"Ready for your date?" Jaxon teased, making Remi wish that he'd never told him about his and Marcelo's conversation a few days ago.
"It's not like that. It's just a friendly date. Not even that, really. It's a friends' night out."
"I never said that it wasn't friendly. You must want it to be a non-friendly date." Jaxon smirked.
"You're putting words into my mouth."
"What does it matter when you're probably gonna have Marcelo's di—" Jaxon was abruptly interrupted when Remi slapped his hand over his mouth.
"N-No. We won't do that. We're just friends." Jaxon gave Remi a really look before Remi took his hand off of Jaxon's mouth.
"More like friends for the moment. I see the way that you guys look at each other."
"How do we look at each other?"
"Like you want to rip each other's clothes off right then and there."
Remi's face immediately reddened. Jaxon's eyes went wide and he pointed right in Remi's face.
"Seeee!" he gasped. "I'm right, aren't I?"
"No, you're not. And I would like it if you didn't talk so explicitly around your godson," Remi said as he smiled sarcastically and looked down at Elio who was clinging to his leg tiredly since he'd skipped his mid-day nap. Jaxon rolled his eyes at the fact that Remi was still denying everything.
Walking over to the coat hangers in the employee section at the back of the library, Remi grabbed Elio's coat and put it on him before he grabbed his own coat and put it on himself. Jaxon put his coat on as well. The two clocked out, said their goodbyes to Mrs. Callum, and headed towards their cars.
Since Remi was going to hang out with Marcelo, Elio was going to go over Jaxon and Damon's house until the two are finished. Elio didn't mind. He was probably just gonna sleep the entire time anyway.
Jaxon placed a sleepy Elio in his car seat that was in Jaxon's car instead of Remi's. He buckled Elio up before he went to the other side of the car and opened the door, hopping in. As he turned the car on, Remi said his goodbyes to Elio.
"Be good for Uncle Jax and Uncle Damon, okay? I'll be there to pick you up before you know it."
Elio nodded. "Bye-bye, Mama."
"Bye, Eli belly." Remi said as he kissed Elio's temple.
Backing away and saying goodbye to Jaxon, Remi headed over to his car and hopped in, quickly driving home to get ready.
As soon as he arrived, he rushed inside and took a quick shower before he came out and began searching for an outfit. He ended up pulling out a gray, long sleeved dress that had a sweater type of material along with black knee high boots. Casual but formal at the same time and perfect for the chilly December weather.
Standing in front of the mirror, Remi fixed his hair up nicely, fluffing it over to one side in the front. He looked down at his outfit in the mirror as well, turning to the side and to the back. He hummed in satisfaction since his outfit looked great.
Lastly, Remi turned around and grabbed one of his small tote bags. He put all of the things that he would need on-the-go in it, including his phone that began to ring just as he went to put it in the bag. He took it back out and looked at the caller ID.
Marcelo.
After clicking the ᴀᴄᴄᴇᴘᴛ button, Remi put the phone up to his ear with a. "Hi."
"Hey, I'm here. I didn't know if I should knock or not."
"You're fine. And I'll be out in a second."
The two hung their phones up and Remi hurriedly went around, turning off all of the lights. But before he left, he slipped back into his room and grabbed his perfume, spritzing a little bit all over himself. Now, done!
Rushing back over to the front door, Remi grabbed the knob and opened the door to see Marcelo. "Whoa."
"Yeah. I swear I did not mean to match you."
"Neither did I." Remi chuckled.
Marcelo had on a gray quarter-zip sweater, black jeans, and black boots. The two unknowingly matched with each other. Now, it really looks like they're going on a non-friendly date.
"Are you ready?"
"Yeah, let's go."
As the two walked side by side through the breezeway, Remi could feel the heat radiating from Marcelo's hand as they did so. Oh, how he wished that he could just move a couple of inches and grab it. Maybe the rest of his body wouldn't be so cold then.
"You look wonderful by the way," Marcelo said just as they got out to the open. Remi looked down at the ground, feeling the butterflies in his stomach again. He smiled before looking back at Marcelo.
