-Merlin-
I sat quietly and listened, the last line about roses made me smile a little, Rin was happy to see that and threw her arms around me for a second.
"That's my boy". She cried.
Rin was influential, I thought she'd make a good politician, almost everyone in Hannival community knew her, her parties were a blast, and sometimes she'd participate at the community church as well. She managed to convince Natasha to join the party, which she labelled a farewell party for me... It was so perceptive of her, since the time I told her I'd stop stalking the black rose last night, this had been in her mind. Now the question was if Natasha would come. More drinks came as the people came, Rin's friends, the community people and my closest neighbours, most of them didn't know me personally but through Rin, God they thought we were dating.
********
"Is that why no guy has ever approached you in the last three years Rin?" I asked, curiously.
"Well, some think I'm gay." She answered, well I would think so too if I didn't know better, she was quite a tom boy.
"Oh are you?" I asked
"Am I?"
"What, I don't think so. Rin giggled and took my hand pulling me to the house corner close to the garage, where two ladies were standing,
"Hey girls, please look after him for me would you? She said running back into my house; well I wondered what she was trying to prove... The ladies seemed delighted to have me around though, I guessed that was just their goodness and humility, there were ladies like these and all I kept thinking about was Natasha."
"Hi I'm Clarissa" said one, she looked quite disciplined and easygoing, they were quite similar in character but Clarissa was taller with dark braided hair, her sereneness matched that of a married woman. "I'm Moana; I'm Rin's cousin, nice to meet you." Said the other, her smile was beautiful and seemed cheery, more active than Clarissa at first glance.
"Likewise, I'm Merlin; sure Rin must've said one or two about me"
Clarissa chuckled, Moana elbowed her to stop.
"Oh don't mind Clarissa, she just... laughs"
"Right, yeah. She was still laughing, well questions were piling up for Rin in my head as Clarissa laughed, so I wondered what she would say about me to Clarissa and Moana.
"Well I guess she has then, how are things?"
I felt so pathetic; I couldn't ignite a good conversation with the ladies. Good thing they were church girls, and too humble to mind my cluelessness. As we were just talking a black and shiny classic hummer stopped by, Rin was just coming back outside with three bottles of beers, she handed one to me and expressed her gratitude to Moana and Clarissa for spending the couple of minutes with me. She took me to where the guys were having a grill, my concentration stayed on the hummer, Natasha slowly stepped out, her eyes fixed only on herself, then it drove off almost immediately.
"Yo drag!" Rin called out
"DaRing, your boy's really flying back to Italy?"
"He is, he doesn't know how much we'll miss him, show him some love." said Rin, as she walked away to Natasha who'd just arrived in style... But was that really necessary, I thought.
"We're putting your whole stay in the United States into one large piece of sausage and a drink bro enjoy the night, it's yours" that was Drag.
"Thanks man", I gave him my hand for a half hug, felt better than last time.
"I see you worked on those muscles boy,"
Well it wasn't easy stuff but it had to be done, I thought maybe the black rose likes muscular men better. We had a couple drinks with the guys, then I went into the house to wash my oily hands. I walked straight to the kitchen. I was startled a little when I got there, Rin was with Natasha, seemed she was setting us up. "Hey Rin, I just uhm..., I just wanna clean my hands." I stuttered, embarrassingly.
"Sure boo, I'll be right back, hey Tasha sweetheart, you wait for me okay."
"Alright." Even her voice had changed.
Rin walked past me in what felt like a slow motion of an action figure ignoring an explosion, hmm, I mumbled, but Rin walked out the kitchen and headed straight outside, I even heard the door slam. I slowly walked towards the sink, carefully raising my feet a little higher so the sound wouldn't be heard, but funny ... We were in the same room. I washed my hands slowly and carefully, the water was making too much noise. I was being too careful trying to see her without actually turning towards her, I was practically in slow motion, I could hear my heartbeat rate rising and falling gradually. I turned back to leave counting my steps, one, two, three... I lost count on three, where was i, I thought... Why was I here?
"You're really not going to talk to me" she asked, I stopped but I couldn't turn to her.
"Merlin Zarilli" she called softly, I turned and found her eyes fixed directly on mine, she flashed a charming smile... It all came back to me. The good things I loved about her, Her sharp gorgeous eyes pierced right into mine, it was like a golden moment, one I'd never have again in my life so I had to utilize this one.
"Uhh hi", I said in panic, She chuckled, and bowed slightly, I looked at her head till her face went up to me again, She was beautiful and majestic, her skin looked extraordinarily smooth. I was seeing this again after so many years, well I guessed she'd left the outcast squad now because her looks weren't outcast looks, she was now in the big league.
"it's your house right, why don't you take a sit", she asked
I took one of the long chairs and sat about 3 meters away from her. She chuckled a little.
"So you think I bite now!"
I felt a little embarrassed and went on to sit closer to her, beside her to be precise, where I could feel her perfume, her presence pretty much overwhelmed me, I turned my head to her.
"Hello Natasha, I could never forget you, I mean if you think I forgot"
"I know you never forgot me, otherwise you wouldn't be in Hannival Merlin"
"haha, got that right"
"really?"
"Yeah, I had no other reason to be in the US, I just wanted to be closer to you but... I thought—I thought you'd moved on with your life and left everything behind, your friends and everything".
"I'm not surprised, that's why you were always so pathetic." She pointed out, rather rudely.
"Excuse me!"
She chuckled and looked me in the eyes, then looked down seriously, she looked back at me more seriously. "You never came to say hi, there was a time I was waiting for you to do so actually, but then, you seemed to be having better things to do."
"You know how much I loved you Natasha, remember the day you left Italy, I begged you to stay with me"