*As you can see, there's a new cover. Do you like it? Should I keep it or should I go back to the previous one? Let me know.*
I woke up into the new year after sleeping the whole night like a baby.
Waiting for midnight with Evelyn had been very therapeutic for me, as it relaxed me and made me forget for a moment about my constant anxiety.
When I sat down at the kitchen table, my mother presented me my cup of hot chocolate milk and gave me a quick, slightly detached kiss on the cheek, whispering "happy new year".
As I started to sip on the milk, my father entered the house from the outside without looking at anyone, walking past us and heading upstairs.
Of course, I didn't even bother to comment that with my mother, as she glanced at me with a look on her face that said all that was needed to be said. In response, I shrugged and shook my head no.
As I was drying my hair after a long shower, I heard someone knocking on the door. That was followed by my mother almost yelling "Tyler! What a surprise! Come in!".
I wish my mother could always be as lively as she was around Tyler.
As Tyler entertained small talk with my mom, I quickly finished drying my hair and opened the bathroom door.
The noise caused by the old door was enough to make Tyler turn my way and smile at me. I smiled back as he walked towards me.
"Wait, I have to style my hair," I said and intended to close the door, but he blocked me.
"Here, let me," he said, entering the bathroom. I felt a little embarrassed because of the fluffy natural hair on top of my head, as he grabbed the clay on the cabinet.
"Happy new year," I caroled, as he swiftly unbolted the clay jar and swiped a finger into the product, grabbing a nickel-size amount of it.
"Happy new year to you too," he cheerfully stated.
He then swept to my back and positioned me in front of the mirror.
I looked at his face from the mirror and he looked very concentrated, as he rubbed his hands together, heating up the clay on his palms. Soon, he was coating the product on my hair with his fast, stiff hands.
I had to put strength into my neck not to end up looking like one of those head-bouncing toys because of his savage distribution of clay in my hair, but, in the end, it was worth the stress.
His mastery at hairstyling left me with a stunning honest-to-God quiff on top of my head, one I'd never be able to do, one very similar to his.
I turned my head left and right several times, admiring his work of art and said "I'm out of words. Can I please call you every time I have to style my hair?"
He chuckled. "You can do this yourself. Just remember, you have to dominate your hair. You rule on your hair, it doesn't rule on you. Even if it's on top of you."
"Jesus, life just has to be about imposing your authority on everything, uh?" I observed.
That morning was spent watching episodes of Dragon Ball Z, as I told Tyler about the progress I had made with Evelyn, whom I'd texted a good morning as soon as I woke up but was yet to hear back.
Tyler told me how proud he was of me, alluded to the fact that I was growing up, and suggested that I told my parents about it.
"You know, my mom is not always as frisky as she is with you," I told him, "and don't get me started on my father. I don't think we've even talked yet, this year, me and him."
"I understand," he said, "but how bad can it go?"
"Very bad," I gasped, "no more Internet bad. Mom goes crazy every time she hears me talking to someone on Skype."
"That's because she doesn't know who it is you're talking with," he noted, "maybe if you tell her that it's a girlfriend..."
"Nope," I cut him short, "she'll be even more mad."
He sighed. "She has to understand that this is the age you start to look for someone special."
"She still considers me a child," I accused, "I don't think you really understand."
"That's because you don't give her the chance to see you for what you really are," he said, "c'mon, believe me!"
Right in that moment I received a text from Evelyn: "Hi, Avsam. Sry, slept all morning :$ btw, can I have your home address?"
"What do you need that for?" I typed back.
"I wanna send you something," she wrote.
I glanced at Tyler and gave him a hand sign to wait a moment, and texted back, "that's not a great idea. If my parents see something in the mail for me, they'll open it without even asking. Pretty sure of that."
"What?? That's bs. My parents would never dare."
"Yeah, my parents are not your parents, unfortunately."
"Let's talk on Skype." she wrote, and I wanted to tell her that I couldn't because I was with Tyler but then I thought about it for a moment and texted a "okay".
"Something wrong?" asked Tyler, seeing me stand up all of a sudden and grabbing the laptop.
"Yes and no," I said, "I have to call Evelyn."
"Oh, alright, I'll go downstairs," he said.
"No," I stopped him, "stay here."
I rapidly logged onto Skype and hit the call button on Evelyn's contact. She picked up after a number of rings.
"Here you are, Avsam," she said, as she turned on the webcam.
"Hey Avsama," I answered, giggling at the female version of 'Avsam' I'd just made up and turning on my webcam too.
She seemed startled for a moment, as she saw two heads, mine and Tyler's, appearing on her screen, and then she said "oh, you could've told me you weren't alone," blushing a little.
"Avsama," I announced, "this is my cousin Tyler. Tyler, this is Evelyn."
