Date: Fri, 11 Dec 2009 11:07:01 -0600 From: Oliver R Subject: american in canada-chapter 4 This story is fiction. Any similarities with peoples living or dead are purely coincidence. Meaning that is not an autobiographical story. We just seem to have the same name lol. Please navigate away from this page if it is against the law in your country to view this material. Moreover do not read if you are under the age of majority in you country, state or province. Please do not copy without permission. The response that I've been getting from you guys has been incredibly overwhelming.and I love it! I really do love getting feedback from you guys and it really means a lot to me that you guys are enjoying the story so much. Anyways. This chapter deals mainly with the dinner with Oliver and Colby. The music that plays in one of the scenes is almost crucial to setting the mood so please consult the following link to listen to the music when needed. It's a song called 'The Chain' and it's by Ingrid Michaelson on of my favourite artists. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fu2gxZDquzA. Other than that on with chapter 4. Enjoy! So what does it mean when there's a person who is all you can think of? Or when you can't look at anyone else because they just do nothing for you no matter how gorgeous they are? Or when no matter how hard you try to concentrate, you can't and you seem to write his name subconsciously while trying to do homework? I'll tell you what it means. It means you're in love. Damn it, I'm in love.and it hurt. My mom was right, if I fell in love with Colby, I'd be setting myself up for getting hurt. If it hurt this much now, then it was going to be excruciating when we drift apart when I tell him how I feel. I was never going to tell him. I went to sleep with Colby on my mind, I dreamt of him, and I awoke still thinking of him. I felt happy because Colby was taking me out to dinner that night, but sad at the same time because I knew my love would stay unrequited. I tried hard to reason all this but one question remained. Why would he flirt with me? Why would he hug me? Whisper sensually in my ear whilst caressing them with his soft lips? I slowly got up from my bed, feeling incredibly lethargic compared to my usual mornings. I really was a morning person so this was incredibly unusual. I was feeling everything from one extreme to the other of the emotion spectrum. I hated this feeling and I knew it was going to dampen my mood for the rest of the day. I hated it because the thing was that he was the one that I wanted to want. It didn't matter that he was straight, I wanted to wanted him. I wanted to love him. I knew I was going to get hurt, but love skewed my logic. <> "Oli?" I heard from the other side of my door. "You up?" It was my sister. "Yeah I'm up. Come in." she opened the door and came in. "What are you doing here so early?" "It's your birthday! Just because I'm married and have moved out doesn't mean I'm gonna stop tradition! So come on! Get downstairs! I brought cake and mom is making Filipino breakfast. Hurry up, I'm hungry and mom won't let us eat until you're down there." "Okay okay. I'll be down in sec." I said before she left the room. I brushed my teeth and quickly headed downstairs. As soon as I got there, my mom, dad, Kevin and Stef started singing happy birthday. They stood around the breakfast nook table with another cake. I guess there's some advantages to spreading out your birthday over two days. "Come! Make a wish and blow out the candles!" my mom said ushering me over to the table. I thought I'd have to plaster on a fake smile but I didn't. My family always makes me smile. I made a wish before I blew out the candles. I bet you can what I wished for, or who I mean. "Okay sit, sit. Stef, come help me bring in the food. I made a special Filipino breakfast for you today." my said. She would always do this when it was either mine or Stef's birthday. I wish mom would make Filipino breakfast every morning. It consisted of garlic fried rice, langonisa, which is a sweet sausage, tosino, which is cured pork and eggs. Mmmm, it's so good! Just don't forget to brush your teeth after, the garlic fried rice does wonders for your breath. "So, what are the plans for tonight?" Kevin asked. "Well first, my friend Colby, the one that you met yesterday is taking me out to dinner at around 6 and we'll probably be back around 8-8:30. I told my other friends to be here for 9:30." I looked over at my sister, who had a shit eating grin on her face. I on the other hand didn't look too amused. When she looked up at me, her grin