"Thank you. So do you."
The cold air continued to nip at Remi's face and any other skin that was exposed. His wishes to cling to Marcelo until he was warm again never went away. Not even once he got into Marcelo's car and the warmth of the heat spread through it, hugging his body like a glove.
The car ran smoothly on the asphalt roads. Being December and being 5:00pm, the city was beginning to darken, its lights glowing brightly. Marcelo and Remi chatted lightly on top of the soft music that was playing on the radio.
"Where are we going?" Remi asked.
"Well, since this is a friends' night out, we are going to go see a movie that I think you will like. And then, we can grab something to eat."
"Oh, okay."
"Sorry if you expected something fancier. I'm not very good at planning dates if you can remember."
"No, this sounds fun. And you were good at planning dates. I don't think that I would've gotten pregnant with Elio that night if you weren't good at planning dates," Remi joked, making Marcelo chuckle.
"Touché. Let me rephrase then. I don't think that I'm very good at planning dates. I could've done more than I did."
"No, I swear your dates were perfectly fine so stop with that."
"If you say so."
"I say so."
--------------
"What snacks do you want?"
"I'm just gonna get popcorn and a slushy, but I'm gonna buy it myself."
"Remi, you know not to try to win this argument." Marcelo then looked back at the smiling worker behind the movie theater's snack bar and said, "One large popcorn, a medium cherry slush, and a medium blueberry slush."
Marcelo looked down at Remi as he said the last bit. He'd remembered that Remi loved blueberry slushes. Especially while he was pregnant. Remi smiled, but he was still upset that Marcelo was paying. "I'm paying you back later."
"Alright," Marcelo said with a smug look on his face. Remi raised a brow at how easily Marcelo gave up. Then he realized the connotation behind it. He scoffed and shoved Marcelo with his elbow after they got out of the line and went over to the side to wait for their snacks.
"I didn't mean it like that! Whatever nasty thing you're thinking about."
"Who said that I was thinking nastily?" Marcelo teased, chuckling. "That was all you, Teo."
"Ugh, why am I here with you, again?"
"Because you know you want some of this," Marcelo teased even more and wrapped his arm around Remi's shoulder, pulling him against him.
"Mmmm, get off," Remi groaned and pushed Marcelo back, his cheeks flushed. "I'd say it's vice versa based on how you've been acting lately."
"Oh, baby, I never said that I didn't want some of you."
"I thought you said that this was a friends' night out."
"It is. I'm just teasing you," Marcelo chuckled.
Remi looked inside of Marcelo's eyes. He was surprised when he saw that behind all of the teasing, Marcelo was being genuine. He r—
"One large popcorn, one medium cherry slush, and one medium blueberry slush!" one of the male employees called out. Marcelo turned around and grabbed their snacks. He handed Remi his slush—with a smirk displayed on his face at the fact that he'd won the payment conversation—before he walked past Remi into the direction of the theatre that they were going in. Remi speed walked a bit to catch up.
The movie theater was pretty full. That wasn't surprising though since the movie that was being played was a new one, premiered just the day before.
Marcelo climbed up the stairs, heading all the way to the top with Remi right behind him. As Remi walked, he sipped his slushy like it was nothing. He definitely missed his slushees. He hadn't had one since he was nearly finished with his pregnancy. Jaxon bought him one from the gas station.
Eventually finding seats, the two sat down near the back. Remi sat in the seat closest to the wall. By the time the two were both settled, the screen was displaying the last of its previews.
Looking over, Marcelo saw Remi still sipping on his slushy religiously. He chuckled, "Don't get a brain freeze."
Remi finally got away from his slushee long enough to look at Marcelo. He smiled, his mouth stained blue. It was adorable. "It's so good. I haven't had one of these since before I had Elio."
"You're still the same after all this time," Marcelo smiled back.
"What do you mean?"
"You haven't changed. Even after everything that I did, you're still the same, sweet you."
