A few moments ago.
"And also. Remember. No boys. They're all evil."
"Mom."
Aina slumped against the terrace railing, whining the word out into the night. Out past the rail the farm ran off dark and quiet, the party noise muffled behind the glass doors.
"I'm serious." Nora pointed at her. "Most of them don't have anything to offer you. They can be fun, sure. Cute, some of them, when they want to be, and they smile at you and they say the right thing and then." She frowned, losing the thread. "And then they."
Olivia was already laughing at the side.
Nora stopped, blinking. "Wait. What was I talking about?"
Isabella lost it.
"No matter." Nora waved a hand, gathering herself. "The point stands. Don't follow boys."
Isabella leaned in, a grin already spreading. "You might be a little late on that one."
Every head on the terrace turned at once.
"Yes," Isabella said, looking dead at Aina, eyebrows up.
Aina's eyes went wide. "How?"
Nora's gaze ticked between her daughter and her best friend, lost. "What's this. What's this about?"
Aina shot her aunt a sharp look. Isabella just smiled at Nora and shrugged. "All I'm saying is, your advice might be coming a bit late."
Nora laughed. "Oh, come on. That's impossible. This is Aina." She shook her head, warming to it. "This is the girl who's been telling me since she was twelve that boys are just a distraction on her way to her goals, that she doesn't have time, that she's got a plan and a plan doesn't have room for some" She caught sight of her daughter's face.
Aina was looking at the floor. Pink to the ears.
Nora's hand flew up to her mouth. "No."
"Mom"
"No way." She was already crossing the terrace, grabbing Aina's arm. "Who. When. Where. Who is it. How long. Who?"
"Mom, calm down"
"Since when?"
"How did you even know?" Aina turned and whined it at Isabella.
Isabella rolled her eyes. "Please. It was painfully obvious. Him staring at you in the front room earlier, you pretending you weren't looking back. It was very cute, actually."
"Aunt Bella."
Nora was still holding Aina's arm. "Earlier? The front room? Who was in the front room"
"AHHH!"
Olivia launched off her chair and threw her arms around Aina.
"I'm so happy for you. When? Why didn't you tell me?" She squeezed her tight, beaming.
Aina laughed, holding her by the wrists. "It happened at the amusement park."
"Since then?" Olivia pulled back, scandalized. "That was over a week ago. Why didn't you tell me?"
"I was going to." Aina cut her eyes sideways at Isabella. Isabella examined her own nails.
"You have to tell me everything." Olivia gripped her hands. "Every single detail, I mean it."
"Girl, I" Nora cleared her throat, loud.
Aina stopped. She glanced at Olivia and dropped her voice. "Later."
Olivia nodded.
Aina turned to face her mother.
Nora looked at her. Aina looked back. "Mom."
Nora let out a long breath. "Finally."
"What?"
"I was starting to think you were"
"Mom."
Isabella and Olivia were both laughing now.
"Not that there'd be anything wrong with that," Nora added quickly.
Aina narrowed her eyes. "Weren't you literally just saying I shouldn't be with any boy. That they're all evil."
Nora flapped a hand. "I only said that because I figured that's what a mother's supposed to say." She tilted her head. "By the time I was your age I already had your father wrapped right around my finger."
Aina gasped. Olivia clapped a hand over her grin. "Wow."
Isabella crossed to Nora and the two of them hugged, both of them laughing, and Isabella said something into her ear about I told you she wasn't like that. Nora dabbed at the corner of her eye. "Oh, I was so scared."
Olivia, next to Aina, had nearly folded in half. Aina just looked at her aunt and her mother with a flat stare.
"Seriously?" she said.
Two women on one side of the terrace. Two girls on the other. Best friends both, a generation apart, the older pair still leaning on each other after all these years and the younger pair just starting out. Same laugh. Same arms around each other.
Nora wiped her face and waved a hand, signaling she was done. "Okay, okay."
She looked at her daughter. Aina stood there pouting, blonde and bright-eyed, one foot turned in, and for a second Nora just looked at her. She really has grown.
She smiled.
"Alright. Going off the clues. I'm going to guess the boy is Pedri." She raised a brow. "Mateo's teammate."
Aina mumbled it. "Yeah."
Nora nodded. "Well. He seems like a nice kid."
Aina lifted her head.
"And he's clearly smitten with you," Isabella put in.
Aina laughed. "Smitten."
Isabella shrugged. "What? Isn't that what you all use again?"
Aina was still laughing, and Olivia had glued herself back to her arm.
