"Eleonor! Hi!" my mom hugged me as soon as I walked into the house, the familiar smell of dried flowers and old newspaper invading my nostrils.
"Hi mom" I hugged her back, internally cringing at her calling me that.
"How's my beautiful daughter?" she asked, keeping her hands on my shoulders.
"I'm good. A bit tired but good. How are you? Where's dad?" I did my best to sound believable.
"Definitely good now that you're here. He'll be back from work in two hours. Oh, I'm so happy to see you" she finally let go of me, a huge smile still planted on her face. "I'll let you settle in your room upstairs, we can catch up on everything later. Do you want me to make you some food?"
"I'm good, but thanks" I chuckled. "And yeah, I need to rest for a while. I'll tell you everything when dad's here too" I added, knowing the answers to the majority of their questions were going to be lies.
"Did you have your hair cut, honey? I thought you were going to grow it out, for once"
"I- Yeah. I like it better this way" I just said as I walked up the stairs.
I threw myself on the bed as soon as I entered my room, feeling like I was so tired I could have fallen asleep at that moment, despite it being just four in the afternoon. The sight of the room I'd spent so much time in made me feel weird, and not in a good way, just like the other times I'd gone back home after a while.The only thing that could make me feel better in that moment was probably hearing from Sam.
you: been here for five minutes and already received a comment about my appearance
sam<3: Oh no
sam<3: I'm sorry baby. I can call you as soon as I get out of work if you want
sam<3: Also, hope your journey was okay
you: it's alright, my hair is apparently just too short for my mom's liking
you: thank god i remembered to tuck my piercing in
you: i'm hopefully seeing vic this evening, but you can call me whenever, she won't mind
sam<3: Well, I think your hair looks amazing. But you'd look amazing with anything, honestly
sam<3: I've got to go now, hear from you later then. I love you. So so much :)
you: i love you <3
My parents were not happy about me telling them I'd be going out with Vic that same evening, even though they tried to hide it. But at that point I really couldn't care less, I'd come to terms with their dislike for my best friends ages before.
"So, how have the past months in a city like New York been?" my dad asked as I sat at the dinner table, probably to change the subject.
"Great, really great" I said, at least not having to lie about that. "It's all completely different from here, but I love it. I haven't enjoyed myself as much as in the past months"
"That's amazing" he went on. "And what about university? You said your exams all went well, right? Are you satisfied with your course after your first year?"
"Yeah, I did pretty well, I guess. And yes, I'm really happy. I couldn't be happier about my course" I smiled.
"We're so proud of you, honey" he nodded. "Maybe you weren't cut out for what I wanted you to do after all" he chuckled, completely ruining the moment. He'd always wished I'd followed the finance route, like him, and wasn't too happy about my passion for literature.
"Also, I hate to be that kind of mom, but have you met any interesting boys?" my mom added with a raise of brows.
"I, uhm, I- I've been concentrating on university more than other stuff" I stumbled on my words, hopefully sounding convincing enough while I almost choked on my food.
"You can't just study all day!" she laughed. But I didn't find it funny.
"Come on, I'm happier if she studies rather than if she spends time with boys" my dad joined in. I just wanted to bury myself inside the floor at that point.
"You don't get girl problems" she continued. Again, I didn't find it funny but tried to contain myself. "Also, sorry to change the subject, but me and your father were wondering something"
"What is it?" I hesitantly asked.
"We were wondering if maybe you'd like to come to church with us on Sunday morning" my dad said, causing me to probably too visibly widen my eyes.
"I- You know I haven't been going for years now" I mumbled, confused at their request.
"We know. But we thought that maybe you'd like to make us happy after being away for so long. And that maybe some time alone had made you realize how big of a mistake you made when you decided to stop going" my mom shrugged, as if she'd just said something totally normal.
"I don't think so. Of course I want to make you happy, but I'm sure there's other ways..." I cautiously said.
"Wouldn't you like to see almost everyone from town after so long of not being here? People will be happy to see you" her face suddenly turned sad.
"I'm sure I'll have other occasions-"
"Just think about it, okay? You don't need to decide now" my dad interrupted.
