Chapter 18
I was sitting on the couch with Lisa waiting for Blake and his friend Joey to pick me up. I was ready, I took my shower when I woke up and my hair was straight like it always was.
Lisa wanted to curl my hair but I refused. Blake had never seen me with curly hair so I didn't see the point in doing it to meet his mother.
I was wearing dark jeans, a black v-neck t-shirt and a jacket that was a green beige color. I looked good...nice. I was happy and this was definitely me. All I needed to do when they arrived was to put my running shoes on and grab my purse.
My nerves were taking the better part of me. The butterflies in my stomach were making me feel like I was about the throw up. I wanted Blake's mom to like me, also I wanted his friend to like me as well. I was regretting the fact that I told him it was fine for me to meet the two of them at the same time. Just thinking about it made my anxiety worse.
"Stop fidgeting." Lisa told me.
"Sorry, I'm just..." I started to say but she finished the sentence for me.
"Nervous?" She asked and I nodded. "Well, try to calm down. Take deep breaths and stop fidgeting. You're moving the whole freaking couch." She said.
"Sorry." I said again.
"You'll do fine. If there's anything call me, if you need me to come and pick you up somewhere, I'll do it." She told me.
"Thanks. Blake told me last night that if I feel like I need to leave, we'll leave. I believe him. He’s never lied to me before…or that I know of." I told her.
"Good. I'm excited to meet him...finally." She said smiling at me while I laughed nervously.
I forgot about that, both of them meeting each other and both of them judging one another. I just hoped it wouldn't be awkward.
"Just..." I started to say but not sure how to finish my sentence.
"I'll be nice Amanda. You don't need to worry about that." She said which made me relax a bit.
"Thanks."
Fifteen minutes later the doorbell rang. Lisa and I both looked at each other and she just said, "Breathe."
I got up and went to the front door and opened it.
There stood Blake with a big smile on his face.
"Hi" I told him.
"Hey. You look great." He said.
"Thanks, you too… Come on in." I told him and then I saw his friend.
"Amanda this is Joey, Joey this is Amanda." Blake introduced us.
"It’s nice to finally meet you." Joey said.
I looked at Blake and he seemed a little embarrassed.
"He talks about you." Joey said and my eyes went big. "No no, not bad things. He just talks about you. He says you're pretty great."
"Stop talking." I heard Blake said.
I looked at him and his face was red. Yup, he was definitely embarrassed.
"Awe, don't be embarrassed, she talks about you too." I heard. I turned around and there was Lisa, leaning on the wall, smiling at all of us.
"Thanks." I told her, being sarcastic.
"You're welcome." She said still smiling and looking at me. She was teasing me and we both knew if we were alone, I would say more than just 'thanks'.
"Blake, Joey this is my friend and roommate Lisa." I told them.
"Hi. I finally have a face to go with the name." Blake said.
"I talk about you too." I told her and she rolled her eyes at me.
"You want me to show you around? It takes 30 seconds, it's a small apartment." I told them.
"Yeah." Blake said taking off his shoes, as did Joey.
I showed them around the apartment and it really didn't take long. When you walked into our apartment, you were in the kitchen and dining room and so I just needed to show them the living room.
"Where do you sleep?" Blake asked me.
"In my room...on my bed." I told him trying not to laugh.
"Can I see your room?" He asked, being curious. I nodded and walking towards my room.
Joey stayed in the living room and when we got to my bedroom he looked around. We both walked in and he closed the door a little.
"You have a really nice place." He whispered to me.
"Thanks, its home." I told him.
He came closer to me and took my hand in his.
"Are you nervous?" He asked.
I nodded quickly, "Yeah." I answered.
"It’s going to be fine. Just remember what I said...if you ever want to leave, tell me and that's it, we'll leave. Okay?"
I nodded, "Thanks." I said smiling a bit.
He got even closer to me and I smiled when I saw he wanted to kiss me.
As his lips got closer to mine, I slowly closed my eyes and felt his soft lips touch mine. I loved the way he kissed me, each time it made me feel like the most important person on the planet...even though that thought was ridiculous.
I raised my arms and rested them on his shoulders but placed one of my hands behind his neck, bringing us even closer to one another. I knew our kiss couldn't last long since we needed to leave and the fact that Joey was out there with Lisa was also a good reason we couldn't keep this up.