"Whatever you want to call it." Isabella's eyes drifted briefly to Olivia and she smiled. She had, in fact, caught more than one set of pining glances on that terrace tonight. "That boy has got it bad for you."
Aina flushed, listening. "Really?"
"As he should," Nora said.
The others turned to her.
"Any boy you let yourself be with should be one you know, for a fact, is head over heels for you." Nora said it plainly.
"Of course," Aina said, glancing at Olivia, the two of them sharing a small laugh.
"Good." Nora nodded. Then, "But it doesn't end there."
Olivia and Aina went still, looking at her.
"If you want it to last. To actually be something good." She looked over at Isabella. "There's a reason the two of us have been married this long and it's still strong." Isabella nodded beside her. "It's not just him being head over heels for you. Just as much, it's you being head over heels for him."
"Once you both love each other," Isabella started.
"Love?" Aina gasped.
"Maybe it's early for that word." Isabella tipped her head. "But I mean it. When you both love each other, the sacrifices, the fights, the arguments, the hard stretches, all the things that are going to come, they get lighter. They get easier to carry, because you're carrying them toward something." She paused. "And you're dating a footballer now. The two of you aren't even going to be in the same country for a while."
Aina's smile dimmed a little.
"I just want you ready," Isabella said. "If this is something you want to fight for, then fight for it, with everything. But if there's a part of you that's holding back, that has doubts you can't quiet." She stopped, and just smiled. "Then it's better to know that now."
Her eyes moved, briefly, to Olivia, who was listening to all of it.
Nora nodded. She turned back to her daughter. "You sure you're ready for that?"
Aina looked down, shy. "Yeah. I think so." She turned the toe of her shoe against the floor. "I really like him, Mom. He's different. He's not like the other guys, he just" Her cheeks went warm. "He just feels real."
Nora nodded slowly. "Good."
She reached out and tucked a strand of hair back off her daughter's face. "I meant what I said earlier. You're a strong girl. The strongest I know. You've always known your own mind, and I've never once had to worry about your judgment." Her voice thickened. "I'm so proud of you. So proud."
Aina's eyes filled. "Mom."
They came together again, the two of them, holding on, and over Aina's shoulder Nora pressed her eyes shut.
Off to the side, Olivia watched them. Her face was still, but there was a small smile on it.
"Hello, hope I'm not interrupting."
Uncle Hugo stood in the terrace doorway, a wrapped gift held awkwardly in both hands, glancing between the hugging mother and daughter.
Nora and Aina broke apart.
"Uncle Hugo?" Aina laughed, wiping her face.
"Hey there, princess." Hugo beamed.
Olivia stood up. "I'm gonna go do something."
Aina looked at her. "Oh, okay." She caught something in her face. "You good?"
Olivia gave a small nod, smiling, and slipped past Hugo as he came in.
"And where are you off to?" Hugo asked her, half teasing.
"Just need some air," Olivia said, laughing, already going.
Behind her the terrace filled up with greetings, Hugo and Aina, Hugo and Nora and Isabella, the gift being pressed into hands.
Olivia moved back through the house.
The living room was loud. Over by the television Oriol was on his feet and not steady on them, David working an arm under his shoulder.
"Come on, big man, let's get you up, eh? Bed."
"No, no, I'm good." Oriol waved him off and nearly went over sideways. "Let's keep the party going. The party"
"Oh, oh, oh"
Pedri and two of the staff lunged in, catching him before he could find the floor.
Olivia shook her head, laughing under her breath, and let herself out the front.
The night came up cool around her.
She pulled her arms in against the breeze and stood a second on the step, looking back at the warm lit windows, the noise behind the glass. Then she walked out a little way into the dark, took out her phone, and did the thing she'd been turning over in her head all evening.
She called her mom.
She lifted the phone to her ear and listened to it ring, the cold pricking at her bare arms, until it picked up and a rough, sleep-thick voice came down the line.
"Honey?"
Olivia closed her eyes and smiled. "Mom."
"What's wrong, baby? It's midnight here."
"I'm sorry." She winced. "I forgot the time difference."
"Are you okay? Is everything alright? How's Aina, is everything fine"
"Everything's good, Mom. Aina's fine, she's better than fine." Olivia's smile widened. "She got into MIT."
A gasp. "Are you serious?"
"Yes."
"Oh, I'm so happy for her. Oh, that girl, she really did it."
"Me too."
A pause on the line. When her mom spoke again the sleep was still in it, softer now. "So I'm guessing that isn't why you called. What's wrong, baby. Why'd you call."