disappeared and was replaced with a look of worry. "Do you want me to go out and get some snacks? Like some fruit, maybe I'll make some pansit and egg rolls? Oh and did you invite your cousins?" my mom asked. "You don't have to get snacks. Maybe just some liquor? And yes I did invite them." "Nonsense. What will your guests eat? I will go out this after noon to go grocery shopping. Your dad will go out and get the liquor." My parents were okay with drinking, as long as it was in moderation and as long as no one drove if they were drinking. "What kind of liquor do you want?" my dad asked. "Well since we have some vodka already, maybe some gin and some tequila. Oh and maybe some beer, a case of Harp Lager and Guinness." "Okay good! I'll go with your dad and we'll pick out some good stuff for you. You wanna come Stef?" Kevin said. "Nah, I'd rather wash dishes than listen to you guys talk about soccer and beer." "You're loss hon. You'll never know the gratification of watching soccer." my dad said which got me and Stef laughing and my mom just shaking her head. "Kevin, you and I will leave after breakfast." After breakfast, my dad and Kevin left. My mom and sister finished the dished, they wouldn't let me help cuz it was my birthday. When they were done, my mom left for superstore for ingredients for tonight, leaving me with my sister. Her and I just sat in the theatre room and watch some TV. I could tell she wanted to ask what was wrong but was holding her tongue. It was creating quite a tense atmosphere which I couldn't stand. "Okay just ask me already. I know that's why you're quiet. You aren't this quiet unless something is on your mind." "Nothing, it's nothing." "Hey do you smell that?" <> "I think it's.it's.bullshit! You aren't fooling anyone, especially not me. I know you." "Okay fine. What's wrong? I know you too. And if I know you as well as you know me then I know something is bugging you. You are never this sombre looking. It's almost like the time when Stephen (a friend) told you Mortimer didn't exist." we both had a chuckle. "Now come on. I'm your sister, you can tell me what's wrong." <> "Well?" she said again. "It's Colby." "Well that doesn't help, I already figured that just by looking at you." "I think I'm in love with him. And it hurts because I know that there is no chance of him loving me the way I love him. God, I've only known him what, two months, and now, I'm completely head over heels, can't ever back up again in love with him. And the worst part is that he accepts me for who I am. I would probably rather him be like Mark and the other assholes (jocks from high school) and have him beat me up. Cuz getting beat up hurts much less than knowing I'll never have him. I want to tell him I'm in love with him so we would drift apart before my feelings deepen even more, but then I don't want to tell him because I don't want to lose him. If he hated me, then it would be easier to get over him. But I don't want to get over him. I want to want him. I'll never get over him, not if we are still friends. The thing is though, I don't think I'd have the courage to break our friendship off. He's everything to me." I wanted to cry so bad. "Can you see it now? One thought contradicts another which contradicts another until nothing makes sense." "Oh Oliver, come here." she said as she pulled me into a hug. I quietly sobbed on her shoulder. "Love is not a thing that is easily understood. Sometimes we fall for people we shouldn't. I'm not saying that you shouldn't be in love with Colby. Who you want to fall in love with and who you don't isn't up to you though. It just happens. I just don't like seeing you hurting like this. I've never walked in your shoes so I don't have a clue as to how you would handle this situation. Just do what you think is right. No matter what happens, just know that your family is here to support you. Mama, papa, Kevin en ik hou van je heel, heel veel. U komt voor mij als je een probleem. Oke?"