Blake broke the kiss but stayed close. "I missed you in my bed last night." He said with half a smile and I chuckled.
"Me too, your bed is so comfortable." I told him. He laughed, I knew that wasn’t what he meant but now, it wasn't the time to start something that we both couldn't finish.
He pecked my lips and took a step back.
"You ready to go?" He asked me.
"Yeah, I just need to put my shoes on and grab my purse." I told him. He nodded and we both left my room.
We went back to the living room where Lisa and Joey were talking, "You ready?" Blake asked Joey.
"Yeah, I’m ready. It was nice to meet you." Joey told Lisa.
"Yeah, you too." She told him.
"I'll see you again one day…if she lets me." Blake told her.
Lisa laughed, "Yeah, if she lets you or if she lets me. She hard headed, like a freaking rock. She doesn't budge." She told him, making him laugh.
"I noticed." He told her.
"You both know I'm right here...right?" I asked them.
They looked at me and they were both smiling. I rolled my eyes and walked to the front door where Joey was waiting.
I put my running shoes on and grabbed my purse. Blake was right behind me and he put his shoes back on.
"Bye Lisa, see you later." I yelled out.
"Good luck!" She yelled making me chuckle.
"Yeah, thanks." I said.
We left the apartment and made our way out of the building to Blake's car.
I was surprised when Joey sat in the back, leaving me to sit in the front. I thought I was going to sit in the back and that the boys would talk but...guess not.
After closing the doors and putting our seatbelts on we left. I kept fidgeting while looking out the window. My anxiety was back and it was worse than before.
Taping my fingers quickly on my legs was a way to try and calm down except it usually didn't work. I always repeated the same thing but hoped for a different result. When I felt a warm hand take my left hands, I looked at Blake. He played with my fingers then traced circles on the inside of my hand. Just like magic I started to feel myself relax a little. He knew he could calm me down, since I told him and like always, he did.
"Breathe." He whispered to me.
"I don't think I have another choice." I told him and he shook his head.
"You know what I mean."
"Yeah, I know." I answered him.
"So Amanda, where are you from?" Joey asked me from the back.
"Here. I've lived here my whole life." I answered him. "You?"
"My family moved here when I started High School. We lived in a small town that’s a little more than two hours south from here." He said.
"It must have been hard to move and start over again, certainly in High School." I said.
"Yeah...it was. Everyone usually have their own circle of friends by then and the new kids are left out. I guess I got lucky." He said.
I looked at Blake and he was smiling.
"How did you and Blake meet?" I asked.
"Well...Adam, one of our friends, was getting bullied at school. A couple of jocks from the football team kept either beating him up or making a joke out of him. Blake, Marc, Ian and I stepped up and taught them their own lesson. We've been friends ever since." He explained.
"Wow..." I said. I didn't know what else to say.
"How did you meet your roommate?" He asked me.
"We met in grade school and we've been friends ever since." I said. It was such a simple story, not like Blake and his friends.
"You have a lot of friends?" He asked.
I looked out the window and watched the houses as we passed by.
"No, I don't." I told Joey.
"You weren't one of the popular girls?" He asked surprised.
I laughed, "No, I wasn’t one of the popular girls."
"What's so funny about that?" He asked.
"Nothing, it just... that's not how it was." I told him.
I was silent for the rest of the drive. Blake still held my hand and both boys kept up a conversation. It didn't take long, ten minutes later Blake pulled into a driveway of a beautiful yet simple bungalow. The grass was green, no dandelions or weeds, there were flowers in the front close to the house. The cold weather hadn't affected them yet.
Being in autumn, most flowers died with the temperature going from warm to cold but not them.
We all got out of the car and all I could do was look around. Everything was beautiful. The house wasn't bran new but it was still really nice. It was easy to see that the owner took care of the property.
"Wow." I whispered to myself.
"Yeah, his mom likes flowers and she's always trying to make everything look nice. I haven't been here since Blake got his apartment but...obviously it hasn't changed her behavior on that." Joey told me.
Blake came around the car and I could tell he was nervous. I wasn’t sure if it was for me, his mom or just the whole situation.
