A Fair Affair

Chapter 9 - Spagetti and Roses.

Chapter 9 - Spagetti and Roses.

I wanted to hide.

I wanted to dig a hole in the wall and bury myself into it.

I could not believe my luck.

"Did you stalk me all the way here? You didn't have to you know, I saved my phone number in your phone already from the first time we met!"

My eyes widened. "When did you put your number in my phone?"

He tsked at me, shaking his head in mock dismay. "You are so unobservant. If you don't already know, I'm a natural at getting people's numbers, with or without their consent."

He ended with a wink.

I could not believe it. No, I did not want to believe it.

"Mom, I'm over here!" he yelled across the lawn.

I whipped my head around and true enough, I saw Aleanor walking to us with a huge smile on her face.

He was her son. Oh my god.

"You... you guys are mother and son?" I spluttered out.

"Well of course, blondie," he proudly smirked.

Do you know how it is when you just met a fantastic old woman and you're like wow her kids must be extremely nice and kind people, who probably worked at animal shelters or did volunteer work on a daily basis? Yeah, that was me. I wasn't expecting such an amazing old lady to be related to the kind of son who would insult you and call you names (e.g. Blondie) like a bully. No, I was expecting a heavenly great person. Was I disappointed? Yes, yes I was a teeny bit disappointed. Apparently, the good genes weren't passed down to the offspring.

"I didn't know you two were friends! Well well, isn't that simply superb? I'll go in and cook a little something for the two of you then. You children can go ahead and chat with one another first." She was heading into the house when she suddenly turned around. "Oh yes son, here's a band-aid, and a tweezer."

He looked at the band-aid and tweezer and stared at it curiously while muttering to himself in confusion. "What are these for?"

"It's for me. I pricked my finger," I said a little embarrassed.

He took the chair opposite mine and dragged it towards me. Plopping down next to me, he took my hand in his own warm ones.

"Wow, your hands are cold," he said. "That's just like your personality."

"Hey!"

I was slightly offended and jerked back a bit. Did I really give off that kind of an aura?

"Hey, I'm kidding. Now let me see..." he said, scrutinizing my hand. "Oh, you pricked yourself with one of the rose thorns."

I kept silent as he gently plucked out the thorn with a pair of tweezers. I jumped a bit at the sudden surge of pain. I wasn't really a pain-tolerant person, I even cried when I had my ears pierced.

"Don't move and keep still. There's another one in there," he said.

He squeezed my skin as blood poured out. I could see the tip of the thorn emerging but it was getting quite painful.

"Can you stop for a while? It kinda hurts."

"I'm getting there! Just a little push!"

The pain jabbed at me as he forced his way through. My face contorted into pain as he continued squeezing. I bit my lower lip to keep it from trembling so much and closed my eyes. I really could not take pain.