More Than This

Crazy Beautiful Mistake

All the drama that was playing in my mind, disappears, as soon as I see Mom and Dad. I ran to them like a 5 year old who just got out of school, so excited to see them again. I hugged them both tightly and once that familiar scent of Mom hits me, tears started flowing. Laughing and crying at the same is weird, but cathartic.

The day went like a breeze, with endless stories of my parents' adventures. I love how their eyes twinkle with every shared smile and laughter, they reflect the joy of living the best days of their lives right now. I wonder to this day how they could keep the love alive in their 50s, despite the age and my mom's medical condition. They must really love each other, and I, I can only pray that I will find the same.

Harry pops in my mind. That's random, I tell myself. My chest feels a thud thud thud. Stop my foolish heart. I mentally slap myself.

After dinner, Josh took a red eye flight back to NY. My parents wanted him to stay but he had to beg off because he had plans with his family.

Our exchange of stories seem to be endless, so Allen and I chose to stay in my parents bedroom for the rest of the night. My jetlagged parents seem to be on unlimited energy supply and we all ended up talking till almost dawn.

-----

I feel a tug on my leg. Sleep, my brain says. A slap. Sleep. A tug, slap, "Lexie!"

I hesitantly open one eye and I see Nana. "What time is it?" I yawned and stretched my arms as I sat on the bed. I'm sandwiched between Mom and Dad and Allen is by our feet.

"It's almost noon," Nana smiles. "Your phone has been ringing. You left it on your bed," she hands me it. Yes, left it there. Deliberately.

I walked to my own room and literally dove on my bed. Sleep beckons me. I shut my eyes again clutching my phone in my hand.

Ping. Ignore.

Ping. Ignore.

Ping. Who the hell is messaging me.

I pull up my phone to my face, notifications - 10 messages, 5 missed calls. Someone must be dying, I roll over and let out a groan.

Josh - 3 messages. "Got here safe". "I miss you! (with heart emojis)". More emojis.

Harry - 5 messages. All nonsense. Drunk, I can only surmise.

I smirk at the drunk texts of Harry. Sober thoughts over drunk messages. He must have missed me. Or hated me!

Unknown number - 2 messages. "Hi, I'm Harry's friend. He asked me to call you several times. Sorry to have bothered you. He was drunk, I just had to". "This is Niall, by the way."

Wait. What? Niall just messaged me? Ha! The Fangirl in me shrieks and kicks both my feet in the air. I feel warmness in my cheeks and excitement crawling in my veins. It took me a great restraint not to reply with emojis and unintelligible words. He might think I'm some freak.

The missed calls I got were from Josh, Harry, and Niall's number. Harry was the one calling when Nana woke me up. I stare at my screen and thought long and hard what to do next. Overthinking, again.

Tap. Tap. Ringing.

"Hi," the familiar gruff voice says. "Thanks for returning my call."

"I saw your texts." I snicker. "Brilliant with words."

He laughs. "I'm sorry about that." Long pause. "Sorry about Niall bothering you. And uhm, sorry for what has happened..." He sounded unsure.

"It was a mistake." I curtly reply. "Everything was." Bitter me. "But nonetheless a beautiful mistake. A crazy beautiful mistake." I sigh. Truth be told, I tell myself.

He laughs. "How am I suppose to respond to that?"

"You don't have to," I pause, quick Alexandra, say something more. "I, ah, have to go, my mom's calling me." Lie.

"Wait, uhm, can we still talk, after this." Really? I was not expecting that.

"Sure. We can actually be friends, right?" I respond with a smiling voice. Lie.

"Of course, I'll take that offer. Whatever it takes just to still be able to talk to you." Lie! My mind screams.

"Sure," I respond with an eyeroll and a nervous laugh.

We said our goodbyes and Harry kept on saying "bye", after me. We ended up laughing after the third one. I shake my head with a wide grin plastered on my face as I tap the phone to end the call.

"Lexie," I hear Nana call me through the gap by the door. "Lunch will be served in 15." I nod.

Lunch became the extension of last night's conversations. Then out of the blue, our parents asked Allen and I our plans for the future. Allen just laughed, of course he just let life happen to him. His plans are short term, always just for the moment. I, on the other hand, want to plan the rest of my life, like going through endless checklists of dos and donts.

The tone shifted to a serious one. Our parents discussed our businesses and properties. They said that they want to finish all the paper work so that eveything is transferred to both of us, just in case... Just in case, I thought to myself, I don't even want to hear what's next.

The discussion felt like a mancom meeting. We are now sitting in the living room, conversations over coffee and dessert. All business. All documents and paperworks. Our parents discussed every detail of their plans. In the end, we all agreed that I need to take time off my day job and focus more on our affairs. I lean over Allen and he instinctively put his arm around me. Tears started to fall.

"Lexie dear, why are you crying?" My Dad sat beside me.

I look down and shake my head. "It's like you're saying goodbye," I bury my face in my hands and started to bawl.

My Mom went over to me. This time all three of them are holding me. "Baby, we are not. I'm not. We are just being practical. You know what I mean?"

I nod. My Dad wipes my face, of tears and snot. He snickers and we end up chuckling together. He kisses the top of my head and hugged me tight.

"And the Oscar goes to..." Allen pipes in, but is interrupted by the sound of the intercom. There's someone at the gate.

A few minutes later, Nana came in the living room and hands me a bouquet of stargazers and a box of truffle chocolates. Wow! Both are my favorites. I read the card, the printed note says,

I'm borrowing the words of Faudet...

You were my beautiful mistake and I don't regret anything. I would do it all again in a heartbeat.

H x

"Who is H X?" My Dad asks, in a slightly higher pitch. Allen laughs. My Mom raises her brow.