(We love you very, very much. You come to me if you have a problem. Ok?) "Oke." (Ok.) "Belofte?" (Promise?) "Belofte." (Promise.) I fell asleep on the couch while my sister watched TV. When I woke up again, It was already 5. I slept for another 6 hours! Holy crap. Colby would be there in an hour and I was not even thinking of getting ready. For some reason I didn't want to go. Ok so I actually knew the reason. After last night, my feelings for Colby grew exponentially and with that the hurt also grew. I didn't want to cancel on Colby, so I got up. I went upstairs and jumped in the shower. I haven't talked about my activities in the shower because.well.I know you know what a lot of guys do in the shower so I'll spare you the details. I'm sure you can use your imaginations. This time though, I just wasn't in the mood. After the shower I was left with half an hour to get dressed and gussied up for my 'dinner' with Colby. I wanted it so bad to be a date, but I knew that that was never going happen. I pulled out some nice charcoal grey dress pants with a matching grey blazer. I also pulled out an nice light pink dress shirt. No tie. He did say semi formal. I'd usually be all getting ready, but it almost felt like torture being around him. I was one sadistic bastard for still wanting go through with this. I pulled on a pair of Bjorn Borg underwear, some argyle socks then put the rest of my outfit on. I took one last look in the mirror with a finishing spritz of my cologne and then I headed downstairs. My mom and sister were in the kitchen chatting in Tagalog and getting food ready for tonight when came down. My sister and I were taught how to speak our parents native tongues because they didn't want us to forget our culture. "Oliver! You look so handsome tonight! Come here." my mom said pulling me into a hug and giving me a kiss on the cheek. "Colby doesn't know how lucky he is! I know that guys would kill to have a date with you." "Yeah yeah, you're just saying that cuz I'm your son." "No it's true. If I weren't straight and madly in love with your sister, I'd jump you right now!" Kevin said, walking in to the kitchen. "Hey now, at least go up to his room!" my mom added as they all laughed. "Ha ha, why do guys always make fun of me?" I asked, feigning anger. "Because we love you!" my sister said. "Sure sure." I said as I went to the family room to wait for Colby. I turned on the TV and watched. I guess whatever it was I was watching was really good because it had my complete attention. Ok so it was America's Funniest Videos. Great stuff! The break from Colby was welcome one though. I was so into it I didn't even realize Colby had arrived and was sitting next to me. "Hey man. Happy birthday." he said, bumping me on the shoulder. "Hey. Sorry. I was really into the show. So we ready to go?" I said, my voice dripping with nervousness as we stood up. I guess Colby must have sensed it. "Are you ok? We can skip dinner if you like." he said, looking more than a little disappointed. "You're having people come over later so maybe resting for a couple of hours will do you good." he said, rubbing my arm gently. It's things like that made me melt, but at the same time angered me. Does he know what he's doing to me? "No no, I'm fine. I said I'd let you take me out to dinner, and take me out to dinner is what you'll do." I said, doing my best to give him a genuine smile. I guess I'm a better actor than I thought because he visibly relaxed. "K good. Because I want to give you your gift at dinner. I'd rather give it to you then when we're alone than when we're in front of all your friends." he said shyly. Wow can you say cute? "Why? Did you get me like an engagement ring and you want our engagement to be an intimate affair?" I said giggling. That was me being misanthropic to myself. "Well yeah sort of. Way to pretty much ruin it." he said completely serious. "What?!" "Hey hey, calm down. I'm not going to actually propose to you. You haven't taken me out on a first date yet." he said giggling, obviously joking around. I was a little bit disappointed. "Yeah I knew that." I said nonchalantly. "So let's header on out. We don't want to miss our reservation now do we?" "Nope we don't. Let's go!" "K. Oh man wait, how did you get here?" "I used my car." he said, as we said goodbye. "Oh wow. I didn't even know you had a car. I'm guessing you drove out here from Minneapolis. That's like an 8-9 hour drive right?" "Yeah about that." he said as we reached his car just in the driveway. And geez what a car it was. It was definitely the new 2009 model Porsche Cayenne. Just the name Porsche is sexy. Add that to Colby's sexiness and you got yourself sex on wheels! "Wow nice car! Beats out my Jetta any day." "Eh, it's okay. My parents insisted on getting me something that was safe and comfortable. I would have settled on something less than a quarter that this thing costs but my parents insisted. There really is no arguing with them." We pulled out of the drive and headed out. It was quiet in car. Something that almost never happens between us and frankly, it bugged the crap out of me. Unfortunately for me, I seemed to be getting high from his intoxicating scent. I've never gotten high, mind you, but it