Rain✔️ (Wattpad version)

Normal is a dryer setting

Antonio

I came home after school and met my mom.

"Are you okay? You look like you want to hurl," she asked me with confusion.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Rainbow had an issue. I helped her, and she kissed me on the cheek," I said, stunned.

"And this is a problem. Why?" My mom asked me.

"Because I'm supposed to work with her, not feel things that I'm feeling," I told her.

She looked at me and shook her head.

"What?" I asked.

"Antonio, you are so daft," she rolled her eyes and gave me a disapproving look.

"How does that make me daft?" I looked at her, shocked.

"Because you like this girl. If you didn't, you wouldn't have helped her. What did you do?" She asked me. So I told her everything that happened, and she promptly facepalmed herself.

"What?" I asked again.

"Have we taught you nothing? You don't walk away from someone like that! You tell them goodbye before leaving!" She exclaimed.

"Mom, this is not normal," I countered, earning a slap upside the head. "What was that for?" I yelled, rubbing my head.

"Normal is a dryer setting, you doof," she remarked. I looked at her, shocked. "People need to stop using that word like it's important. No one is normal, especially you," Mom remarked.

Damn, that was harsh. Then Dad walked in. "What's with the yelling? The whole neighborhood can hear you," Dad said to us.

"Your son is a doof," she told him.

He rolled his eyes and looked at me. "What did you do?"

"Why would I be a doof? I did nothing," I exclaimed.

"That's not true, Antonio did something nice for Rainbow, kissed her cheek, she kissed his cheek and then left without saying a word," she summed up.

He looked at her then at me. "Son, you're a doof."

"Oh, and he said this wasn't normal," she said with an equal exasperated look.

"What's a matter with you?" Then he started yelling at me in Italian and finished with, "Doof."

"What was I supposed to do?" I asked my parents.

He looked at me. "You're supposed to be a man and treat her with decency and respect. Being a man isn't about sports or any of that crap. It's about doing the right thing, no matter what. You were wrong, Antonio," he said firmly.

"So, what should I do?" I asked him.

"Figure it out. You need to fix this," Dad told me.

I looked at him. Great, how the hell do I fix something with someone that doesn't understand social cues? I had a feeling I would need advice on this one.

Rain

After talking to Luke, I turned on some music and started moving, but I was becoming increasingly frustrated with it. I kept tripping over my feet.

Dad knocked at my door. "Rain?"

"Yes, Dad?" I asked him trying to dance.

"What are you doing?" He asked me with a confused look.

"Learning how to dance. I understand now why Antonio walked away," I told him.

"Why's that, hun?"

"Because I don't know how to dance. So, I will learn because guys don't like clumsy girls," I answered.

"What do you mean?" He walked into my room and sat down on my bed.

I walked over to a drawer and pulled out a bunch of magazines. I handed them to Dad. He looked at them, a bit surprised.

"I picked up some magazines with advice. Most say you should make the guy chase you, but I don't like tag. Some say you should wear makeup, but I don't like how it feels. Then it talks about sex and how a guy's tongue feels," I said to him.

"Whoa, I prefer not having this conversation with you. I'll let your mom handle it," he said as he looked at me. Then he held up the magazines. "These are garbage." He walked over and placed them in the trashcan.

"But how will I learn to be sexy and kiss that makes his toes curl," I asked him.

"Rain, do you like Antonio?" Dad asked me.

"I don't know. Antonio lies, but he kissed my cheek. He doesn't know about My Little Pony but brought balloons as Pinky Pie does. He didn't say bye to me when he left. Everyone says, bye. I don't know Antonio well enough to know if I like him," I explained.

"Then why are you worrying about all these things with guys," he asked me.

"Isn't that what you're supposed to do when someone kisses your cheek? They are showing you that they like you. Did I get it wrong?" I looked at him, confused.

"Sometimes, but sometimes it's someone nice," Dad explained.

"This is way too complicated," I sighed.

"How so?"

"Everything I read and see on TV, when people hug, kiss, hold hands, it means they like each other. Like you and Mom," I answered.

"Your mom and I love each other," Dad explained.

"So when Antonio held my hand and gave me a kiss on the cheek, that means he loves me," I said happily.

"What? No," Dad exclaimed.

I furrowed my brows. "So, Antonio doesn't love me?"

Dad rubbed his forehead. "Rain, get to know someone first. Be their friend; then, at some point, you fall in love with them."

"Okay, then I will be Antonio's friend and fall in love with him," I said with determination.

Dad facepalmed himself as I looked at him with hopeful determination. It made a lot more sense to me. Why couldn't people explain this before to me?

Later on, Dad told Mom about the conversation, "Colton, you didn't?"

"Lia, I was trying to explain things to her."

She looked at him with concern.

"We don't even know if Rain likes him. This territory is new for her and us," he reasoned.

"I don't want her to get hurt. The kids are already nasty as it is," she sighed.

"Well, sometimes she has to learn, even if that means getting hurt. Lia, it sucks, but we're not always going to be there to help her. These are things she has to learn," he explained.

"It's just hard not to protect her all the time. With Luke and Cole, it was simple, but Rain is a whole different ballgame. She has such tender feelings. People don't see it, but we do," she said to him.

"I know, baby, but at some point, we have to let her fly. Even the most inexperienced baby bird has to leave the nest sometime. We need to let her go," he advised her.

While Mom wanted to keep me close, Dad knew sometimes you have to let me go. It was part of growing up since we all have to grow up sometime.