ILY

ILY and Tonight

"So which one do you like?" Jethro said out loud in the kitchen area.

"Huh?" Topaz looked confused.

“For your coffee.” Jethro smiled at her.

“Oh, just black.” She said.

“So how are you?” Jethro wanted to start light with Topaz. He did not want to push her too much. He had just broken a wall between them. He wanted to keep it that way.

“Just the same,” Topaz said simply. “You, how about you? You seemed to have found new friends.” Of course she was referring to Jessica.

“Jessica? Yeah, she just transferred and I was tasked to tour her around the school. She is nice.” Jethro said, giving her the cup of coffee that he made. Topaz placed it on top of the table.

“She likes you, you know that, right?” She said.

“You think so?” He tried to add a surprise to his voice. Jethro was well aware that, somehow, Jessica liked her more than a friend should. “I do not see her like that.

“But does she know that you do not see her as such?” Topaz sounded jealous.

“I guess I did not feel the need to tell her that yet” Jethro did not want to know how the conversation was going. “Enough of me, how about you? You were gone for a long time. I missed you.” It took all his courage to say the last sentence.

“I just felt the need to know more about myself. Now that I am stuck here,” She pointed at the wheelchair. I had to discover things on my own. I needed that time to be alone.” Topaz said, not giving too much about what happened those past weeks. “Sorry If I have ghosted you like that. It was not my intention.”

Jethro smiled at her. “At least we can start moving on from that.”

“Sorry,” Topaz said.

“I am sorry. I shouldn’t have just let you go like that. I should have visited you here, insisted that we talk. But instead, I chose to accept your silence. I could have done better,” Jethro said. It was true. If he had been more persistent, it wouldn't have taken him weeks to realize that he could have done something. But instead, he just embraced Topaz’s silence. He allowed her to walk away without saying anything.

They stayed quiet for a few minutes.

“So, Michael is your cousin?” Jethro asked to be able to start a new conversation after a few minutes of not talking. Their voices were drowned by the sound of the coffee passing through their throats. They could barely hear Clyde and Mrs. Layton from the dining area.

“Yeah, from my Mom’s side.” Topaz was a bit surprised that he already knew that information but was thankful at the same time.

“I really thought he was someone special. Well, beyond the blood relation and all that.” The statement was enough to make Topaz blush.

“Clyde seems really cool. It’s nice to have someone like him in your life.” She obviously wanted to change the conversation to something less serious.

“Yeah. He may not seem to be the adult that most kids need nowadays, but he is definitely the perfect guardian for me. Somehow, he makes life easier even without my parents around.” He shared, smiling.

“Don’t you miss them? I mean, do you ever attempt to tell them that you prefer having them around?” She inquired.

“Most of the time I do, but it's part of the job. On top of wanting to give me the best life possible, the best future they can afford, they have to do it for their employees. They are doing this so that the company would last, so their people would have a stable source of income.” He sighed. “I admit I have issues with them not being around when I was younger, but they try hard to explain things to me. And they try hard to catch up. So I guess it became easier for me to accept that they are not always around.”

He slightly giggled.

“Why?” It definitely made Topaz curious.

“Would you believe that I would end up sleeping in their bedroom every time they are home? That’s one of the things that we do to catch up. They would listen to me tell stories that happened when they were not around. One time, it was up until Clyde knocked to remind us of breakfast when we realized that we had not ended up sleeping.”

“That sounds nice,” Topaz said. One could notice a bit of envy in his voice.

“I want to do that with my future kids too. Listen to them, have a strong bond despite the generation gap.” Jethro looked at Topaz. How he wished she would look back at him too.

Jethro was about to say something to Topaz when Clyde and Mrs. Layton came to the kitchen doorway.

“We could use some of that coffee too,” Clyde said. He was looking at Topaz, smiling. Topaz smiled back.

“Of course, let me get you one.” Mrs.Layton offered.

The two continued to discuss the video that Clyde promised for Aroma Mocha. Jethro and Topaz listened at first but then began sharing ideas about how the video would go.

It was Clyde who noticed the time. “Woah, it is half an hour till midnight. We took so much of your time. I think we need to get home so both of you can rest.” He said while pacing the coffee mug on the table.

“Dinner was so great but we need to head out, right Jethro?” Clyde looked at him. He did not have to say anything, but Jethro was certain that he was asking if it was OK for them to leave now.

“Yeah, Clyde still has work to do and, of course, I know weekends are quite busy in your shop. We’ll head out now so you can rest.” Jethro said.

In a few minutes, they were already standing at the door with a paper bag in tow. Mrs. Layton prepared another set of treats for both of them.

They were already walking towards the car when Jethro decided to turn around to see Topaz one more time.

“Your phone number, it’s still the same right?” He was intently looking at her.

“Yeah, Text me when you get home,” Topaz answered, smiling.

Jethro’s spirits lifted up. He was going to text her again. “Good night.” he said, waving at Topaz and her Mom.

Clyde was standing by the car, waving at the Laytons.

When they got in, Clyde was quick to ask Jethro.

“So how was it?” He asked Jethro.

“It went well, but there is something different about Topaz.” Jethro could not help but share.

“Well, this time, you managed to be in her life again. You can decide to do something about it.” Clyde said as they drove away from the driveway.