"Thank Elio... and Jaxon." Remi chuckled. Marcelo's smile got bigger as he flung his arm around Remi.
"No, thank you. For not letting what I did take everything about you away."
Remi smiled softly and nodded. He tried not to do what he wanted to do, but he failed. He leaned comfortably into Marcelo's side and sighed.
"Is this okay?" Marcelo asked.
"Yeah, it's okay."
The whole movie, Remi remained leaned against Marcelo, trying his best to convince himself that it was a friendly motion. Every now and then, he would inhale deeply to inhale Marcelo's good, good cologne. Meanwhile, Marcelo was fighting the urge to turn his head slightly and place a kiss on Remi's head.
Be friendly.
Be friendly.
Be friendly.
After the movie, a very interesting coming of age movie, ended, Marcelo and Remi reluctantly got out of their highly favored position and headed out of the movie theater. As expected, Remi's slushy cup was empty, sucked clean. There was still popcorn though so Marcelo quickly gobbled the last few pieces and gulped down the rest of his slushy before throwing his trash away.
As the two walked towards the exit of the movie theater, they noticed that it was now dark out. Remi looked down at his shoes as he walked for a while before he looked up at Marcelo. "Where are we going now?"
"Well, this is the part that I didn't plan very well. Food truck."
"O-Oh," Remi stuttered with a surprised face.
"No, I promise it's better than it sounds. Hear me out. I believe that the reason that I think my dates weren't very good was because I just wanted to flash my money to you by giving you these big and fancy and extra dates that were too much and weren't necessarily genuine. But now, I want to start small and focus on the conversation and just our presences instead of money."
"Whoa," Remi said with bulging eyes. That was a lot.
"Please tell me that I'm making sense."
"Yes! I totally get it. Your train of thought actually warms my heart. Thank you for thinking that way."
Marcelo exhaled, smiled, and nodded.
Instead of heading to Marcelo's car, the two turned left and walked down the street until they got to the very end of the outlet where a food truck was stationed. Once they got up to the line, Remi first noticed the smell. The food coming from the food truck smelled delicious, better than most restaurants. Marcelo noticed his expression and smiled.
"This might just be a food truck, but it's the best food truck we'll ever go to."
"You've been here before?"
"Many times. They're delicious."
Remi hummed and brought his eyes back over to the menu. He nearly had a heart attack once he saw one of the items that were on the menu. "They have Arepas! Oh my gosh, my dads used to make those for me all the time." Remi giggled.
"Are they good?"
"Yeah. They're really good to me."
"Well, go ahead. Get as many as you want."
Just then, a woman came from the back where all of the rest of the workers were. She had a writing pad in her hand and her hair pulled up into a bun. "Hola. ¿En qué te puedo ayudar?"
Remi was shocked at first until Marcelo leaned forward towards his ear again. "They speak in Spanish unless the customer tells them that they only speak English."
"Ah," Remi nodded. "Buenas tardes. ¿Todavía tienen arepas?"
"Sí, están calientes y listos"
"¡Genial! Una arepa para mí."
"¿Pollo o bistec?"
"Pollo, por favor."
The woman grinned and wrote a few things down on her book before she looked at Marcelo. "¿Y tú?"
Luckily, Remi'd taught Marcelo what that means when they were together. Therefore, he immediately knew that the woman was asking her what he wanted.
"I'll take the Super Torta."
"Alright, any drinks for you guys?"
"I'll just take a water," Remi nodded.
"Water for me too." Marcelo added.
"Okay, your food will be ready in a bit. Gracias."
After paying, Remi and Marcelo stepped to the side of the truck where there was another opening. Remi was bouncing on his toes because of his excitement. He couldn't believe that he was about to eat an Arepa. He hadn't had one since his early years.
The food came out surprisingly quickly. The two thanked the workers politely before they walked away from the truck.
"Are we eating in the car?"
"I was thinking that we could take a walk through the city and eat in the middle of the city where all of the Christmas lights are."
"Okay," Remi nodded. This date was pretty fun.
