Ophelia (18 page)

“You like it?” I heard the anxiety in his question.

“Yeah, it’s different. I’ll miss playing with your hair, but it’ll grow back.”

His closed his eyes and, for a brief moment, sadness appeared in them. “I shaved it when you left. I missed your touch too much.” Teo avoided looking at me. Was he ashamed?

“I’m sorry I left, and I’m sorry I said... Look at me, Teo.” I lifted his chin with my finger. “You are perfect for me, short or long hair. It gives you some edge.” It added a bad boy allure to his features. His beautiful brown eyes stared at me at last.

“Are you saying I lost my edge?” He furrowed his brow.

I didn’t know what to say anymore. It seemed that whatever I was saying, it only got worse. I kept hurting him.

“I’ll show you some edge.” He started tickling the good side of my ribs, but it still hurt. I laughed and I screamed.

“Wait, stop... Stop. It hurts.” I laughed. “And don’t tease me like that, we can’t have sex.”

“I know, doctor’s order. I’m not even sure the doctor would’ve approved flying to Brooklyn. Don’t you have medication to take?”

“Later. Tomorrow is the last day, actually.”

He was right, I didn’t think flying to Brooklyn was a good idea, but I’d just had to do it. My head hurt a little, my wrist and ribs were sensitive ,but manageable.

“I would like to take you to the restaurant tonight, if you feel up to it.”

I wanted to stay home, but I couldn’t say no to him. My only desire was to be by his side.

“Okay, are you asking me on a date?” I bit my lip seductively.

“Yes, and please stop doing that. It’s human cruelty. I’m about to combust here.”

We kissed again. I had missed those perfect lips.

“Now, get out. I have to get ready for my date” I ordered him, trying to sound bossy, which I failed at miserably.

He kissed me one last time, leaving me lightheaded. I took a couple of minutes to regain control of my overstimulated body. He knew how to kiss me, how to make me bewildered. I believed he knew my body and my weakness better than I did.

I had two options; short little black dress or an even shorter midnight blue dress with a deep neckline. I didn't even know why I asked myself. Of course, I had to go with the midnight blue one. With that dress on, it gave my hair the illusion of a deep copper red shade. Now that I knew what I was going to wear, I hopped in the shower real quick. My body needed some attention. It had been neglected in the past week.

***

His smile, his lips, his words

Everything about him made me feel alive.

Love will do that to you.

***

“J
esus! When did you get that dress?” His eyes undressed me with such intensity that it was embarrassing me.

I turned around in a runway model-like way, trying to distract him, but his eyes remained on me.

“I got it in Paris. I’m pretty sure I showed it to you.” Maybe not, I got so many clothes when I went to Paris. My shopping spree turned into a frenzy.

“You didn’t.” He ran his hand through his short hair. “I would’ve remembered if you had. Look at you, so sexy.”

“Thank you, you aren’t bad yourself.” He wore his usual black straight leg jeans with a fitted shirt, exactly like I love him. “Come here.”

His arms tucked me to his chest. I placed my hand over his heart, my fingers feeling every beat, each of them going faster.

“You see the effect you have on me?” I nodded against his chest. “I could never live without you.”

I blew him a kiss and he ran a finger down my cheek.

“Come on, before you get me all riled up again.”

To my surprise, we weren’t taking his new car. He wanted us to walk together, get some fresh hair. Maybe he needed to cool off. I chuckled at the thought.

Teo took me to his restaurant for dinner. He said he wanted to show me the new ambiance, something he had been working hard on with his partner. First thing that caught my attention was how full the restaurant was. I couldn’t even see a free table. People were eating, talking and having a good time. It made me proud. His hard work was paying off. Then, I saw, in the middle of the dining room, a shiny black baby grand piano.

“I don’t want you to play tonight because I’m not sharing you yet, but when you’re completely healed, I would love to hear you play here.”

Emotions got to me. Even while we were apart, he included me into his plans. He never gave up believing in us. “I would be honored to play here.” Tears filled my eyes. “Thank you, baby.”

“You have talent, Ophelia. I don’t know what you’re planning yet, but here you’ll always be welcome.”

