H2O | ✔

Chapter Ten : Amazing

Sam

48 weeks before Mesi woke up...

The aroma coming from the kitchen was heavenly. You could practically taste the red pizza sauce on your tongue. There was the faintest tint of parsley accenting the tomato.

For a while, that smell took me away from where I was. Suddenly, instead of walking down the hall, collar ruffled, hand clenching the tie I'd frustratedly given up on tying, I was back to being a little kid when my mom used to make my brothers and me Spaghetti-O's. We used to sit around the table in the kitchen, laughing over milk-mustaches and painting sauce on each others faces. We wailed, cracking up so much we cried and held our cramping stomach muscles.

I smiled at the memory. Being a kid was so nice. Why couldn't I just go back to that?

"Mom, I can't the tie right. Is it all right if I just don't wear it?" I asked, finally stepping foot in the hottest room in the house. Sweat immediately beaded on my brow.

"Sure," she sighed, bending over the pot of sauce. She tended to get a bit distracted and irritated when she was focusing on something. And it took all of her focus to cook. My mom was pretty serious about it when she was younger—even considered culinary school. But then she met my dad, this big-shot lawyer, fell in love, and got pregnant.

I gave her a small hug from behind, to let her know I was there if she needed anything. It was a small gesture, but all I could think to do. Women could be so difficult sometimes!

Someone walked in through the door I'd just used, and I craned my head to see who it was. I blinked when I realized I didn't know the boy--?--man--?--standing in front of me.

"Who're you?" I grunted. A stranger was in my house, I wasn't about to be overly polite.

The guy--?--looked at me awkwardly and rubbed the back of his neck with his hand. "I'm Graham."

Shit. I was such an idiot. "I'm sorry, man. It totally slipped my mind that you might be...you. It's all a little new to me."

At that, Graham chuckled. "I know the feeling. I have a little brother and he was the same way when I came home with my first boyfriend. You'll get used to it."

"Reall—"

"He's fine, Graham! He's completely supportive of Ryan, isn't he?" My mom gave me a glare over her shoulder.

I cleared my throat, once again feeling uncomfortable. "I never said I wasn't. It's just different."

"Of course it is. It's a change for everyone, and that doesn't mean you think it's a bad thing," Graham came to my rescue. I was starting to like this guy. Yup, I decided on guy.

My mom huffed and continued stirring the sauce.

"Why don't we go hang out in the den?" I offered. "Ryan's probably in there playing video games."

Graham followed me into a small room paneled in dark cherry wood with a big sectional and built-in bookshelves filled with movies and video games. It was the room where all of us—Alex, Ryan and I—spent a lot of time when they were still around. There were daily bets on who could beat who in what game. There were also daily fights over who actually won.

"Hey, I see you met Graham," Ryan said, looking up quickly from some war game.

I grinned. "He's a keeper."

Next to me, Graham blushed and rubbed his neck like he had earlier. I guess that's what he did when he was nervous.

I was about to ask if I could join the game when the doorbell rang.