"Ready?" He asked me.
I took a deep breath then nodded my head. He put his hand forwards showing me that I could take his hand and I did.
I heard him chuckle, "Are you that nervous? We might need my hand later." He said into my ear.
I looked at our hands and I was squeezing the crap out of his without me even noticing.
"Sorry." I said to him, keeping my voice down and he just smiled at me.
The three of us walked to the front door, Joey leading the way. He rang the doorbell and we waited until Blake’s mom opened the door.
"You didn’t have to ring the doorbell. You could have just walked in." Blake told him.
"I know." Joey answered while Blake shook his head.
When the door opened my first thought was how beautiful she was. Her brown hair with a little bit of grey was to her shoulders, I could tell we were about the same height and her eyes were the same color as Blake. Her ocean blue eyes were as captivating as his and she wasn't even looking at me.
"Hi Mrs. Sanders." Joey said.
"Joey! How are you? I haven't seen you in awhile." She said loudly.
"I'm good, busy but good." He said.
"Come on in!" She told us.
I let Blake go in after Joey. When they were standing face to face she put her arms around him.
"Hello honey." She said and he put his free hand on her back.
"Hey mom. How are you?" He asked and they pulled away.
"I'm good. Come on in before all the bugs get in the house." She said. Blake, not letting my hand go made me walk into the house.
Once the front door was closed, she looked at me. I had her full attention and I had no idea what to say.
"Is that her?" She asked Blake, loud enough for all of us to hear.
"Yeah mom it’s her. I want you to meet Amanda. Amanda, this is my mom Tania." He said.
"It's nice to meet you." I said smiling.
She looked me up and down but was still smiling. I wasn't sure if she approved of my look but I knew for certain it wasn't my personality, I barely said a full sentence.
"It's nice to meet you as well Amanda. My son has been talking about you for months and now I finally have a face to go with the name." She said.
My eyes went big and I looked directly at Blake. He was still holding my hand but this other one was covering his face.
"Thanks mom. Really...thanks." I heard him say and his mom laughed which surprised me.
"I have to embarrass him a little bit from time to time." She said looking at me. "Don't worry honey, I won't bring out the naked baby pictures... Well, unless you want me to?" She asked him.
"No! No, we'll pass." Blake said removing his hand from his face.
"That's what I thought." She said. "Would anyone like something to drink?"
"You got orange juice?" Joey asked.
"Yes I do. What about you Amanda? I just don't have alcohol." She informed me.
"Water would be great please." I told her. She made me smile. I remember Blake telling me that she used to drink a lot when he was younger but when he started to get into trouble she stopped drinking to make sure he was only doing good things. I guess she kept it up all this time, even after Blake moved out.
It took a lot of courage and determination to do that.
"Honey? What would you like?" She asked her son.
"I got it. I'm just going to take the same as Joey." He informed her.
He looked at me with a big smile and gently let my hand go so he could go help his mother.
I didn't move from my spot since I had no idea where to go. I could see the living room but I didn't know if we'd be sitting in there or somewhere else.
Walking in her home from the front of the house, you were in between the living room and the dining room.
"Amanda, come sit with me." Joey said, sitting at the kitchen table.
I walked over to him and pulled out a chair to sit-down. I noticed Joey kept looking at me so I turned my head to look directly at him.
"What?" I asked him.
"It's nothing, I'm just curious." He answered.
"About...?" I asked.
"I think what he's trying to say is that when Blake used to bring girls home, it's been a long time though don't you worry, these girls dressed up like they were in their 20s. Make-up on by the gallon and their hair...oh God... They dressed like they were going to a bar to pick up men but they were babies. I didn't like it. Boys with so much testosterone could easily climb the walls trying to get their attention but...they weren't good girls. I didn't want my boy around girls like that. Now, you're the first girl he brings home to meet me in a very long time. I know it's your first time meeting Joey and that easily tells me you haven't met the rest of them. I wasn't sure what to expect but you surprised me. In the past, Blake's...lets call them friends... use to have either dresses that was just below the bum or a top that when they'd bend over you would see so far down their shirt... It made them look cheap. You on the other hand... you're dressed like you could go anywhere and do anything. Comfortable but presentable... most important you don't look like someone who would dance on a stage around a poll while taking off her clothes."