"Yeah, okay" I sighed, already knowing what my answer was going to be but not wanting to bother.
Going to church had always been an important thing in my family, and I'd always just went to please my parents because I'd always feel somewhat suffocated by it all. I knew all churches weren't like that, but the one in my town was just not a pleasant environment to be in. My turning point was when my parents asked the local priest to "change my mind about my lifestyle" when I was outed to them, which resulted in having to sit through an hour long speech about how I could still choose not to sin and stuff like that.
I spent the next half an hour just listening to the two of them telling me about what they'd been up to, about the time they almost decided it would be a good idea to get a cat, about the vegetables they'd been growing in the garden, about the new supermarket that had opened in town, and stuff like that.
And it's not that I didn't care, but I really just couldn't wait to see Vic and spend the evening with her.
"Feels weird to be here, huh?" my friend asked once I was finally able to go to her house, already feeling better about it all after being greeted by her parents.
"Depressing more than weird, but yeah" I joked. "Being in this town, not in your house" I clarified. Sitting on the bed of her light blue-walled bedroom actually gave me all of the comfort I needed in that moment.
"I imagined" she said with a laugh. "Everything okay with your parents?"
"Same as usual, I guess. They want me to go to church with them" I shrugged.
"Oh. I'm sorry about that" she furrowed her brows. "As I said earlier, you're welcome here anytime you want"
"I know, thanks" I smiled. "I'm gonna need you a lot in these weeks"
"I'll make sure we have fun, then. Don't worry" she jokingly patted my back.
And as much as I didn't believe her at first, the next few days were genuinely fun and didn't make me want to go back to New York every two minutes, something I predicted would happen instead.
We went on a few day trips, or just spent hours in the same park and cafè we'd spent most of our high-school years in. And we'd also caught up with a few people from high-school Vic had kept in contact with. I was skeptical at first, but turns out they were all actually nice people. Maybe I'd been too judgy in my past.
Being out or with Vic in general all the time really prevented me from having to spend too much time with my parents, which was a good thing. Even if they hadn't been acting as annoying as I expected them to, after the comments they made during my first evening.
Plus, I'd surprisingly started to realize that a break from the chaos and noise of a city as big as New York wasn't something too bad. Turned out I needed some peaceful and quiet walks and not being surrounded by people all of the time.
By the time a week had passed I felt relaxed and weirdly happy to be home for a while. But I knew it wouldn't last for another two weeks. Especially because I'd been missing Sam a whole lot.
We'd been texting all the time and we'd call each other every evening, talking for hours until we were seconds away from falling asleep. Or at least, I was. I'd fallen asleep during a video call and Sam took something like twenty screenshots of the scene.
We'd just talk about our day in detail, and anything that we could think of in that moment. She'd tell me how her last days of work were going, and I'd tell her what I'd done with Vic and random facts about my town and my teenage years, which would eventually lead to her telling me stories about when she was the same age. Definitely more exciting stories than mine, actually. Each time I thought I completely knew the woman, she proved me wrong.
Even though a week wasn't that long, the both of us had already started to feel needy from a certain point of view, you could say. We'd gotten so used to being able to satisfy it almost everyday that a week felt like ages.
(kinda mature content warning)
Which led to me showing Sam way more than I'd ever showed during a video call, and also her pretty much showing me the same. Good thing my room's door had a lock.
"Fuck, you look so hot" she mumbled as we both pleasured ourselves. "Come for me, love" she added as I started to get visibly close to an orgasm.
It really did take all of me not to let out any noises or words once I climaxed, but I couldn't risk anyone hearing. I attentively watched Sam come as I rode my own high, possibly one of the most attractive sights I could ever see.
"Shit..." I breathed out, internally melting at the way Sam was looking at me through the screen.
"I really wish you were here with me" she said with a grin.
"Believe me, me too" I said, still trying to regain some composure. "We'll have to settle for this for another while"
"Yeah" she chuckled. "It's already something, I guess. But seeing you like this and not being able to touch you feels painful"
"Same" was all I could say, probably visibly flustered.
"It just means you'll get more once you come back" she playfully winked.