Telepathic Heart (GxG)

36. Her name was Haven

It took a bit of time before Willow answered my text if she wanted to come to visit. It's Sunday, so I assume she was sleeping in. She is on the way now, though. Simon, my mother's boyfriend, came home not long ago with a cake and gave me money as a birthday present, which was nice of him. He is not bad; I like him, and so does Jake because they play games together. 

Weirdly enough, he has managed to spend more time with my brother than our own father has done this year. Simon has no children of his own but seems not to mind Jake nor me. I think, In a way, Jake has found a type of comfort in him. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate my father, but he is too intense and isn't suitable to be a father, I would say. 

"You can't beat me!" Jake says as they are playing on the console, some kind of car game. I smile while leaning on the doorframe. For some reason, it feels more like home than it's done in years. Perhaps it's because my brother has finally found a ground to place his feet on. He isn't sad as much as he was before. 

Compared to my father, Simon is calm and patient. They are two completely different people. Maybe that was what my mother was looking for. I mean, my parents met when they were both young, and mom said dad changed a lot during the years. She thinks it was the pressure from our grandfather that took over him.

I turn in the direction of a knock on the door, and I smile, seeing Willow as I opened it. 

"Hi," I say and take a step out into the cold to close the door behind me. 

"Hi, Happy birthday," She smiles at me with her green eyes. Her black hair up in a ponytail, showing her cute cheekbones. 

"Thank you; I'm sorry that I only texted today," I tell her, but she shakes her head.

"No, it's okay. I didn't have any plans for today; I would ask if you wanted to do something later. I thought you might want to spend the day with your family, but then you texted," She explains to me. 

"Yeah, well, I told my mom about you, and she was the one who asked to invite you," I inform her shyly, and now she looks nervous. 

"It's okay, my mom likes you, and you know them," I smile reassuringly at her. 

"Yeah, okay," She nods. 

"Come on then," I grab her hand to pull her after me inside to the warmth. She pulls off her jacket and hangs it with the others.  

"Hi," My mother grins, coming from the kitchen.

"It's nice you wanted to come," She says, drying her hands on a cloth. 

"I'm about to make dinner. Would you like to help?" My mother asks, more like pleading.

"Seriously?" I blurted out, which made Willow chuckle. 

"No, I won't mind helping," She smiles nicely.

"Thank god, because I am not a good cook," Mom says nervously, perhaps knowing that Willow is amazing at making food makes her uneasy.

"You are not that bad," I disagree. 

"Hush," My mother says, and Willow follows her into the kitchen. Great, I lost the one person I wanted to spend time with. I roll my eyes and find myself in a seat at the table. 

"What are we making?" Willow asks, leaning on the counter. 

"Lasagna, it's Harley's standard birthday meal, and I hate making it," Mom answers, and I feel my cheeks fire up as Willow turned to me, containing her laughter. 

"Lasagna is something I have made a lot before, so that's okay," She smiles while my mother is pulling out pans from the cabinets and ingredients from the fridge.