After Selene loses the love of her life in an accident, she finally starts moving forward with her life only to be racked with the guilt of falling for one of the last person she should fall for.
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I left Selene's house feeling like someone had literally stepped on my chest. I hated putting her in that spot. All I wanted was to be close to her and instead of that I'm giving her space. It had been a week since I left and it felt like a year. Time seemed to slow down no matter how busy I kept. I had seen her from a distance a couple of times while around town. She looked sadder than she had recently. I knew I was the cause of that and it killed me. After a week and a half, I was working at a job when a couple of my buddies came up to me.
"Dude, stop for a second." Adam told me.
I put down my tools next to me, "Whats up?"
"You've been working like a madman for a while now. Is everything ok?"
"Yea I'm fine." Even I knew I didn't sound believable. "Just wanted to get these jobs done."
"Ok we all know that not completely true, but whether you want to tell us or not, you need to take the rest of the day off."
"You guys know I'm the boss right?" I chuckled
"Yeah yeah, but you've been acting crazy, in the best possible way." He laughed, " So call it a non hostile temporary take over. Go see your parents or Selene, or just go to the beach. Just get out of here. We will handle the rest."
Hearing Selene's name felt like a tiny dagger to my heart. He was right though I was working like a madman and its been too long since I've seen mom and dad.
"Ok ok fine. Temporary take over granted. Just call if you need me."
I cleaned up my area and headed out. I went and took a shower at my place before heading over to my parents. Selene was the only thing on my mind the entire time. How much space would she need. I knew she was still fine and alive because she would answer when I texted to check in on her, but that was the only bit of contact I had and it was awful.
I pulled into my parents driveway and walked into the house calling out for them.
"Mom! Dad! I'm crashing dinner."
"We're in here honey." I heard my mom call out from the living room.
I walked in there to find them playing cards with small glasses of wine.
"Whats for dinner?" I asked
"Chinese takeout? I don't feel like cooking."
"Maria, do you ever feel like cooking?" My dad asked with a smirk
"Well now I definitely know I'm not cooking, smart ass." She laughed and smacked the back of my dad's head.
"Here mom," I handed her my credit card as she went to go order. "I'll take care of dinner tonight."
"Oooo Mr. Big bucks came home." Dad joked, "What do you need?"
"Calm down old man. I don't need anything. I needed a break from overthinking everything for the night."
"Ok ok," he held his hands up in surrender, "I'm surprised you're not with Selene."
He must have noticed my demeanor change at the mention of her name.
"Is there something going on with her?" he asked
"Eh," I rubbed the back of my neck, "I accidentally told her that I loved her the other night."
"Accidentally?" Dad asked
"Yeaaaah," I groaned as I put my head in my hands. "We got into an argument. She had stop responding to my calls and texts and I thought something had happened to her. So she got upset and asked me 'why would I care?' And it just came out in the heat of the argument."
"Well that's dumb," he said deadpan
"No shit, old man." I groaned. "She told me that it was all super confusing and that she needed some space."
"Well that's good news," he was acting like I didn't feel like my life wasn't falling apart.
"How is that good news?" I asked impatiently
'Well she could've immediately told you to fuck off. But she didn't. She clearly wants you in her life one way or another. If you love her like you say, you will take what you can get," he said it like it was the simplest thing in the world. She could've told me to fuck off and I would've understood but she didn't. The old man was right. It was the easiest thing in the world. I just needed her to figure out what she wanted.
"You're right. The whole giving her space and waiting for her to figure out what she wanted is killing me."
"Yea I'm sure. You know you're mom gave me 'I need space' line way back when we were dating."
Yeah?"
He'd piqued my interest.
"Yeah, I had told her that I was going to marry her one day and that scared the fuck out of her. It took a little over a month of us both being miserable before she showed up at my house.
"You didn't go crazy during that month?" I asked
"I fucking went insane. I worked like an animal. It was our most profitable month in the company's history until you took over." He laughed.
"I might have my own record this month." I laughed.
"You definitely are my son." He chuckled and clapped me on the shoulder.
Mom walked back in at that moment, kissing me on my head.
"I'm sorry you're going through this." She said softly.
"Were you eavesdropping on our conversation woman?" Dad asked faking annoyance.
She just smacked him, "You guys didn't seem to need me in that conversation."
"Do you have any words of wisdom?" I asked
"Oh honey, she went through something traumatic. If she does have feelings for you, it's probably harder for her to process than I know you and you need to give her space to get through that if you love her like you say."
Pull my mom into a hug and just leaned on her for a while. "Thanks mom."
Dad just laughed. "Where is my hug?! She was the relief pitcher in this conversation!"
Mom and I just laughed, "Mom is nicer to hug than you are." I shrugged.
"My momma's boy," Mom laughed as squeezed my cheeks
"I'm not sure that's a good thing Maria," Dad laughed
She gave my dad the finger, "Let me have this Luca! He doesn't need me nearly as much anymore." And squeezed me a little harder as I laughed at their antics.
I left my parents feeling a little better about the whole situation with Selene. I was determined to keep giving her as much space as she needed until she figured out how she felt. As long as she didn't tell me to fuck off at the end of the day I would be fine no matter what.
