The next morning, I woke up in my house, and in my own bed. Toby had driven me back to the street where my house was located early in the morning. I'd called Xander, asking him to come and get the door before I sneaked into the house at five in the morning like a ghost. Like I had expected, no one had really noticed my absence, and I was relieved. I thanked Xander for letting me in before going to bed and getting up three hours later to get ready for work. It was hard pretending like I had a long good night's sleep, but I made it through breakfast without anyone interrogation me. I then left for work.
Toby laughed at me when I walked into the art room and headed straight for my desk to rest my head. I rolled my eyes at him, before closing them to try and take a nap. He walked over to me, and I soon felt his slender fingers run through my hair.
"How are you?" he asked in a low tone, and I soon found my face warming up when I realized what he was asking me about.
"I'm fine."
"Does it hurt?"
"Not really," I replied, watching as a small smile made an appearance on his face. I smiled back when he pecked my forehead. I'd been honest. The pain I was presently feeling was a low throbbing one that didn't hurt much. It was a bit uncomfortable — it was like a mild back pain if I had to describe it. Toby had really been gentle with me.
"I'm happy," he muttered into my hair before standing up straight and walking to his desk. The smile I had on my face widened at the sight of him just being happy. Maybe he was just a bit overwhelmed yesterday.
The rest of the school day went by, and I went back home right after the last bell. I was going for dinner at my mother's friend's place with my parents, siblings, and cousin. When I got home I immediately started getting dressed, and everyone else was doing the same — running about the place to change whenever my mother disapproved of an outfit of theirs.
"Hurry up."
"I'm coming," Candice shouted from upstairs as she ran down with shoes that had undone shoelaces. She got down in one piece, bending down to catch her breath. I was a bit surprised she hadn't tripped on her way down. She was in a plain dress, but she looked fine. She eventually stood up straight when she was done panting. She then stretched out her hands and turned around so my mum could assess what she was wearing. My mother nodded at her after a while, and Candice muttered a 'finally' before walking past us and out the main entrance.
When everyone was done, we headed for the car. My dad was driving as usual. While Xander, Candice, and Ava squeezed themselves at the back seat, Wyatt and I took the two single seats at the center. On our way to my mum's friend's place, my mum kept talking about him and how they were close in college. My father wasn't a very emotive person, but I could tell the discussion bothered him a bit from the slight frown I could spot on his face through the driver's mirror. My father wasn't the jealous type, but it did bother him a bit whenever my mother got too close to someone else. He wasn't vocal about it, so she never figured it out herself. He was kind of like me — very uncomfortable with expressing emotions into words.
My mother also talked about her friend's daughter, and from the way she kept looking back at me, I was sure she was directing her words to me. It made me a bit uncomfortable, but I couldn't tell her that in the now crowded car that was heading right for her friend's place. Eventually, my father pulled the car to a halt in the free parking space attached to a small duplex. My mother clapped her hands as if cheering in delight before she asked everyone to get down.
By the time I'd gotten down, my mother had already been welcomed at the front door. I could see her hugging a dark-skinned man with a skin cut. A girl, who I guessed was his daughter was leaning by the door beside him. She smiled at me when she noticed I was staring, and I looked away, a bit embarrassed by being caught. After all the greetings were exchanged, everyone moved into the cozy compact duplex. My siblings and cousin settled down in the living room while I followed my parents, my mother's friend, and his daughter to the kitchen. I sat at the edge of the counter, listening in to their conversations as they brought out ingredients and began to cook.
Somewhere along the line, I picked up the fact that my mum's friend's name was Vlad, and that he was a surrealist artist. My mum had told me his daughter's name before, but I only remembered it when she called out to Silvia during their conversation. Silvia, from the way my mother talked about her art, probably leaned more on the pop artist side of things.
"I'm sure you two will get along," my mum said, talking to Silvia who was helping out by dicing vegetables at the kitchen's small center table. Vlad's daughter gave my mum a small smile, but I could tell that she was just as uncomfortable as I was.
"Yes, maybe you two should plan a meetup. It would get you two talking, I know it," her dad said, making my mum's smile widened. Vlad was stirring the soup in the pot in front of him, turning from time to time to chip into my mother's talk about his daughter and I getting to know each other personally. My father was just silent as he worked at the edge of the counter, probably not wanting to say anything.
"You can even head upstairs to our studio after dinner. Silvia has an ongoing painting she could show you—"
"Dad, I'm dating Atty, and you know that. I don't care if you don't like him, but this is a little too much." Silvia's words seemed to act like a bucket of ice water being poured over everyone's heads in the kitchen. The room immediately went silent as everyone's gaze went to her. She looked away from us, focusing on the vegetables that she was chopping instead. "Can you please stop playing matchmaker? I'm uncomfortable, and I'm sure he is too."
I looked over at my parents, biting my bottom lip as I nodded in agreement. "I am," I started, not sure where I was going with my words. "I'm dating Toby," I sort of announced, watching as both my parents' eyes widened in shock.
"Oh, okay," my mother said in a low tone. She seemed a bit flustered at being called out. She then turned away from me, continuing her duty of mashing the potatoes in front of her in a bowl. Everyone else soon looked away to continue with what they'd been doing. The kitchen went painfully silent, and even the sound of all the chopping, stirring, and mashing that was going on seemed dimmed down as well.
Dinner was awkward, to say the least, but somehow my mother was able to start a discussion that diluted the tension in the air. We left my mum's friend's place at about nine in the evening. I'd given Silvia a brief awkward handshake before I headed back to the car with everyone else. I considered it as a sort of inaudible thank you for what she'd done. She was a pretty girl, with a friendly smile and bright eyes, and I was grateful that she was upfront about what had been going on in the kitchen. God knows I wouldn't have been able to speak up myself and would have just let my mother keep talking.
When we got home everyone left the car, but I stayed behind because my mother had asked me to. I sat in the backseat awkwardly, wondering what she wanted to say to me.
"You said you're dating Toby?" she asked after a while of us just sitting in silence. I nodded muttering a small 'yes' when I realized she couldn't see my nodding from her seat upfront.
I heard her sigh, and I could make out her running a hand through her hair. "Why didn't you tell me?" she asked, making me look away from her. I personally wasn't sure why I hadn't told her myself — I could usually talk to my mother about most things, but how I was feeling wasn't one of them. I usually just talked to Ava, and she was all-round just terrible at giving advice, so it never helped.
"I — it didn't come to mind..." I eventually said, watching as my mother turned on the night light in the car before turning to look at me. She had an unreadable look on her face. It was as if she was trying to decide how to react to my answer.
"And there I was trying to play matchmaker thinking my son was too shy to get to know anyone himself..." she chuckled as a small smile took form on her face. "I guess I was wrong."
She turned away before suddenly turning back sharply. "Wait, since when have you been dating Toby?" she asked with a small frown on her face.
"Recently, like this month," I muttered, watching as her frown softened, and a look of relief seemed to wash over her.
"Oh, I got worried that it's been a long-term thing — like, since you were in high school or something. There's nothing worse than someone taking advantage of their position over you," my mum said. Her words confused me a bit, but I kind of understood where she was coming from.
"Apart from the awkwardness, how was your dinner? Vlad makes awesome soup, doesn't he?" And just like that our conversation moved to casual topics. After a while, we left the car together. We both stayed in the living room with the rest of the family, hanging out until everyone left for their rooms one by one.
I went to mine too—thinking about the night with a small smile on my face. My mother was a bit rough around the edges when it came to showing affection and being a parent, but there was one thing she and my father would always be—accepting people.
I had it good, and I was sure not many people in my position could say the same.