Exchanging Feelings (Phan)

1. I just got here

It was around 10am in London, and for a moment I wished I was back in Brazil. Now I needed to face it.

Mr. Howell said he would pick me up at the airport. I was thankful but I was scared, what if he didn’t show up? It was a silly thought, of course he would, but still. When you’re in a situation like this, every kind of thing goes through your mind.

I waited in line to get my suitcase, it didn’t take long. I looked around, Mr. Howell would be holding a paper with my name on it, or something like that. The place was really crowded, which made me kinda worried. I started wandering and after 5 minutes of pure anxiety, I saw him.

He was nothing like I expected. I thought the father would go pick me up, but when I saw him I understood – they sent their son to go meet me. When I saw him I thought we could be good friends – he was wearing a band t-shirt, black jeans and vans, his haircut was like mine, but shorter. He was holding the paper with my name but he was looking down at his phone, so I awkwardly got closer to him and said

“Hey, excuse me, I’m Felipe Lester” – I wanted to slap myself after my first sentence. I DID NOT NEED TO SAY MY NAME WITH A FREAKING BRAZILIAN ACCENT!

The boy looked up at me and smiled.

“Well Hello… Felipe?” – He tried to pronounce my name like I had done, but he failed and laughed. “Sorry I thought your name was Philip?” He looked at the paper, making sure he got it right.

“Yeah, sorry, Felipe is like Philip but in Portuguese. I’m not used to people calling me ‘Philip’, sorry”

He shook my hand and said.

“Nice to meet you then, Philip. Sorry I can’t pronounce it like you did so you’ll have to get used to it”- he chuckled

“NO! I didn’t mean it, you can call me Philip, no problem!” – I said, worried, I didn’t want to make it looks like I was rude.

“Okay then Philip. My name is Aidan. I’m your host brother. My dad is waiting for us  in the car. Wanna help with your suitcase?”

“No, it’s okay” – I answered. I was used to carry it alone anyway.

“Follow me then”

He started walking away and I did what he said. While he walked, he texted, and he didn't even look to see where he was going. I had no idea where we were going, probably outside since his dad was waiting for us.

When we got to the car, Mr. Howell smiled at me and shook my hand. We quickly introduced ourselves, and they helped me putting my suitcase in the trunk.

It was raining, and cloudy. I was wearing a jumper but I felt cold. I loved it.

In the car, Aidan kept looking at his phone, probably texting.

“You’re nothing like what I was expecting you to be, Philip” – My host dad said.

“Yeah I don’t really look like a Brazilian”- I responded. I wanted to slap myself once again, my accent was shit.

“To be honest I thought you’d be really tanned” – He laughed.

It took 30 minutes to get to their house, because of the traffic. It was Saturday so Mr. Howell wasn’t in a hurry. We had small talks about my flight but nothing elaborated – he was being nice, but wasn’t talking a lot, and I didn’t know what to say.

The neighborhood was just like I expected – the houses looked all the same. It was a different thing for me since in Brazil we don’t have it. It wasn’t fancy like my neighborhood - but it was nice, and to be honest, I always thought that kind of neighborhood was better than where I lived in Brazil.

Aidan got out of the car and went straight to his bedroom without a word. Mr. Howell helped me get my stuff and we got in the house. It was really nice, it really looked like a family house. It wasn’t big, but it wasn’t small. It looked perfect. Mr. Howell showed me downstairs letting me know where the kitchen, the living room and the bathroom were. I already loved the place.

We were finally going upstairs.

“This is my room” – He said, pointing at a door, not actually opening it. “There’s nothing important here, just my wife’s office, our room and Aidan’s room. Your bedroom is on the third floor.”

He kept going and I followed him. When we got to the third floor, I noticed there were three doors.

“That is the bathroom you’ll use. You’ll have to share it but don’t worry, I don’t think it’ll be a problem” He pointed at the door in the end of the hall.

 “ And this is your room” – He said, opening the door next to me. The room was pretty normal, with a bed, an wardrobe and a desk. He smiled as I looked around getting to know the place.

“It’s great!” – I said. “Thank you so much, Mr. Howell, for picking me up in the airport. I don’t know how I would get here by myself”

“It’s okay son, don’t worry about it. My wife and my other son are coming, so in a few minutes you’ll get to know the rest of the family! Make yourself at home, I’ll call you when they arrive so we can all have lunch together!”

Mr. Howell smiled and left me in my new room, closing the door.

I lay in the bed and shut my eyes closed. I was really happy. Mr. Howell seemed nice and everything was fine.

I heard someone knocking at the door and realized I had fallen asleep.

“Philip? Are you there?”

“Yes Mr. Howell, come in” I said, sitting on the bed. “Sorry, I think I fell asleep” I said.

“You must be really tired, I know, but don’t you wanna go downstairs and have lunch?”

“Yes!” I smiled. I followed him to the kitchen.

“You must be Philip! Nice to meet you dear!” – Mrs. Howell said with a smile in her face, and then hugged me.

“Nice to meet you Mrs. Howell” I smiled trying to sound nice.

Mrs. Howell smiled again, she looked VERY nice.

“And this is Dan” she said, looking around to find Dan. He was just next to us but I just now noticed him.

We shook hands.

“Nice to meet you, Phil.” – I loved how he was the first one to call me ‘Phil’ and not ‘Philip’

“It’s nice to meet you too Dan” – I responded.