"I just wanted to talk to you."
They talked. Olivia told her she missed her, and her mom said she missed her right back, said you'll be home soon enough, so there's that. And Olivia said, low, "Yeah."
The line went quiet a beat.
"Okay," her mom said. "What's wrong."
"Nothing."
"Olivia. A mother always knows. Don't try to hide it. Come on. Out with it."
Olivia turned, looking off into the dark. She let a breath go.
"Well. There's. There's this boy."
"Oh." A smile came into her mom's voice. "A boy."
"Well, yeah. But not really, he's. He's Aina's cousin."
"Hmm. So you like this boy."
"I guess I do." Olivia bit the inside of her cheek. "Is something wrong with me?"
"Honey"
"I mean, I literally just got out of the thing with Joshua. He was cheating on me, the whole thing was so messy i had to leave Disney cause of that. And I've got the album coming, I've got. I." She pressed her palm flat against her arm. "I just don't need this right now."
Her mom was quiet for a moment.
"Tell me about him," she said.
Olivia blinked. "About him?"
"Yeah. About him. What's he like."
"Well. He's." Olivia thought of him and started casually , not giving too much away. "His name's Mateo. He plays sports soccer. He's, you know. Kind of average height."
Her mom laughed.
And then something in Olivia's voice changed, went down soft, and she wasn't guarding it anymore.
"He's funny. Like, really funny, all the time, even when he doesn't mean to be. And he's kind. He let me and Aina stay in his apartment when he'd only just moved in himself, didn't even think about it." She was smiling now, out at the dark. "He's got these eyes, kind of like Aina's, but darker. And we cook together. There was this one time he showed up with a pink apron and said it was mine, that I had to wear it every time we cooked." She laughed. "He's so silly. He's just. I mean he talks about sports every time, I don't even like sports and I'm cheering like dad during Sunday night when he plays"
She stopped venting out.
"Mm," her mom said gently. "Sounds to me like this is a bit more than a crush, baby."
Olivia groaned. "How, though? We barely just met. It's been like three weeks."
"Time doesn't matter."
"Mom"
"It doesn't. Let me tell you something." Her voice warmed, waking up into the story. "The night I met your father. The first night. He drove me home, and right there in the car, before he even dropped me off, he turned and he told me he loved me."
Olivia gasped. "That same night?"
"That same night."
"And what did you say?"
"I stared right at him like he'd lost his mind."
Olivia laughed.
"I didn't say it back. Not for a long while." Her mom's voice was soft and far away. "But he didn't give up. That man knew exactly what he wanted, and he was so sure of it, and I am so glad I gave him a second date. Because that turned into a third, and a fourth, and all the rest of it. And it gave me you." A breath. "The love of my life."
Olivia stood in the dark, the phone warm against her ear, smiling.
"Even after everything," her mom went on. "Even now after so many years together, im still thankful. I still love him for that. For not giving up. For you."
She sighed.
"The point of all this, baby, is that love isn't reasonable it's not meant to be. You can't put a clock on it. It found him on the first night and it took me months and it was still real both ways. If it's real, it gets where it's going eventually." A pause. "He used to say that. He'd say as long as you've got love in your heart, you can't really lose."
Olivia's eyes stung.
"And if you're not ready, then you're not ready, and that's fine. Don't let anybody rush you. But don't talk yourself out of it either, just because the timing's messy. Real things keep. It's never too late to walk toward something real. You just go when you're ready to go."
Olivia let out a shaky breath. "Thanks, Mom. I feel a lot better."
"You're welcome, baby."
A yawn came down the line, and Olivia laughed. "Okay. Let me let you go to sleep."
Her mom chuckled. "Goodnight, my love."
"Love you, Mom."
"I love you too, baby."
The line clicked off.
Olivia lowered the phone and stood there a second, letting the night settle around her. Then she looked up, and looked around, taking in how far she'd actually wandered from the house without noticing.
And she saw him.
Mateo, a little way off, hands in his pockets, his back to her, looking up at the sky.
She smiled. And before she'd decided to, the words were already leaving her.
"Hey, you."
A/N
If you want to read chapters ahead with uploads and to support me subscribe to my Patreon below There is also a picture of how mateo looks like posted and later there would be votes and all on the site some you wont need to pay to vote but you can if you want to support me thanks
patreon.com/David_Adetola
Thank You your support is greatly appreciated thank you all
I've also created a Discord channel to make communication easier, where I'll post updates
https://discord.gg/qHffUpEGc (New discord link)