Haile Storm

"What did you say your name was?"

My mother studied Craige from head to toe with a satisfied smile on her lips.

"Craige Clinton, Ma'am." He calmly answered but his fingers were turning white from gripping the teacup. And I could not help but smile.

'He's cute.'

"Don't call me Ma'am please, just Auntie. Otherwise, you will make me feel uncomfortable with you." Mom gave him a warm smile. "Craige Clinton, is it?"

"Yes, ma--Auntie." He corrected himself quickly.

I really wanted to pat him in the back to make him relax. But instead, laughter started bubbling up in my chest and was threatening to get out. So I quickly sucked in a breath and did my best to hold it in.

'What's wrong with me? Why do I find this situation so funny?'

I peeked at Craige and just as quickly looked away because I really was on the verge of laughing. And me laughing in this situation would only make him feel worse. So I thought to myself that I had to get out of there. ASAP.

"Mom?" I raised my hand and slowly got up from my seat while giving my mother a forced yet awkward smile. "I'd like to go to the bathroom for a minute."

She raised an eyebrow at me. "You want to leave him here with me? Alone?"

And like a magnet on the fridge, my butt swiftly landed back on the sofa, suddenly feeling very heavy. 'Curse you conscience!'

"Good girl." She nodded with satisfaction.

Craige on the other hand breathed out in relief. He turned to me and gave me that look, as if he was silently thanking me for deciding to stay.

I let out a sigh. "Mom, please cut him some slack."

She giggled, not even trying to hide that she was enjoying this. "Being protective aren't we?"

My brows furrowed. "It's not that. We all barely had any sleep last night so Craige's already tired as it is."

"Do I make you that uncomfortable?" She asked him even though we all know the answer to that question already.

'Of course, you do! Who wouldn't be uneasy in this situation?'

But Craige shook his head and answered calmly. "No, Ma--Auntie."

"You're a good boy, Craige." She tapped her chin as her eyes narrowed to a slit while studying him. "I feel like I've heard that name before. I just can't remember where."

I massaged the back of my neck that was suddenly feeling stiff. "I've told you about him before. He's Teacher Kimmy's nephew."

"Oh really?!" My mom clapped her hands with delight as she looked at Craige again with a different glimmer in her eyes. "Zeanne has been talking about you a lot! Also I really owe Kimmy for helping Zee recover this much in such a short amount of time. We should go have dinner some time."

Craige briefly glanced at me then his eyes darted back to my mom, looking really pleased. "That would be great. I'm sure Aunt Kimmy would also love that."

'I can't believe that she just outed me. How can she tell it to his face that I've been talking about him?'

"Do send my regards to her." She flashed him the perfect white smile that used to be all over the billboards of Cape Hallows.

Craige must have finally recognized her because his mouth gaped open as he nodded.

Nathalie Haile, used to be known as Thalia, was a former Top Star Actress, a part-time supermodel and now a full-time housewife. During the peak of her career, she managed to snatch the Best Actress trophies from three different broadcasting stations for three consecutive years. And that streak was only broken when she got involved in a dating scandal with my father and became pregnant with me in the same year.

Although she said that the reason why she quit being a celebrity was because she wanted to be the best mother that she could be, I still felt guilty for painting her world black just when she was at her brightest.

"So, my boy, can you tell me what you came here for?"

I was pulled back to reality by her question which reminded me where I was and what we were doing.

With the way that she's talking, anybody would think that she's a 50-year old housewife when she's not even in her forties.

"Uhmm…" He gave me a side-glance again which made me flinch. "I wanted to get your permission to let me go out with Zeanne."

There was a long suffocating silence before my mom spoke again.

"Got out? Where do you want to go with my daughter? Didn't you guys just come back from your class trip?"

"Uh… that is…"

Just then, Arthur with his impeccable timing came back with the warm water that Mom requested ages ago. "Mom, I think he's not talking about literally going out of the house."

Not able to hold myself back, my eyebrow rose in disbelief. "Did you climb a mountain and cross the seas just to get that glass of water?"

"Missed me?" Arthur winked at me then sat beside my mom.

I made a face at him and stuck out my tongue. "As if."

"Ts." Mom clicked her tongue and frowned at us. "Behave you two. Not in front of our guest."

Then I was surprised when I heard someone chuckle beside me. When I turned my head to look at Craige, he had a perfectly straight face on that if it weren't for the dimple on his cheek that peeked out as he tried holding his laughter in, I would have thought that I was just hearing things.

That made me smile as I slapped his arm. "If you want to laugh, then just laugh, silly. Stop being so tense."

"I'm not tense." He licked his bottom lip and chewed on it which brought about an encore performance from his dimple.

'Damn it! I want to put my finger in it.'

But before I could say or do anything stupid, Arthur shook his head and refilled Craige's empty teacup. "Try convincing the dogs, bro. Your lips are as dry as the Sahara desert."

Craige unconsciously touched his lips and felt the chapped skin that he was thoughtlessly chewing on since earlier.

Mother smiled with amusement as she took a sip from her warm glass of water that also probably came from an oasis in Sahara. "So, dear Craige, you're saying that you want to ask for permission to date my daughter?"

His head snapped back up and he placed the teacup back on the saucer on the table. "Yes, Auntie."

I really didn't know what my mom was thinking but she kept on smiling the entire time.

She tilted her head and hooked her arm with Arthur's. "Aren't you guys too young for that? Are you ready for a relationship?"

Arthur peeked at Mom with a frown on his face. "Mom, didn't you say that you started dating Uncle Hyunwoo when you guys were in middle school?"

His comment earned a very satisfying sound of a knuckle hitting a forehead. "Stop interrupting unless you want to get in line and ask permission to court my daughter too."

All our eyes darted to her with utter surprise.

"Mom!" I shivered at the horrendous thought.

Then Arthur grinned at my reaction before turning back to my mom. "Can I do that?"

"Ya!" I screamed at him. "You-- Are you out of your mind?!"

Mom just raised her eyebrow at Arthur with a challenging smile. "Do you really want to?"

They exchanged gazes for almost a full minute before Arthur huffed out a breath and shook his head. "Just kidding. It won't be worth the beating anyway."

That made my mom really laugh out loud. "Wise choice, young man."

'Aish. This idiot and his crazy jokes. One of these days, I'll make sure to let him have a taste of his own medicine.'

I heard Craige sigh quietly beside me which made me turn to him with curiosity. "What's wrong?"

He smiled and shook his head. "Nothing."

Mom finally turned her attention back to him and patted his knee. "I'm really sorry about that, my dear. We just wanted to loosen up the atmosphere."

"It's okay." He nodded then he turned to me with a smile. "And about your question… I like Zeanne a lot. I don't want to get ahead of myself and say that I'm really ready for a relationship. But I can promise that I will do my best to be good to her and that I'm serious about making it work. All I want is to be there for her when she needs me."

My mother was thoughtful for a moment. "Do you really have to be in that kind of relationship to support each other? Can't you be there for each other as friends?"

Arthur's jaw dropped at my mother's suggestion and Craige literally froze.

I had thrown him the same idea in more ways than one.

But hearing those words come from my mother's lips made my chest feel tight with protest.

'I DON'T WANT TO BE JUST FRIENDS!'

And that one sentence, which resonated in my head, made my eyes grow big with surprise.

Borrowing Craige's words, I thought to myself, 'I don't know if I'm really prepared to be in a relationship. But by hook or by crook, I will make this work. No matter what.'

And as if he just read my mind, the corner of his lips lifted while looking at me then he turned back to my mom with a determined look on his face.

"I don't want to be just friends with Zeanne."