Water and Fire

Chapter 13

Lena was nervous, more nervous than she had thought she would be. She knew that Brian wouldn't risk getting caught.

He would probably stay in his room the entire afternoon, just like he had done the last couple of days. He had not showed up for classes. He had not showed up for dinner, breakfast or lunch. He had only left his room to walk to the shower and back.

More than once Lena had debated whether or not to knock on his door. But every time she had turned around again, because she had absolutely no idea what she would tell him.

A part of her wished that he was right, that everything she had learned about true love was wrong. Another part of her wished he was wrong, that everything she had been promised would come true.

But today she had no time to think about it.

In a few minutes her parents would knock on the door. They would expect to get to know Maria and they would expect to hear from Lena that she was close with the girl.

Lena wouldn't even be lying if she would tell she was. Since Brian had not shown his face, she had spent as many time as she could with Maria. Not that it had helped her to take her mind off the boy.

Maria had not stopped talking about Brian and she had not stopped asking questions.

Eventually Lena had told her somehow what had happened. Lena had told her that they had been fighting over true love. She had admitted that Brian had told her that he liked her and she had also admitted that she wasn't sure about whether or not she liked him too.

Maria had raised her eyebrows and had shaken her head. It was clear that she believed that Lena was lying to herself and to Brian, but she had not said so out loud. She had just told Lena that she hoped that Lena would figure out what she wanted before things would get really awkward.

To Lena things already were awkward. She had not realized that she had gotten used to Brian, to having him around her. But now they weren't talking anymore she missed him.

She looked up when she heard a firm knock on the door. As slowly as she dared she stood up and she tried to put a smile on her face. "Mom! Dad!" She opened the door and before she could say anything else she felt two pairs of arms around her shoulders.

"Sweetheart! How are you doing?" Her mother pulled out, staring at her daughter as if she had not seen her in months.

"I'm doing great, mom." Lena was surprised how easy it was to lie. She was not doing great. She was doing far from great.

"I can see that! You have wonderful red cheeks." Her father pinched one of them as if he wanted to prove his point. "I'm glad that this turned out to be the right spot for you." He smiled brightly and then walked into the kitchen.

Lena had spent hours making sure the kitchen and her room would live up to her parents' standard and she smiled when she saw them nodding proudly.

"What a wonderful place you have here!" She looked around and walked straight through the open door into Lena's room.

Lena had made sure that all her clothes were in Maria's room.

Maria had not even been surprised that her parents wouldn't approve of her new garderobe. She had smiled and had promised to make sure that her parents wouldn't get to see them. "Don't worry. They won't come into my room."

"How is the mission going?" Her father spoke softly after he had closed the door of her room behind him.

"It's going great. Maria and I have become good friends and she's joining me for classes every day." Lena felt how her voice was trembling a little bit. Although she wasn't lying, she wasn't telling the complete truth either. She was not telling her parents that they had skipped classes to go shopping.