"Mom!" Blake yelled while I laughed.
"Yeah... No, that is definitely not me." I said to her.
"Good. What do you do Amanda, for a living I mean?" She asked, coming to sit at the table with us and giving me my glass of water.
Blake grabbed the two glasses of orange juice and sat down next to me and gave one of the glasses to Joey.
"Thank you." I told her for the water. "I'm a waitress at a diner in town."
"You like it there?" She asked.
"It's fine. I don't love it but the girls I work with are nice. I don't plan on working there for the rest of my life but at the moment I'm not sure what I want to do." I informed her.
I kept reminding myself to breathe and to be honest.
"Would you go back to school?" Blake's mom asked me.
"Maybe, once I know what I'd like to do for certain. I don't want to go to college and be unsure of what I want. I don't want to waste money." I told her.
"That is reasonable and it makes perfect sense." She said. "Blake, Joey can you go downstairs and get those boxes I was telling you about. They are near the stairs."
"You mean the stuff from High School?" Blake asked her.
"Yes, I've had them in the basement for long enough. If you don't want anything in there, throw it out but I still need you two to bring them up." She told them.
"Sure thing." Joey said and they both started to get up.
"Behave." Blake told his mom and she just smiled.
I started to get nervous again. I knew she wanted a one on one with me but not knowing what she was going to say made me anxious.
When they were both out of sight that's when his mom started talking.
"I know we don't know each other but you seem like a nice girl. My son has been through a lot and I will protect him until I die. He might seem tough and put together but he is sensitive and I don't want to see him hurt. He spoke about you a few times. I know he was confused and was receiving mix signal, I hope that is in the past now." She said.
"Yes it is." I said and took a deep breath. "I like your son, a lot. The last thing I ever want to do is to hurt him. Making him...confused like you said was...stupidity. I didn't know what I had in front of me and I'm lucky I got a chance to know before it was too late." I told her.
I kept hearing Emily's voice in my head telling me to be honest.
"I have a...different, difficult past and I've never been good at letting people in or trusting them. Blake showed me that I could trust him and with that I opened up. We still have a long way to go but we move forward, closer together everyday." I informed her.
"He told you about his father?" She asked and I nodded. "I made a mistake and I paid a big price for it. It caused not just pain for me, which was less important but my son... he paid the biggest price of all. I still see the look in his eyes from time to time of when he learned his father had left. I never want to see that look again." She said.
"I think I know the look you're referring to. I think that's a reason why he works so hard at everything he does." I told her.
"Is he good to you?" She asked.
I got confused. "What do you mean?" I asked.
"Is he respectful, truthful...does he make sure you're okay?" She asked.
"Yes, without a doubt. He's a wonderful man and that's all you. You raised an incredible man and I'm sure that must have been very difficult. You should be very proud of him." I said to her.
"Good, and yes I am proud of my son. His accomplishments are his own. He worked very hard to earn them and I can't say it's because of me. All I can do and will always do is encourage and offer my opinion if he needs or wants it." She said.
"When he talks about you...his face, it lights up. He loves you dearly." I told her.
"Well, his face lights up when he speaks of you too." She said and I smiled.
I could hear the boys talking and when they came into view Blake was the first to say, "What the hell are in those boxes? They're so heavy I thought the bottom was going to give out. It can't just be stuff from High School in them."
Blake and Joey sat back down when his mother said, "Of course they are heavy. Some of your weights are in those boxes."
I bit my lip trying not to laugh.
"Are you serious?! Couldn't you have said something before? We could have taken them out of the boxes. It would have been a lot easier." Blake said to her.
"What would have been the fun in that? Beside, they weren't that heavy...the weights I mean." She told him and Blake rolled his eyes.
His mom looked at me and I still had a big smile on my face trying my best not to laugh.
"I think we will get along just fine." She said while smiling at me.
****Please Vote & Comment! Thank You!!****
I hope you liked the chapter. Sorry it took so long. From now on, once the chapter is finished and edited, I'll post it. It's going to be less pressure for me.
Thank you for your patience, you're amazing. Have a wonderful weekend! (Long weekend!!)
xxx