About That Night

LI. to go home

Olivia

"Do you always look at your boyfriend like that?"

It was finally out. I had been hesitating to ask Mara that since we sat down on the bleachers to watch the boys' practice. My butt was hurting already from sitting down for hours. They had been running around the field, kicking the soccer ball for more than two hours already. It was already dark, of course. The lights around the field were all lit and the wind was a little bit chilly. I was wearing a sweater though.

Mara and I would have random talks but she had dreamy eyes while she was watching her boyfriend play. She was so in love. Theo was tall, dark, and handsome, literally. But I was sure there was more than that. It was in the personality, of course. I envied them. They might be young but they were a mature couple. They knew how to set their priorities straight. They were both independent and knew how to suffice themselves by working part-time. With that, I suddenly thought of looking for a part-time job and wanting to get hired.

"I don't know. My heart is just so happy whenever I lay eyes on him." She finally answered but without taking her eyes off Theo from afar. Yup, she was absolutely in love.

That was so cheesy but love could change anything. It could do anything. It could make you feel clingy, childish, and immature sometimes but that was just love. It could happily change people. But sometimes, it could make people blind too. Not literally but it could also ruin things if it became an obsession.

Sometimes, too much is too bad.

"I envy you." I smiled.

Mara chuckled. "I'm gonna ask you something and you have to answer me honestly." A mischief teasing tone laced her voice and it made me frown at her in curiosity.

"Okay," I answered confidently, though I was nervous inside. What was she going to ask me? Would it be a burning question that would make me sweat? I swallowed nervously.

"Good." She cleared her throat. "Were you jealous of me with Storm?"

Yup, I wasn't wrong. It was indeed a burning question. I started to sweat. It was hot all of a sudden. s**t. I didn't expect that. But the question was in the past tense. Why would I be tensed?

"Uh..." I trailed off. Why was so I worked up when I could just be honest? Besides, it was Mara. She was a very good person, really kind-hearted.

Who are you arguing with?

"I guess so," I mumbled but she heard it anyway. I could have just said yes, I was jealous. That was a very honest answer. I could have just said that.

"You guess so." She paused while nodding her head. "So, you're not sure?"

"Fine." I sighed. "Yeah, I'm jealous. It started when I saw you both in the library. It was the first time I saw Storm with a girl. It just felt new to me. I didn't want to talk to him because of that. I thought you were his girlfriend. It was just all clear to me last Friday night when I saw you with Theo. I shouldn't have felt that way, right? I'm sorry."

Mara chuckled, shaking her head."Don't be sorry. Being jealous is normal. It seems like an involuntary feeling to be jealous of someone and feel envious of something. Sometimes, we cannot control it. So, don't be sorry. It's pretty normal to feel jealous." She nudged her shoulder with mine.

"You know..." She trailed off, looking ahead to watch the boys. "I see Storm like a younger brother. He's a sweet boy. Theo and I are a year older than him. We treat him as our younger brother. He might be titled as the ultimate bad boy in our school but he is the kindest and the sweetest. He wouldn't hesitate to help, really thoughtful. He doesn't have second thoughts when it comes to us. He's always right there when either one of us needs him."

I felt a pang in my chest as she talked. Maybe, because I felt proud of him. Maybe, because I was falling even harder after hearing Mara. Well, she was not yet done.

"In fact, we should be the one who'd feel jealous over you. Storm focuses on you now. You have his attention and I see he cares a lot about you." She chuckled again. "But we shouldn't feel that way too. You're the girl he always talked about. I had always been so curious about who that girl was. And now that I know, I've never been happier for Storm because he is the happiest now." She paused to take a deep breath.

At each word that left Mara's mouth, my chest tightened. I had this urge to jump over the fence and run across the field to hug my best friend. But I held myself back and I was sure Mara had more to say about him.

"We rarely see him smile before. He was most of the time, distant. He spaced out often like he was thinking deeply over something or someone. He rarely opened his mouth to join us in a conversation but he was always the first one to invite us over to somewhere and hang out and to have a few drinks over." She smiled sadly."He was a mess until you came." She looked at me and gave me a genuine smile. "He was waiting for you to come back."

I didn't know why but a tear just suddenly rolled down my cheek. I felt annoyed about myself for being so emotional but I couldn't help it. I badly wanted to hug Storm at the moment. Sniffling, I swiped the back of my hand across my cheeks dry them, and continued listening to Mara.

"We see how special you are to him. Very special. He might have acted cold when you came back home but he loves you. Maybe, it just shocked him when he saw you again after how many years that he forced himself to be cold towards you."

Another tear silently rolled down. I looked away and tried to stop the fresh ones from rolling down but they still did anyway. I groaned, wiping them away again.