He reached for my hand as we started walking again. In a quiet corner, there was a table for two reserved for us. He pulled out my chair like a gentleman, and I sat smiling like a lottery winner. I had won the jackpot with Teo, I had no doubt about that.

“I know you can't drink alcohol, but you would like something, babe?”

Now that he had mentioned it, I craved a glass of wine. “I’ll have sparkling water, a Perrier.”

“Did I tell you how gorgeous you are tonight?” He gazed at me through his eyelashes.

My cheeks reddened yet again. “You did quite a few times.”

“I know, I just like to be the reason for your constant blushing,” he teased me.

“Good evening, Mr. De Luca. Would you like something to drink?” The waitress had her eyes fixed completely on Teo.

Hum... Hello? I’m right here. I rolled my eyes. Couldn’t she be more obvious?

“We’ll have two Perriers, please,” he said politely, his eyes on me.

“I’ll be right back.”

Our fingers interlaced on the table. I didn’t want to break the moment, our good mood but I had a question that I had been dying to ask.

“Can I ask you something?” I asked hesitantly.

“You seem nervous... I’m not sure I should agree, but go ahead. You should be comfortable enough with me to ask anything, Ophelia.”

I nodded. “Okay. If you don’t want to answer now, I understand.” I waited a couple of seconds, trying to think of how to get started. “When you went to Jarrod and Misha’s house to... hide, the night you decided to change your name, what happened with your father?”

He blinked. “Not really what I expected, but it’s okay. Changing my name was something that I had been thinking about for a while. I knew if I didn’t leave I would have ended up in trouble, jail or whatever. My dad and his gang were dealing with a shit load of crap.” I gave him a look. I wanted details. “Ophelia, it’s nothing you need to know. Drugs, guns, illegal transactions. They weren’t afraid to use their guns.” He paused. “My dad decided that I should learn the ropes. I was the newbie doing the dirty jobs. My fresh young face served them well. Nobody knew me, so I was able to spy for them. I was their little bitch. That night, my dad was away, and they told me to find a man in a bar, and after that, I had to get him to follow me outside. I did it, I was too chicken shit not to. As soon as we were outside, they gave him a beating. I don’t even know if the man is alive or what he did to deserve it. He kept begging them to stop, but they didn’t listen. I stood there watching them, helpless. I didn’t want to do that for a living. My mom and even my dad had raised me with good values, respect and love. When my mom was hospitalized, my dad freaked out and reached out to his old friends. I’ve always known my dad used to be on the bad side of the tracks, but since I was born, he did everything to be a good father.”

“I don’t understand why he changed like that.”

“I don’t either. It happened fast. One day, he was home crying, missing my mom, and the following day, he had turned into a bum. That night I decided to cut every tie with my dad and the rest of the family. I had to think of my future. I did it for my mom, you and me. I didn’t want to let you down.” He reached for my hand. “My dad probably thinks I’m dead by now. I’m guessing that’s why he got my name engraved on the gravestone.”

“You were only seventeen.” My heart hurt for him. What kind of father does that to his only son? He’d never said anything to me about this until now.

“You too.” His word hit me.

“We both had a rough start in life, but what hurts me right now is that you never told me anything. All these years, you must have been sad, in need of a shoulder to cry on. I didn’t give you what you needed. You were the one supporting me, all the time.”

“You had to deal with enough already. You didn’t need to know about this and I was fine. I missed my mom, but I never missed my dad. The man he was the last time I saw him was a complete stranger.” He held my hand tighter. “Now, please, don’t let’s this ruin our evening. You gave me everything I needed. Around you, I was never unhappy.”

“Okay. Thank you. Enough with my questions for tonight.” I pushed the sadness away. “What are we eating?” I asked, looking at the menu.

“I’m going to have the filet mignon. It’s very good. What do you feel like eating?”

“Pasta, maybe.” I was too tired to eat, to be honest. Meat didn’t sound appetizing tonight.

“We have pastas. Would you like the seafood with linguini? Or maybe the Italian sausage with grilled veggies on fusilli? You can have whatever you like. They’ll fix it for you.”

I felt bad, but I had to tell him. It all sounded tasty but I wasn’t very hungry. “I’ll just have a grilled chicken garden salad. I’m not that hungry.”

