a rebound. Even more than a year after the incident, my parents still don’t believe that I’m over Ricky. I am.
‘She’s nothing like Ricky and the only thing their appearances have in common is their brown hair. Though Florence’s is darker, shinier, and way longer. Besides, she always wears it up while Ricky left it down. They’re not even the same height. Ricky was like two inches taller.’ I smile a bit. Florence is ridiculously short. 5.5 Maybe? I get the feeling I shouldn’t tell her that though. ‘Florence’s eyes are green, not blue. They might look brown from afar but when the sun hits them you can see they’re really not.’ I finally stop myself, remembering I’m still talking about the girl in front of my whole family.
Shoot me now.
Everyone is staring at me like I just broke out into a song or something. Meanwhile, I just know my cheeks are burning up which is really not helping right now.
‘And you spent the night with her? Benji’s friend?’ my dad asks slowly.
‘She hung out with us last night and I dropped her off at home but she wasn’t feeling well and her parents weren’t at home so I kept her company. That’s all,’ I insist. Telling them more about what happened last night would feel wrong. It’s something between Florence and me.
‘So you two are not a thing?’ Kai asks, grinning like an idiot.
‘No,’ I say though my teeth might be slightly gritted.
‘Good to know. It’s alright if I shoot my shot then, right?’ he goes on, still smiling. I know he’s just trying to get a reaction but even the thought of him with her makes my blood boil. I know how he treats girls.
It’s not like he leads them on, he tells them what his intentions are from the start. They just seem to fall for his stupid, cocky smile and the confident way he behaves either way and end up getting hurt.
I don’t think I could look him in the eyes if he hurt Florence. It’s that stupid urge to protect what isn’t mine again but I can’t help it when it comes to her.
‘She’d never go for you,’ I tell him, trying to find comfort in the thought. I truly don’t believe he’s her type but I can’t really imagine her rejecting someone either. She’s too nice for her own good.
‘Mhm. That reminds me, my friends keep telling me how much you resemble me. Same hair, eyes, you get the point,’ he says thoughtfully. I ball my hands into fists. I haven’t physically fought my brother in years but nothing lasts forever, right?
‘Boys, that’s enough,’ our mom interjects. ‘Elija, you said she was home alone? Where are her parents?’
‘On vacation,’ I grit out a little too harshly. I don’t think they should leave her by herself. Not after last night at least. ‘Sorry,’ I mumble. Great, my family will think me a psychopath now too. I need to work on my filter.
‘And they just left her here?’ my mom asks. She doesn’t even know Florence but she seems outraged on her behalf.
‘You should invite her over for dinner. She shouldn’t be alone all the time. Does she have siblings?’ my dad asks. I hate that I’d like to invite her over to meet my family because I know it won’t happen. Florence would probably be really uncomfortable and I don’t want her or my family to get the wrong idea. Especially the twins.
‘She doesn’t and I’m sure her parents will be back soon.’
I hope they will and am glad the little interrogation ends with that.