definitely lulled me to sleep. The next thing I knew, Colby was shaking me awake. "Oliver, we're here. Oliver, wake up." he said softly. So this is what it's like to wake up with him next to me! Ha ha ha, I'll take what I can get! "Sorry, I didn't mean to fall asleep." I said sheepishly. "Don't worry about it. Well, you ready to go in?" "Where are we?" I was a little disoriented from my little nap. "Well come out and you'll find out." We got out and I took a look around. My goodness, I knew exactly where we were. We were pretty much in the heart of the city right near The Forks. Lobby is one of the swankiest restaurants in Winnipeg. It was swanky without being pretentious. Yet I'm sure they still had the steep price in common. "Wow I've never been here before. I've heard great things of it though." "It's really excellent! My parents and I were here just before classes started." "Ha ha ha, you've only been here two months and you've already been to a place I haven't." I said chuckling as we walked down the sidewalk. Lobby was part of a refurbished hotel in the core of downtown Winnipeg. The outside walls were dotted with star-like lights that came flush with the wall. The designers went with a simplistically chic theme utilising a brown and blue colour palette. We walked up to the Maitre'd. "Good even sirs. How may I help you?" the older lady asked. "Hi, I have reservations at 6:30 for 2 under Andrews." She smiled and looked over the list. "Ah here we are. Follow me Mr. Andrews and Mr." she said looking at me. "Oliver De Koning." I answered. "Mr. De Koning." she said smiling as she led us to our table. "Here you go gentlemen, your server tonight will be Kim and she'll be with you in a moment." she said as she placed a menu in front of both of us and left. I took a look over the menu and realized they didn't have prices next to any of the orders. "I don't know what to get." I said looking up at Colby. He smiled back. He made me melt without knowing it. The bastard. "I can order for you if you'd like." he asked shyly. "Yeah if you want. I mean you've been here before, and now you're back so you must know what's good." I said smiling back. "Okay cool then. Um, let's see. You like seafood?' "Mmhm." "How 'bout lamb? And a salad?" "Mmhm to both." I giggled. I really was like a little school girl around him. "Good. That was quick we know what we want even before our server came." he said just as our server came. "Hello gentlemen, my name is Kim, I'll be your server tonight. Can I start you off with drinks or have already had time to look at menu?" she said. "Yeah we have had time to look at the menu. Can we start off with a bottle of nice Sauvignon Blanc from a region of the chef's choice to go with seasonal chilled seafood platter for an appetizer. Then grilled romaine hearts for the both of us. And last can we get a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon also chef's choice paired with two orders of the herb crusted rack of lamb." he said not leaving my gaze as he ordered. "Excellent choices sir. Would you two like the Indian flatbread or focaccia with the with the lamb?" she asked writing down the order and smiling. "What would you like Oliver?" he asked me. "Um.what are you getting?" "Well it is good with the Indian flatbread. So I'm gonna get it with that." "Okay, I'll get that too." "Good. Okay we'll get that with the flatbread." "Great, I'll be back with the wine and appetizers shortly." she said as she walked away. "So. I have your gift with me. Did you want to open before dinner or did you want to open it after?" "Well I'd rather open after. If that's okay with you." whatever the gift was, I was sure it was going to make me cry. I've just been in an emotional mood lately. "That's fine with me, I want you to open it after too." he said. The conversation between us was great. I completely forgot about my nervousness. He seemed to put me at ease. The server came back with the wine and the seafood platter. That was incredibly delicious. I'd never had raw salmon before but Colby got me to try it. I'm happy he did because salmon sashimi is now my favourite thing ever. I wasn't too keen on trying the grilled romaine hearts. I don't know but grilled romaine hearts just didn't appeal to me. Once again Colby got me to try it and once again I found it to be incredibly delicious. Between the salad and the main course, Colby said he had to go to the washroom. I was pretty sure though that he went to go pay the bill before I saw it. If I knew wine, I knew the white that was picked fetched at least 80 bucks and I'm sure the red for the lamb