02

As soon as I walked back inside the house, the delicious smell of Italian food entered my nose. Only now I realized how hungry I actually was. The only thing I have eaten today was a banana for breakfast.

Brandon and I entered the big kitchen and his parents were already seated around the table, patiently waiting for us to join them.

Within a second my eyes fell on the man who was sitting next to Jocelyn. His deep brown eyes met mine and before I could do anything, he stood up and walked over to me. My eyes thoroughly followed his body and once he was standing in front of me, I quickly held out my hand.

His warm and large hand met mine and he gave me a strong hand shake.

« It’s nice to finally meet you, Mr. Adams, » I said as I finally seemed to have found my voice. He let go of my hand and I quickly wiped off my sweaty hands on my black jeans.

« Like wise, » he nodded formally.

As we sat down around the large dinner table, Jocelyn grabbed a big spoon and divided the lasagne she just prepared on our plates. I waited for everyone else to start eating and once they did, I took a big bite myself.

As soon as the food entered my mouth, I immediately came to the conclusion that Jocelyn was an amazing cook. I can’t remember the last time I’ve eaten something this nice.

Once the food melted on my tongue, I had to hold in a moan from how good it was. I don’t think I’ve ever eaten something so nice.

« So Valeria, do you have any idea what you want to do after high school ? » Jocelyn asked, trying to make conversation.

I still had some food in my mouth so I tried to swallow it quickly, but since it was still really hot, I struggled a little bit. And with a little bit I meant a lot.

I think Mr. Adams seemed to notice it, since he grabbed the jug with water from the table and filled my glass. I looked at him in an appreciative way and took a large sip.

« I’m thinking about studying med at NYU. I actually applied last week, » I proudly told her. I’ve always wanted to do something that revolves around helping people. When my granddad was sick, I had so much fascination for the doctors that helped him. I wanted to be part of that ever since.

« That’s very impressive. I’m sure Brandon is going to miss you very much, » Jocelyn winked and all I did was nod sheepishly. I didn’t like thinking about the fact that I might have to move to the other side of the country and leave my boyfriend behind. Fortunately we still had a few months.

As Brandon and his parents continued talking about college, my eyes slowly wandered to Mr. Adams.

You could say Brandon had his looks from his father. They didn’t have the same color of hair and eyes though. Brandon’s eyes were blue while his father’s were brown. Also their hair was different. Brandon’s blonde hair was neck length and Mr. Adams’ hair was brown and neatly combed back. They did have the same features though.

I wondered how old he was. Brandon did tell me once that his parents had him at a very young age. I guess he was around his late thirties the least.

Suddenly Mr. Adams looked at me and I felt my face turn bright red. I hope he didn’t think I was checking him out, because that would be so embarrassing.

« Val is actually half Mexican, » Brandon suddenly said and I frowned at him. Why would he bring this up ? Was I zoned out for that long ?

« Really ? Can you let me hear some Spanish ? » Mr. Adams asked. It almost seemed as if he was daring me by the way he was looking at me and I was all in for taking his dare.

« Sí señor. Mi madre nació en México. También tengo un hermano gemelo, su nombre es Rafael. »

He was impressed, I could tell by the way he nodded as he tried to suppress his smile. I looked down at my food as I realized I couldn’t stop grinning myself either. It was like I was being dragged back to reality when Brandon put his hand on my thigh.

He actually caught me off guard so much, I slammed my elbow against my plate full of lasagne, causing it to fall on my lap just like that.

« Fuck, » I hissed and I tried to remove the food off of my lap, making it even worse by smearing it all out.

Before I knew it, Jocelyn was standing next to me and and helped me get everything off my lap. I carefully looked up at her through my lashes , feeling so embarrassed. To my relief she didn’t look mad though. In this moment I decided that I really liked her.

« I’m so sorry, I can’t believe how clumsy I am, » I apologized.

« It’s okay dear, really. Brandon, get Valeria upstairs and give her a pair of your sweatpants, would you ? » Jocelyn ordered.

I quickly followed Brandon upstairs, still feeling so embarrassed. As we entered his bedroom, I removed my dirty jeans and threw them on the floor. In the meantime, Brandon got a pair of fresh sweatpants from his closet and threw it my way.

« God, I’m such an idiot, » I whined as I caught the pair of sweatpants. All Brandon could seem to do was laugh hysterically and hold his stomach while doing so. I rolled my eyes at him.

« This isn’t funny Brandon, I mean it ! I’m sure your parents hate me now.. »

I sat down on Brandon’s bed and he kneeled down in front of me, and his laughter had finally died down. He grabbed both of my hands with his and spoke up as he looked into my eyes.

« No one could ever hate you, Val. Just relax, get changed and I’ll be right back. This one girl I know dropped lasagne all over her lap and now I have to throw her jeans in the washing machine, » Brandon winked, the grin from before back on his face.

I stuck my tongue out at him and as soon as he left the room, I walked over to the big mirror on his wall and looked at my legs. I sighed as I noticed how red they were ; I probably burned them a little bit.

I made my way to the bathroom that was attached to Brandon’s bedroom and grabbed a towel. I turned on the shower and let the towel get wet underneath it. After a moment I turned it off again and gently pressed the wet towel against my burned legs, hoping it would diminish the pain a little.

After doing that for a minute or two, I heard Brandon coming back into his room so I threw the towel in the corner with the rest of his dirty laundry and made my way back into the bedroom.

« I think I burned my-« 

Words seemed to have failed me the moment I locked eyes with Mr. Adams. I stared at him with widen eyes and it took me a second to realize I didn’t have any pants on.

Before I could say anything, Mr. Adams threw the pair of sweatpants that were still laying on Brandon’s bed to me and I flexibly caught it.

I was still staring at Mr. Adams, not exactly sure why he even came in here. I mean, he must have known I was in here changing, right ?

You could definitely say I was confused and slightly embarrassed, but I didn’t have any time to make up theories on why he would come into Brandon’s bedroom because Mr. Adams spoke up, his deep voice filling up the room, leaving chills on my entire body.

« Put on those pants and come downstairs, we have dessert. » He was ready to leave the room but before he left to go downstairs, he turned around to face me, his dark eyes meeting mine.

« And if you ever swear in my house again, your thighs won’t be the only thing that will be red. »