Ending the call with Naomi, Theo sighed at the girl he got to call his. Wow, he never wanted to let her go.
Leaving the Elijah's room, he made his way to the kitchen.
Putting his plate into the sink, Theo was met with Mrs Parker in the kitchen, who had an arrangement of fruits infront of her, along with a large knife.
"Theo, something wrong sweetie?" She asked looking up at the boy.
"I'm fine Mrs Parker" he smiled
"No you're not, you look stressed, sit down at the counter top and talk to me"
"It's nothing Mrs Parker"
Kissing her teeth Carmen, gave Theo a look to tell him not to even bother objecting, nodding her head towards the stool at the countertop again.
"Spill" she stated, as she began cutting up an assortment of fruits
Theo immediately walked over to the stool knowing not to disobey Mrs Parker, Elijah's mum and began to watch her cutting up the pineapple.
"I said spill Theo, don't make me force it out of you like I've done with everything Elijah doesn't tell me"
Theo sighed. Mrs Parker, was truly becoming a mother figure to him and he didn't want to earn a punishment from her because he knew she would treat him like one of her own. She already did within taking him in during Christmas.
He was grateful.
"There's this girl" he started
"May I see her?"
Theo got out his phone and began scrolling through his Snapchat memories to find a photo of Naomi. He managed to find one of her during bonfire night, where she was laughing looking at her sparkler.
He turned his phone around and showed Mrs Parker.
"She's very pretty" Carmen smiled
"I know" Theo returned the smile, taking a moment to admire Naomi in the picture
"So you like her and don't know how to talk to her?" She asked
"No it's much more complicated than that"
Theo went to go on, but didn't exactly want to tell Mrs Parker his and Naomi's story all the way from the beginning, till now, because he'd have to add in their sexual history as it wouldn't make sense other wise.
"Okay go on" she gestured as she noticed him hesitate and close his mouth before he could talk.
"I can't..."
"Boy, I already know you're having sex. I don't know why you're acting shy about it. Now tell me what's so complicated about this girl and you"
Theo raised his eyebrows at Mrs Parker very bluntly saying that she didn't care if there were explicit details of his and Naomi's story, she just wanted to know everything.
"Okay so..." Theo started as he began to explain everything
After around ten minutes of Theo explaining the story, he finally finished.
"I wanna meet this girl" Carmen stated
"I guess you can, but there would be no reason for her to come to London to your house-" Theo pointed out, knowing that Mrs Parker wanted to see if she approved of Naomi.
"I'll throw a party at some point, don't worry Theo, I have my ways. A mother always does" she laughed
"Mrs Parker-" he started, getting back onto the topic of his concern with Naomi because now he'd started to talk about it, he wanted to spill everything.
"Please, call me Carmen, you're family"
"Mrs...C-Carmen, the thing that I'm most stressed about is that I just don't know how to know when it'll be the right time to ask her to be my girlfriend. Like I don't even do relationships, but I just want one with her. I want to call her mine officially and I don't even know if she'll let me make her my girlfriend, obviously I'll wait for her but it's a lot to think about-" Theo explained
"Don't worry Theo, everything will work out you just have to find the right time, but remember there is no perfect time, when you're in the moment just ask the question and in the meantime, I want to meet her, I will meet her" Carmen expressed
"You don't think I know how bad my baby boy Elijah used to be with girls, binning them off like they were nothing, but the moment he told me about Tiana I knew he was smitten. And now look and them, boyfriend and girlfriend, almost a year because of the advice I gave him"
"Soon that will be you and this Naomi girl, I think she just needs time. She's been through a lot and her past clearly is still haunting her. I would say get to understand more about it because if she's never mentioned any other boys besides her ex and Sebastian, I think you're her third. But don't push her if she's not ready. I think she's had such bad past experiences that she's reflecting it onto you and thinks you're going to do the same to her. I think she just needs to be eased into the idea of a relationship, she definitely wants one with you, but she doesn't know it yet"
"Obviously trust was a big thing for the two of you last time, and trust takes time to build and I want you to be patient. You have been, but don't force her to be ready for something she doesn't know she wants yet. She's definitely a lot more comfortable with you and like everyone has said, they've given you the okay to sleep with her again. Don't worry, nothing will change. You're just putting too much pressure on yourself. She likes you, she just has a hard time saying it. I can tell you she would of told you to go away if she didn't like you. She sounds the type to not take your shit"
"I will say that there will be problems after you two sleep together again, but that happens with every couple. You just have to learn that every couple has its problems, but they always talk through them and work them out"
"In the past she may have been irrational at times, like at Halloween, but she's made it clear that was only because she was hurt. I can tell you for a fact, that she won't do that again because you two aren't holding shit against each other this time. She wants to talk things through when there's a problem, she wants you to tell her when you've fucked up or you think that she's done something to hurt you. It's all about communication. Because let me just tell you she reminds me of me when I didn't trust a boy, I would jump at the first opportunity to-" she continued
"Mum!" Elijah interrupted, as he made his way into the kitchen wondering where Theo was. He had overheard her giving him some motherly advice but he knew she went off on a bit of a tangent sometimes and stopped her before he, and Theo found out something about her youth they definitely didn't need to know.