"Nice to meet you," Tyler waved at the camera, "now what are those Japanese terms you just said to call yourselves?"
Evelyn and I both chuckled, and then she said "nice to meet you too, Tyler. Peter said a lot of great things about you."
I could see that saying 'Peter' was as weird for her as it was for me to say 'Evelyn'.
"I can only guess," Tyler responded, "after all, I'm his first love. Sorry."
"Oh really," Evelyn said with a goofy frown on her face, "I can argue that."
"Hey, don't fight over me," I interrupted them, cackling.
"So Avsam," Evelyn exclaimed, "I really wanna send you something!"
I sighed. "Yeah, well, I told you. My parents are a pain in the ass."
"Can't you just tell them not to open it?" she asked.
"They'd get suspicious and think that I'm ordering drugs or something," I explained.
"Come on, they'll see my name on it!" she insisted.
"That's the thing, Avsama," I tried to keep calm, "they don't know who you are."
She stood silent for a bit. "Neither do my parents. But if they see your name on it, they'd think it's a friend and leave it alone."
"How many times should I tell you? My parents are not like yours! Stop it already," I emphasized.
She opened her mouth and seemed ready to say something, but then she closed it and brought a look to her face that made me feel guilty.
"I can help you with that," Tyler saved it.
I turned to him. "What do you mean?"
"Well, she can send whatever she wants to send to my address, and then I'll give it to you," he explained.
"Yes!" Evelyn exclaimed.
"I guess that'll work," I stated.
So Tyler took possession of the laptop and typed down his address on Skype's message board.
"Thank you, Tyler," Evelyn said, "really."
"So what are you going to send?" I asked her.
"That's a surprise, of course," she said.
"Now I want to know even more," I cried.
"Sorry," she said in a salty way, "listen, I gotta go now. See you?"
"Yes, see you. Bye Avsama," I pursued.
"Bye Evelyn," Tyler said too.
"Bye Tyler," she replied, "and thanks again! Bye Avsam! I love you."
I nodded at her smiling face and then hung up the call. Tyler looked at me with a weird expression.
I looked back at him, frowning, before he stated "well, I better be going now. See you soon, Pete."
After Tyler left, I looked at my phone and noticed a call from Evelyn. I looked around and ran back to my room. Quickly, I answered the call.
"Are you serious?" Evelyn stormed before I could even say a word. "Why didn't you say it back?"
"What?" I asked confused.
"I told you I love you. Why didn't you say it back?" she explained.
"Hey, it's not the first time you tell me you love me, you know," I struggled.
"Yeah, but why didn't you say it back this time?" she shrieked.
"I don't know. I... I mean, Tyler was here. It was kind of embarrassing," I nervously said.
"So you're embarrassed of me," she railed.
"No, I'm not embarrassed of you," I argued, "what are you talking about? We just had a video chat with Tyler present. If I were embarrassed of you, I wouldn't have done it."
"So what stopped you from saying a simple 'I love you too'?"
"I love you too!" I exclaimed. "You know I do."
"Do I? Because you not saying it in front of your cousin could tell me a lot of things."
"C'mon," I cried, "I'm sorry, okay? I... you're my first girlfriend. I'm not used to this... yet. Just give me time."
She sighed.
"I'm sorry," I said again, "forgive me. I love you."
"Okay," she said, and then I overheard a voice shouting "Lily! Still on the phone? C'mon, we gotta go!" and she shouted back, "yes mom! Coming!"
"Lily?" I asked.
"Yeah," she said, "only my mom calls me that."
"Interesting," I noted, "I'll let you go now, Lily Tiger... WAIT!"
"What?!" she sounded concerned.
"Holy shit," I exclaimed, "you're Tiger Lily!"
She chortled. "I never thought about it."
"Oh man..." I did two squats for the excitement.
"Okay, well, see you Avsam Peter Pan," she said.
"See you Tiger Avsama Lily, and hey. I love you."
"I love you too," she said and hung up.
• — • — • — • — • — • — • — •
Now, dear Future, I'd tell you about the rest of that day, when we stayed with the family, but it'd be pretty boring. Simply because it's the exact same thing as Christmas. Just think about that mess again and you get the picture of how 2012 started.
On the 7th of January, Tyler called me telling me that he received a box from Evelyn Tiger, Bonnie Boulevard, Cleveland, Ohio.
He could only come to my house the next day, though, since he was very busy with university matters.
He stopped by the house with his car, handed me the box, and left after a quick exchange of words. I managed to get the box to my room without my parents noticing.
Evelyn had told me not to open it without her on video chat. So I had to wait for a few hours for her to be available, with that box with her name on it staring at me.