"Ugh..." I sniffed and laughed when I realized how stupid I must have looked right now. "Sorry."

"Come on. Why are you crying?" She shook her head and ruffled my hair. "You're so cute."

I playfully glared at her. "You made me cry."

She laughed. "Stop it. You're just making yourself look even cuter."

"I'm not cute," I argued and sit up straight to fix my hair, tying it in a bun.

"Yes, you are." Mara chuckled. "Oh, they're done." She suddenly stood up from the bench, making me stand up too. "Come on. Let's wait for them near the parking lot.

"Alright."

We walked side by side across the field and patiently waited for them in the parking lot. I opened Storm's car since he left his car keys with me and got a tumbler of cold water from his car refrigerator. I also got a towel from his duffel bag and just when I closed the trunk, I jumped to see Storm leaning against the backseat door with an arm leaning on the roof as he watched me.

"Jeez. You scared me." I sighed, throwing the towel at him.

He chuckled and wiped his face and neck. I gave him the water. He thanked me and gulped it. He seemed very thirsty.

"Ahh... That felt so good." He sighed in relief, closing the now empty tumbler. "Thank you." He smiled.

"You must be tired." I randomly said as I opened the trunk again and put the tumbler back in.

"Yeah. I just want to go home now and hit the bed."

"Okay. Let's go." I breathed out as the trunk door closed.

I walked around the car, opened the passenger seat door, and got inside. Storm hopped in sooner. As he started the car, he turned to me and said, "I think we might have dinner with them. We're going at Elle's."

My face lit up at the mention of the diner. It was a restaurant named after Storm's great grandmother, a very nice place to eat. The food had always been great. We usually have dinner there every time Storm's dad comes home after a race overseas. We celebrated the loses and wins. It was all about Uncle Sky's safety after a challenging F1r race.

"I'm so excited." I voiced out, smiling widely at him. I felt like screaming. It had been so long since I had my last dinner there.

"I can tell." Storm chuckled and maneuvered out of the parking lot.

We drove after Theo's car and Ryan's. Sadly, Eli wasn't around. Dylan and Andi probably had gone home now. Andi texted me she had to look after his grandfather at the hospital. He had been sick lately. That was what she said. I hoped he'd be fine soon.

"Were you tired of waiting for me there?"

"Nah. It's always fun watching you play soccer. You're so good at it." I praised. It true. He was really a pro at soccer. He started to love sports when he was three. Whenever our mothers bring us to the park before, he wouldn't forget his soccer ball and we would at with it together, running and kicking.

"That's a relief." We made a turn to the right. "Do you have plans this weekend?" He asked.

I thought about it.

Do I have plans?

"I don't know yet." I shrugged. "Why?"

"The boys and I thought about camping." He told me straightforwardly.

"Oh? That sounds... exciting." I nodded and for some reason, I didn't know why it felt so tempting. I had never been camping. I couldn't be wrong. It was on my bucket list. If I wasn't wrong, it was "camping with friends". But I was just six at that time and I had no friends other than Storm. Right after I finished making that list, we flew back to Sydney. None in the list came true yet.

"I don't want to go without you." He said and I didn't realize we had already parked in the car park outside the restaurant.

"I'll see if I can go. I'll tell you when I get clear with my schedule this week."

"Alright." He smiled and hopped out of the car. He wanted to open the car door for me but I had beat him to it. As a result, he glared at me playfully but slung his arm on my shoulder anyway and walked us inside the diner after Theo, Mara, and Ryan. I really wished Dylan and Andi were with us. It would be more fun.

"I miss this place."

It just came out of me the moment we entered the diner. The familiar smell of home engulfed my senses and I couldn't help but close my eyes and feel the homey ambiance.

"I miss this with you." Storm whispered.

We looked at each other and smiled. We got the same vibes.

A kind waitress led us to a table and patiently waited for us as we choose from the menu. Their hot steak had always been my favorite and I liked it medium. I also liked to have some salad with mustard dressing alongside it and a cold pineapple juice for drinks. Thus, I didn't spend quite a long time selecting a meal from the menu. Storm wanted to have some steak too, but he liked it medium-well. It turned out the others wanted steak too but they all wanted it medium-rare.

While waiting for our dinner to be served, we just had random conversations about random things until someone suddenly walked in and asked in a very audible voice,

"Storm? Is that you?"

My body froze at the voice. It was a voice of a woman. Their heads, including Storm's, turned to look at the person.

"Emily?!"

I wished I didn't turn my head when Storm stood up. He hugged her tightly and it lasted long. My chest tightened and I couldn't bear watching it. Without saying a word, I stood up and headed to the restroom.

He didn't even notice me gone there.

I don't know who she was but I can't wait to get out of here.

To go home.