"Okay okay, sorry I went off track, but Theo, sweetie, I want you to be patient and make sure you keep girls away from you. You're a star athlete, girls will be throwing themselves at you twenty four seven, of course it's going to make her even more hesitant to trust you. But communication is key. Talk about things. When she looks sad, encourage her to open up to you. When somethings wrong speak to her. That's all relationships are about, they're about someone finding another individual who they feel as though they connect with. Someone who they believe they don't want to let go of because they feel as though they were meant to be in their life. They want to tell them everything, they want to connect through their bodies. Their heart burns when they aren't near"
"So just go the full way, she's already told her home friends that you're her man, I'm sure she's ready to go the full way, within sex, and possibly a relationship in the near future, she's just waiting on you" Carmen finished
"Okay thanks Mrs- I mean, thanks Carmen" Theo smiled as he took in everything she had just said.
"You're welcome and get Elijah to give you my number whenever you want to call me for some motherly advice okay? I know you're not that close with yours, so think of me as your second one." She pointed at the two boys as she raised her eyebrows
"Thank you" Theo smiled as him and Elijah made their way out of the kitchen to go and play PS5.
"Eh, eh, where do you lot think you're going? I'm still cutting up your fruit cause I damn well be knowing you lot ain't eating right at uni" Carmen tutted
"Actually mum, Theo cooks" Elijah pointed out
"Theo is this true?" She asked
"Yeah I can cook a bit" he admitted
"Hmm... I don't know if I believe that, to me it sounds like you lot get high and Theo will whip up some pasta and you'll all gass him up" she hummed
Theo choked on his spit. Carmen knew they smoked?
"Nah mum, we don't cook when we're high, it's low-key irresponsible and we don't trust ourselves, but I mean it when Theo can make a good lasagna" Elijah added
"Hmm, maybe I'll have to teach you some more recipes so you can cook for yourself, Elijah, and Ollie, or maybe the special girl in your life...Naomi" she offered as Elijah laughed at his mum's teasing of Theo and Theo started to turn a bit red
"How is Ollie?" She asked, not wanting to embarrass Theo any further
"He's good, he's with his parents right now" Elijah told his mum as he sat back down at the countertop
"I still can't believe i know his mum from when we were young, you know, me and her and this other girl were inseparable. The best of friends, but one moved house and we didn't get her new number and Ollie's mum, she got with Ollie's dad and I moved on with life, but I'm so happy you two became friends because I never thought I'd see either of those girls again, now we've just got to find the last" she smiled
"Aye Theo, maybe you're the missing piece to this infamous trio my mum won't stop talking about" Elijah laughed
Theo laughed, "nah I don't think so-"
"Ahhhhhhh" was all that was heard as the front door slammed shut.
Two sets of feet padded into the room where they were all located.
And in came Elijah's seven year old little sister Skai, along with her father, scooping up the giggling little girl and carrying upside down, making her laugh even more.
"Theo!" She beamed as her dad finally put her down, allowing her to make a beeline for him and hug his legs.
"What no love for your big brother?" Elijah faked his heart break, holding his chest
"Don't be silly E, you both are my big brothers, as well as Ollie!" She giggled as Elijah picked her up
"How was school Skai?" Carmen asked as she continued to chop up fruits
"School was good! I told all my friends about Elijah being back and bringing Theo with him"
"Good, good, here's your fruit" Carmen smiled at her daughter
Elijah took the fruit bowl, along with the one left out for him and carried Skai to her room so she could get changed out of her school uniform.
"And how is my lovely wife today?" Darius asked
"Okay I guess" Carmen sighed as Darius wrapped his arms around her waist
"Baby, what's wrong?"
"Nothing, I just have cramps"
"I'll run you a bath later" he hummed as Carmen sighed contently at her husband always taking care of her
From the few times Theo had been around Elijah's house, he could tell he came from a loving family. Carmen and Darius met when Carmen was working as waitress and it was love at first sight apparently. Theo could see through their interactions, there were also similarities that Elijah took from watching them when he grew up and now used them on Tiana. It was cute.
"Theo you good? How's football" Darius asked, noticing Theo sat at the countertop on his phone
"Football's good, I'm-" Theo started as Carmen interrupted him with a knowing smile, whilst passing him a bowl of fruit
"Theo's got himself a girl" she added
"Really? Is she a girlfriend or just a girl" Darius questioned
"Theo, sweetie tell him" Carmen laughed, waiting for her husbands reaction for when he saw Naomi. She knew Theo was a sweet boy, who definitely had his manwhore ways because how else would he become friends with her son, as well as the fact that he was on the football team, and the team captain. But what she didn't expect was for him to like a black girl. She wanted to see Darius' knowing smile of how she was going to be a girl he'd never forget about and he couldn't loose.
Carmen knew in her head that Naomi definitely had Theo wrapped around her finger and she wanted to meet her, just to give her a nod of approval for being able to do that despite her pushing Theo away in first year.