I don't know how I managed not to break the promise and open it anyway. The curiosity was so tempting.
Fortunately, she managed to get on Skype and call me. I immediately started opening the box as both our cameras were turned on.
The first thing I found there was a giant lollipop shaped like the mask of Spider-Man, which just by looking at it brought salivation into my mouth.
The next thing was an action figure of Dolph Ziggler. I'd told her I wanted it but couldn't find it anywhere in Queens. I almost cried thanking her from the bottom of my heart, and she seemed very happy to see me like that.
And the last thing in the box was an envelope. The sender was 'Tiger Lily, Avsam Blvd, Neverland' and the recipient 'Peter Pan, Avsam St, Neverland'.
I smiled and took the time to make her realize that her real address was 'Bonnie Boulevard' and mine was 'Clyde Street'. She was shocked and said that there are just so many coincidences that can occur in life. She called it destiny.
Inside the envelope was a Christmas card that simply read 'Merry Christmas' and had drawings of snow, a Christmas ball and a Christmas hat.
As soon as I opened the card, I noticed her camera feed go off. I didn't even bother asking. I knew she was feeling embarrassed for what I was going to read.
Because inside the card was a letter. An actual hand-written letter. I took a glance at her beautiful, precise hand-writing. I smelled it, making sure she didn't notice, but wasn't able to cling to any particular smell.
I wanted to find her smell in that letter, just to feel her closer to me. Just to tell myself that she was real and not another one of my fantasies. I was holding something she held. I was touching something her hands had touched, something her eyes had looked at.
That little insignificant letter had the chance to be touched by her, to feel her breathing on its surface and to be a few inches away from her gorgeous eyes.
That letter she sent me had been held by her and now I was the one holding it. Somehow, we could hold the same letter, but couldn't hold each other.
Dear Avsam,
where do I start? I'm writing this letter but I don't even know if I'll be able to send it to you, because parents. I know we've only been together for a little more than a week, but I love you and I already know you're the one. Why? Well, first of all, I'd do anything to see you, I love you so much even if we've never seen each other, and I'd never cheat on you. You know I'm serious (and so are you), I could never go to the disco without telling you, I'd never smoke, drink and meet someone else. I. Could. Never. It goes against my every ideal.
In a relationship, it's important to trust, in addition to love, and to have respect. I know it's gonna be hard. For you, this is your first experience, for me... it's not. But only now I realize that was not true love. There was no respect with him, I just trusted him blindly, and you know how that ended. He changed, and if, for a few days, I saw it as a 'learning experience' now I just call it a fluke. I hope you never change. In spite of your fears and your problems and your insecurities, I love you like I've never loved anyone ever before. Because you're kind and sensitive and you're so nice and funny, you're a nerd and you know me so well. And you're so handsome now, I can't imagine when you'll be 20. I love your perfect lips. I've never seen a nose like yours before! Don't blush.
It's not easy, I know, but we can do it. I believe in us. It's better to love someone distant and feel him so close, than to love someone close but feel him so distant. I can't wait to meet you and show you my love and, of course, see yours.
We can do this. I love you Avsam, I love you so much.
Yours truly,
Avsama.
"Oh man," I whispered, taking a deep breath, "Avsama..."
I heard her typing on the keyboard without saying a word. The incoming message sounded on the laptop. I leaned in closer to see. It only read ':$'.
"My love," I said, "I'm so sorry about my behavior in the past few days. Please, let's not have arguments again. I love you so much, I really do."
"I don't want to fight either," she broke her silence, "I just want to be with you forever."
"The same goes for me, Avsama," I said, "you give my life purpose."
"How can I love you so much after only a week?" she asked.
"Must be true love," I said, "must be."
And I was happy. I'd never been so happy. Not even when I was a child. I wanted to keep living my life in front of that laptop, reading her blushing and talking with her about this and that and expressing unconditional love with the slight thrill of fear of my parents finding out.
I didn't need a social life, didn't need to go out. I only needed her voice and to look at her eyes even if in low quality.
There was no insomnia that evening. I slept like a baby, feeling weightless and free.
However, the excitement was killed when my mother savagely opened the blinds before seven in the morning and roughly stated "time for school".
***
Robbers, did you or did you not like this chapter?!
I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it! I LOVE good times!
The #TeamEvelyn fans are really getting what they want. But, as you noticed in the end of the chapter, #TeamAmber fans may be getting something of their own next week.
It is indeed time for school for Peter. And Andrew and Josh will be waiting for him.
VOTING would be highly appreciated and, if you want, tell me in the COMMENTS what ACTORS you'd see best fit for the roles of this book's main characters.
I'll probably put the cast list soon with my ideas, but I'd like to hear yours too!
Until next week, ta-ta for now!
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