By the time that the two made it which it didn't take long to do so, the food was still warm, but the two were now hungry because of how good it smelled. They walked over to a free bench that was right next to the town's Christmas tree and sat down, unpacking their food.
Remi wasted no time as he unpacked his arepa and took a big bite out of it. He hummed and closed his eyes as he chewed. There was nothing like tasting a childhood favorite years later.
"This is so good."
"Is it?"
"Yes, I swear they taste just like they did when my dads used to make them."
"You still haven't heard from them?"
Remi looked up at Marcelo and shook his head, "No. I don't think I ever will."
"I'm sorry."
"It's okay. As long as I have Elio, I'll be fine"
Marcelo smiled softly. He loved how close Remi was with Elio. In fact, he figured that he should change the subject to Elio. He regretted putting the focus on Remi's parents in the first place since this friendly night out was supposed to be a happy night out.
"What were you guys up to while I was gone?"
"Uhh... I don't really know what to say. A lot has happened. I've just been enjoying my time with him. He's really amazing." Remi nodded with a big smile. "When he was a new baby and had to go to work with me, I would put him inside of his baby wrap and wrap him around my chest. It was the cutest thing ever." Remi chuckled as he took out his phone and pulled up a picture of Elio that he'd taken at the library as Elio rested inside of the baby wrap on his chest. He was only a few weeks old.
As Remi showed the picture to Marcelo, Marcelo smiled which soon turned into a chuckle. "Oh, man. Look at him."
Remi pulled his phone back after a few seconds and smiled at the picture. "Yeah, he's a big boy now."
"No, he's still a little one."
"I know, but still. He's about to be three in a while. I feel like I just had him yesterday."
"Well that's sort of inevitable. Him growing up."
"I knowwww, but I want him to be my little baby forever."
"Yeah, I get it. I've only just met him a couple of months ago, and I'm already so attached to him. I wish time could travel back so that I could see him grow up."
"Yeah..." Remi trailed before he took a bite of his arepa, looking away. It was quiet for a few seconds. Remi was trying to figure out how to say what he wanted to say without it coming out the wrong way. "Okay... don't... take this the wrong way."
"Oh, no."
"No, I promise it won't be bad if you don't take it badly."
"Jesus.... Okay. Say it."
"Okay. I.... As much as I wish that you had've been there to watch Elio be born, grow up, etcetera, I feel as if our separation is what I needed."
Remi looked up at Marcelo just as Marcelo's eyebrows cocked up aggressively.
"No, no. Just hear me out. I feel like I still had more healing to do as well as growing as an individual. I don't know if you've noticed or not—it's kind of obvious though—but I don't stutter anymore."
"Yeah, I noticed that when I first talked to you again. I was so amazed at how strong your voice sounded. I didn't wanna mention it though because I remember how you told me that you didn't like the... origin of your stutter."
"Thank you, but you don't have to worry about that anymore. That's also why I feel like I needed that separation. It's easier for me to talk about what happened. Like, everything from when I was left at the facility to when I first got to this city. It's much, much easier to talk about. That's why—aside from the fact that you had your reasons for leaving—I'm not really angry at you like I feel like everyone else was. I kind of appreciate you for leaving. Wait! Oh no, this sounds so bad. It sounds so bad, but it's true. I needed those two years to grow up and heal."
"I get what you're saying, surprisingly." Marcelo chuckled, making Remi chuckle too. "I'm really happy for you. I'm happy that you're healing the way that you need to. I'm sorry that I had to do what I did for you to do so."
"I promise it's fine. You're here now, so I don't want you to feel like I'm still upset with you because I'm not. Over the past few months, you've kept up a lot of promises that you've made to me. I think that has also helped me a lot. You broke a big promise to me when you left, but you're trying your best to make new promises and keep those ones, and you don't know how much that means to me."
"I swear you don't ever have to worry about me breaking another promise. I will try my best to keep every single promise that I make to you and Elio. I never, ever want to hurt you guys again."
Remi exhaled upon hearing this. He really needed to hear this. Nodding, Remi smiled.
"Thank you."