“Are you feeling okay? Do you want to go home?” His conscientious sweetness touched me deeply.

I didn’t want to ruin our date. He was obviously hungry.  “Don’t worry about me, I just had a long day.”

In the past, we had eaten at his restaurant many times, but not since they had revamped the whole place. The tables, the wall colors and decorations were more up to date and vibrant. The vibe of the restaurant had changed completely, and apparently the customers enjoyed it.

“I’m impressed by everything you've done here. It’s young and fresh.”

“We're pretty excited as well. There will be an article in the local newspaper this weekend. We expect even more people by then.”

“You deserve it, you worked so hard for it.”

He smiled, looking shy.

The waitress came to give us our drinks and to take our orders. She still ignored me.

“There is something I want to talk to you about. When you were in Brooklyn, Bev and I talked a lot and we think maybe it’s time to move out of the apartment. Get a new place, bigger, maybe.”

Why bigger? We’re okay in the apartment. It had never been an issue before.

“We could get a house, a bi-generation house or a duplex with a yard for Clara and an eventual child of ours.”

“I think you guys have made up your mind already. If Bev has decided something, it’s already too late to say no.”

I noticed the discomfort in Teo's posture. “We found a place and we could visit tomorrow morning.” He sighed. “If you would like.”

I knew money was never going to be an issue unless I turned into Paris Hilton. I hated to think about it, but I had my parents’ money and mine, which was a lot. Maybe it could be fun to have a yard, we could have BBQ's. “Where is it?”

“Poway.”

I knew where it was. Great, family-oriented neighbourhood. I nodded, thinking about this.

“We could visit the house, now that you have me curious and all.”

“Yeah? You want to?” he asked, surprised.

“Did you think I wouldn’t agree?” He motioned a yes. “I think we could afford it, but we would need to take a look at our finances.”

“We... hum... We already did. I wouldn’t be talking about it if it weren’t possible.”

I laughed. “Okay, you two got this all figured out.”

He nodded sheepishly. I could see in his eyes that he feared I would get upset, but I wasn’t.

“Okay. It’s fine, Teo.”

Our food arrived and he talked to me about the property. It seemed like a genuinely nice house with a swimming pool in the backyard. He showed me pictures of the house from his phone and it seemed like a big house with a lot of room.  

For the rest of the dinner, I couldn't think straight. Were we really going to buy a house? This was not something that I would ever have expected, but I could see us four, sitting by the pool in the yard.

I was definitely looking forward to visiting the property.

Our empty plates disappeared and were replaced by cannolis and Italian ice cream. I didn’t even realize that we had ordered our dessert yet. Was I that distracted?

“What do you want to do next?” I asked, suddenly too hyper to go home and sleep.

“The weather's nice, we could take a walk.”

I smiled. “I would love that.” Hand in hand, or his arm around my waist. A simple thing I loved. We used to take many walks when we moved here. On the beach, mostly. The scenery was very pleasing to look at, and we just talked about anything. Beverly came with us most of the time, until she got too pregnant to walk long distances.

“You seem like you are miles away.”

I chuckled. “Yeah. I’m surprised, exhausted and excited all at the same time. Thinking about the house, walking with you. I’m sorry.”

“Are you happy?”

“I am.”

His lips and eyes smiled. Me being happy had that effect on him as though he’d been granted everything he’d ever wished for.

... O ...

The feeling against my feet was cool and it tickled as I pushed against it. Walking on the sand, barefoot remained one of my favorite things here in San Diego. The view of the pier and the sunset was the most mesmerizing I had ever seen and it was here, close to home. We held hands and strode along the beach. The seagulls surrounded us at the pier, which overlooked the shore for a long distance. I used to come here to think, to meditate in the first year after our arrival. My psychiatrist at the time encouraged me to do a lot of meditation. While Teo surfed the waves, I relaxed on the pier.  Watching his athletic body controlling the waves had been inspiring to me. Teo always had full control of his life and he could deal with change easily, while I was always stressing out over every small change. Teo helped me find a balance, and I was more than thankful. I got better with time too.

“What are you smiling about?”