“Elena!” Mamă hollers.

“Yes?” I shout back. My dad and brother just got home, so she’s probably calling about dinner.

“Dinner is ready!”

“Okay!” I sneak a look at Adelia. She looks a little nervous. “We’ll be there soon. Just a minute.”

I scoot next to Adelia and put my arm around her shoulder. “You okay?” I whisper, rubbing her shoulder.

“Yeah. I just get nervous when meeting other peoples’ families, that’s all.”

I cast an apologetic look Adelia’s way. “I mean…they’re not mean. Just sorry in advance if my brother says anything. He’s in a phase where he thinks everything is gay and jokes about it terribly. My parents will also probably interrogate you about your life and school and stuff. But that’s the worst that could happen. Come down with me?” I reach out with my other hand.

Grabbing my hand, Adelia squeezes it. “Okay. Let’s go.”

As we descend down the stairs, Denis appears, grinning widely when he sees the two of us holding hands. “I knew it! Mamă, Tată, they’re dating!”

Adelia squeezes my hand out of panic, and then soon drops it. She looks extremely uncomfortable.

“No we’re not!” I hiss as I reach the bottom step, pushing my way past Denis and his annoying statements and claims.

“No, you so are. Why else would you be holding hands?”

“What’s going on in here?” Tată appears, popping out of the kitchen.

“Tată, those two are dating. I caught them holding hands.”

“Denis!” Tată says warningly. “Friends can hold hands. Not everyone is queer, or whatever the right word is. Not everyone is weird like that. Get over this ‘gay phase.’” Tată puts in air quotes.

Huffing, Denis goes past Tată into the kitchen. 

“Sorry, that’s my brother,” I state apologetically to Adelia, who’s staring at the ground. She looks like she’s questioning why she came here in the first place.

“It’s okay.”

Tată shifts his full attention to Adelia. “Hi! You must be Adelia. Elena has been talking about you non-stop these past few days. Welcome!” Tată walks over to Adelia and stretches out his hand, and she takes it, shaking it.

“H-hi,” Adelia falters.

“No need to be shy. I promise we don’t bite,” Tată chuckles. “Come now! Time to try Romanian food for the first time!” Tată leads Adelia into the kitchen, me following close behind. Well, it’s now or nothing. Hopefully this dinner won’t be bad for Adelia.

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

“Your family is pretty nice,” Adelia comments as we sit on the two chairs on the porch, watching the sun get tucked into bed by the rising dusk.

“Even my brother?” I tease, taking a sip of my chamomile tea.

“I mean…when he puts aside his gay jokes. He wasn’t too bad when he was talking to me about DC Comics.”

Right. The DC conversation. Denis is obsessed with DC, as turns out Adelia is too, and they both yapped about Wonder Woman continuously for about ten minutes.

“Yeah, I guess so. I’m happy he put his gay jokes to rest at dinner.” I sneak a look at Adelia, who’s busy staring at the sunset. “You didn’t feel too uncomfortable during dinner, did you? What with my parents bombarding you with questions about school and your family and your interests. Everything was okay?”

“Yeah,” Adelia looks at me when she responds. “It was actually really nice. I know when we first came downstairs it was a bit weird, but I enjoyed myself in the end. That was the most fun I’ve had in a bit–well, other than when you came over to my house on Saturday. Otherwise, my life is pretty uneventful.” She takes a sip of her piping hot peppermint tea. I don’t know how she does it, but she’s able to eat and drink things, even when they’re extremely hot. What a skill to have.

“That’s good! I’m happy that you had a good time,” I reply, returning my focus to the sun, which is barely peeking now. The tippy top of the sun is practically kissing the trees and hills in the distance, encasing nature with its golden glow.

“You know, you look really pretty in the sun,” Adelia comments, not looking at me, taking another big sip of her tea.

At that, I can feel the heat creep up my neck, all the way to my face. Oh, uh, wow. Wow. She really did compliment me. “T-thanks,” I stutter, smiling slightly. I don’t think I quite show it on the outside, but on the inside, my stomach is twisting into knots, and my heart is fluttering, racing uncontrollably. Doamne. God.

“The way the sun is practically kissing you makes the red in your hair stand out more,” Adelia adds, and I can feel myself turning into a brand new shade of red.

Before I can reply, Adelia’s phone rings.

“Hello?” the word comes out as a question from her lips.

“Yeah. I’ll be there. See you. Bye.” Adelia presses the “end call” button.

She looks back at me sadly. “That was my mom. I have to go now,” she smiles regretfully, getting up from the wooden rocking chair she was just sitting in.

“Wait–let me walk you to the front door.” I get up, nearly spilling my tea on my lap.

“Careful. I don’t want you to burn yourself,” Adelia warns. “Here, I’ll take the tea.”

Before I can protest, Adelia steals the cup from my hands. Oh well.

The least I can do is open the door for her, so I do.

Stepping inside, we enter the kitchen, where Adelia puts her cup of tea in the sink after quickly finishing it off, and she puts mine on the counter.

She walks out of the kitchen then, and I follow her, putting on my shoes as she puts on her shoes.

Standing up and dusting off her ripped gray jeans, Adelia begins to speak. “I’m sorry that I have to go now! I told my mom to pick me up a little later, but she decided to pick me up sooner.”

“It’s alright!” I glance at my phone. “It’s about seven o’clock anyway. It’s getting late. I have to go get ready for bed soon anyway,” I admit, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear.

“Yeah,” Adelia says awkwardly, casting her gaze down at her trusty Doc Martens.

“Elena? Is Adelia leaving now?” Mamă peeks out of the living room.

“Yeah.”

“Okay. Mihai! Denis! Come. Adelia is leaving. Let’s say goodbye.”

Mamă walks down the length of the hallway and stands right beside me, in front of Adelia. Tată and Denis appear a moment later.

“Thank you for coming!” Mamă exclaims, and she reaches out her arms, pulling Adelia into a hug. Somehow, she manages to not make it an awkward one. 

“Yeah. It was nice meeting you!” Tată chimes in.

“Bye, Adelia,” Denis waves.

“Bye. And thank you for having me!”

Mamă opens the door for us, and we step outside. Adelia’s mom is waiting in front of our house, in her blue Volvo.

“Bye,” I pull Adelia in for a hug.

“Bye,” Adelia murmurs, wrapping me in her warm embrace.

Her arms feel like home.

We don’t let go until Adelia’s mom beeps at us and rolls down her window. “Come on, Adelia! Time to go.”

With that, Adelia glances at me one last time, looking like she wants to say something, just as she did earlier, but she doesn't say anything. Instead, she opens the car door and sinks into the seat, slamming the door shut.

As she and her mom pull out of the street, they both wave at me, and I wave back. I keep waving until their car is no longer within sight.