fetched more. I really didn't understand why he'd spend so much. I mean I would for him but why would he do it for me? Anyways, he got back just before the lamb came. The way they presented the food here was so simple yet elegant. It was as delicious to the eyes as it was to the palette, and I must say that after the seafood and the salad, I was expecting big things for the lamb. I'm not a sommelier or professional food critique or anything, but I was taught at an early age to appreciate good food. The lamb was excellent. Perfectly cooked and the herb crust was fantastic. The Indian flatbread paired perfectly with the lamb. The overall dining experience was the best I'd ever had. After dinner the plates were cleared. "So I thought I'd give you your present now." Colby said taking out a long, wrapped box from his breast pocket. "I really hope you like. I can honestly say that I've never met anyone as special as you. You are so real and so honest, all my friends back home were just the opposite. They would stab you in the back in a second if it meant saving their own. I've never had a friend like you, and.well.just open it." he said handing the box to me. I ripped the wrapping off and opened it, and I saw a bracelet. "It's inscribed on the back. Read it." he said nervously. I flipped it over. 'Oliver&Colby, Best Friends' I honestly had to choke back the tears. My mind swirled with sadness, happiness, love, heartbreak. Name the emotion and I can guarantee I felt it. I'd never had a best friend before. Sure I had a lot of good friends but not one of them I could really call my best friend. Of course now when I've found someone I could call my best friend, it had to be someone that I fell in love with. I just stared at the bracelet, willing my eyes not give in to let a tear fall. Ingrid Michaelson's 'The Chain' started playing softly in the background which I found oddly fitting for the moment and made that much harder not to cry. <> "You don't like it do you?" he ask dejectedly. "No, it's not that, I've just never had a best friend before." I said shakily, still looking at the bracelet. I know that my eyes were loosing the battle and that they'd have given in if I looked up at him. I gave up. I was letting him go. I was settling just to be his best friend. And it hurt. It hurt so much that my body ached to have him hold me. 'And you my love are gone' rang in my mind. "I love it." <> He got up. "I got one too, see." he said showing me his. "Here, let me put it on." he said kneeling in front of me. It really was like a proposal but the farthest thing from it. "There." he said standing up. I still hadn't looked at him at that point. <> "Look at me Oliver." he said. I shook my head, choking back a sob. He slowly hooked his finger under my chin and pulled me up standing to face him. I looked into his beautiful grey eyes, one of the first things I noticed about him when I first met him. His eyes were misty and so filled with love. It just wasn't the love that I wanted him to feel. I completely broke down. He pulled me into a hug. My head rested in the crook of his neck as I sobbed. The feel of hand rubbing against my back and his cologne on his neck made me sob harder. I wanted him so bad. So bad. "I'm sorry Oliver, I didn't mean to upset you." "It's okay." I choked as I pulled away from him. "You didn't upset me. I." I wanted to tell him so bad that I loved him. "I'm just really happy." I lied as I did my best to plaster on a smile. "Well good. I'm really happy. You're my first best friend too." He said. I was so torn at that point that I almost thought of just running out and not looking back. But I didn't. I wanted Colby in my life, and if being his best friend was all I could be too him, then that's what I'll do. I was going to lock my emotions I felt for him out of my heart. But if he ever felt the same way about me, I'd take the chain from off the door. I'll never say that I'll never love But I don't say a lot of thing And you my love are gone. "C'mon, let's get out of here. We got a party to get to." he said smiling at me. Oh that smile. "Okay." <> Okay so I don't know about you guys, but I was tearing up writing this near the end. Either I'm just really emotional when it comes to 'perceived' unrequited love, or I'm just weird. Anyways I want to know if reading this chapter evoked in you the same emotion I felt while writing. Please send in you comments, suggestions or critiques to me. I really enjoy being able to converse with my readers and making friends with them so please drop me a line! cndoliver@gmail.com. Till next time! Much love, Oliver