Vi Presento a Athea (Introducing Athea)

XVI

"Oh, a "he" friend, huh? Is this the same one from the dance?" He leaned on the door frame, crossing his arms. Athea finally let out a sigh, finding her father's attempt at an overprotective-dad behavior amusing.

"Yes, it is, dad. His name is Jason. We're going to pay a visit to his grandfather, at the home downtown." She sat down on her beanbag, her floral dress' skirt covering the most of it.

"Oh." Her dad seemed surprised. "That sounds... nice. He sounds like a good kid." He uncrossed his arms. They were both startled by the message alert coming from the girl's phone. Athea fumbled with her hands as she leaned over to her bedside table, trying to grab her cellphone, accidentally dropping it midway. She hastily unlocked it, eyes slightly widened.

Hey, it's Jason.

Just letting you know I'm planning to stop by at the home at around 5-ish

So I'll pick you up in a little bit, ok?

Oh and feel free to save my number too :)

Athea didn't notice herself smiling at her phone. Patrick smiled too – a bit out of worry and a bit out of relief; she was finally making friends but, as any dad, he felt uneasy with the whole "boy" thing. Especially considering his daughter's delicate and innocent nature.

Ok

I'll be waiting :)

P.S.: I saved your number

The "ding" from his phone made Jason jump in his bed and he nervously tapped around looking for the device he had dropped anxiously after sending his texts. He held the cellphone up above his face as he laid down and felt a heat surging through his body as he read the messages –particularly the last one. He held back a smile so wide his cheeks ended up hurting; so he just let go, even if for just a millisecond, grinning ear to ear with eyes closed shut in excitement. Quickly exhaling, he jumped out of bed and made his way to the showers, to get ready – and also try to cool off.

After throwing on one of his many jean jackets over a simple tee, he made his way downstairs, whistling to the tune of whatever song had been coming out from his sister's bedroom all afternoon – he would never admit it to her, but he found some of the stuff she listened to actually pretty good. As he was pouring some juice and munching on some bread, he heard that the song echoing through the house got louder and suddenly Bianca appeared downstairs as well.

"Straight, bare bread? Classy." She commented as she picked up a cup to pour some juice herself. He just wrinkled his nose at her in response. Noticing his wet hair and clean clothes, she raised an eyebrow. "Going somewhere?" She tried to sound nonchalant as she put the juice back in the fridge and picked up some jam.

"Yep." Jason barely managed to answer with his mouth full, chugging the dry bread down with more orange juice.

"Lovely." Bianca commented, turning her nose in disgust at her brother's delicacy eating. "With "da guyz"?" She made air quotations, mocking Jason's friends, who she did not try to hide her dislike for. He shook his head, gulping down.

"With Athea." He took another sip, partially nervous about her reaction.

"Oh." She raised both eyebrows this time, the emo-rock music still blasting from her room upstairs to fill the silence. She finished putting jam on a slice of bread before answering, still not looking up at him. "Jason. I'm gonna be blunt with you 'cause I'm your sister. And also just because. You gotta drop this whole "let's annoy the foreign girl" thing. It's not okay and actually quite mean. Athea is such a sweet girl, leave her be."

"I know she is sweet. You know, I'm not that much of a jerk as you make me out to be." He finished his juice. "I'm not a saint, sure. But I'm trying. Thing is, at first I just kinda felt bad for what I did and wanted to make it up to her... y'know, with the whole homecoming thing." He said with his back towards her, cleaning his cup in the sink, unable to face his sister as he began opening up the tiniest bit of his heart. "But then I found myself checking up on her and through that I found out that she's actually, like you said, a great girl. I'm just trying my best for her to see me as a friend as much as she sees you guys as friends, now." When he turned to look at Bianca, she had stopped chewing a mouthful of bread and jam midway.

"Gross. You sound so sappy right now." She said with a grimace after quickly gulping down the bread. Jason tried to clap back but she made her way to the fridge to put the jam away before he could say anything to her face. "Good luck." Bianca said in a more serious tone, dare even say encouraging, as she stood next to him to wash her cup. "And if you pull anything funny, I will break your face." She left the mug on the drying rack and punched him on the arm, and soon enough the music became slightly muffled again. Jason rolled his eyes as he let out a shy smile, rushing to the keys and out of the house.