The Day After Prom

Chapter-16

"My mom runs her own business and my dad was her partner. They started a business together as soon as they were done with college." He started.

"They met in high school though. So that's how it all started, they were friends, then business partners and then they started a family." He paused. God this could be a plot of a perfect romcom, I thought to myself.

"What about your parents?" He asked and surprisingly he didn't tell me much details about his family.

It was my turn now, great! He has this perfect family and I really don't want to talk about my family stuff right now. But he has told me about his, it'll be rude if I don't, so maybe I shouldn't go into too much detail.

"Well, uh-.." I started.

"My dad is an investment banker..." I continued. Well he's an investment banker and oh yeah, my mom cheated on my dad, she hated me and used to disrespect my grandparents.

She was also an alcoholic. She never hit me but her venom laced words were enough to show her hate towards anyone.

Oh and my dad is a master at manipulating, he wants me to live my life his way. By majoring in finance like him and living a perfect life. To him, anyone who has a finance degree can take over the whole damn world.

Also, guess what? I don't really get along with him because he's never there for me and my grandparents were the people who practically raised me. You wanna hear more?

"and my mom doesn't live with us anymore.." I continued. Well, this didn't come out as I planned in my head. But guess what? It's fine, he doesn't have to know every disastrous experience of my life. The last thing I want is to talk about that on this good date.

"Oh.." He put his hand on mine. His honey brown eyes showed a glint of emotion which I believe may be concern or pity and I hate when people show me the latter.

"Well, you don't have to worry, it's fine!" I rubbed his arm with my other hand. Whatever happened, I'm glad that the "mom" I had is out of my life now. But, I have never met a guy who displays emotions like him.

"Do you want to talk about it?" He asked.

"No, it's fine, people don't get along all the time! It's fine!" I gave him an assuring smile. He's sweet but I don't think that he'll understand a thing about all these "issues". Also, I don't wanna stress him out.

"But you should know that I'm always here if you need me." He gently squeezed my hand and embraced me in a hug.

"It's been a lot of time now, it's fine. Also, let me tell you about my grandma and grandpa." I was quick to change the topic. I don't want him to feel guilty about bringing this up.

He seemed a little sad, I guess. Although he perfectly hid it, I could still figure it out. What can I say? I'm good at reading people or maybe.. Just him.

But then, I decided to shift to a lighter topic. This perfect date shouldn't turn into an emotional roller coaster.

So, I told him about how my grandma and grandpa met. All the fun moments I had with them. The conversation was back to normal in no time.

We were discussing embarrassing moments we had in front of our crushes and all that. Then we talked about our current favorite movies or series.

One thing that I noticed during all this was that talking to him is kind of easy. We were smiling and laughing the whole time. Well, except for the parents and family part. We had a lot in common too! Could this date get any better?

Just as we were talking, I remembered. I have to tell him about Asher, I don't want him to be you know... misunderstand anything.

"So," I started.

"Yeah?" he smiled.

"I have to tell you about Asher."

"Are you sure?" He gave me an "It's okay if you don't want to" look.

"Of course I am!"

"So, Asher and I were best friends, like childhood friends. This was until your ex Aubrey came around and snatched him away from me." I said it in a playful tone, so that there won't be much tension and no one will get uncomfortable.

"Ah, I see." He replied in an equally playful tone which made me smile.

I explained everything to him.

"Okay, so that's about it. I was pretty hurt in the beginning but I guess it's okay now!" I smiled.

He smiled back. Wow, things aren't getting weird or awkward he really knows how to keep it light and I like that!

"Um, since we're at it.." He started and looked at me.

"Don't you like, want to know about.. uh-" He paused as he didn't know how to frame the question in the right way. But I already knew where it was heading. Aubrey.

"You and Aubrey?" I asked and he nodded.

"Well, I guess you can tell it to me. But she's your past and also I wouldn't want to make stuff weird for you. So, if you're uncomfortable, you don't have to." I smiled gently.

"But, I want you to know it.." He smiled slyly and started. "Aubrey and I met in school, she was partnered with me in History. We had to do a project."

"I knew she had a reputation but I didn't want to judge her before getting to know her. You know she and her mom don't get along very well, so I looked at her as a person who needs help." He continued.

"In the whole process of helping her out and being there for her, we started to have feelings for each other. She never told me she had a boyfriend before. Also, you know she got really jealous or insecure I guess, whenever I hung out with my other friends. It was getting toxic for me but then when I found out about Liam.." He paused.

"I couldn't take it anymore." He looked at me. "I just wanted you to know all this before.. you know, we started to get serious." He finished.

Well, it's great that he cleared the air, he tried to help Aubrey even though she's a complete jerk. But, it's nice of him to talk about what happened. But there's one thing I want to know..

"Hey, I just want to be straight up with you about this.." I paused for a moment and then began "Do you still like her? Or does she still have feelings for you?" I looked at him.

I wanted to know this. I just don't want to be his rebound or a decision he's making in a rush, you know.