A/N: Welp, I have no time for anything. And when I do have time it's filled with working.. Or school, or homework. Or any combination of the 3. Being an adult is haaaaard. :\ But I am taking all the hours at work I possibly can, which is still not many since its winter and people aren't really out buying smoothies.. But it's so I can save up money to make certain dreams reality (Like moving away for school next semester which will be happening. San Francisco here I come.). That and I'm taking something like 17 units this semester so it's getting pretty rough.. But I'll be alright! Sorry for not updating.. Hopefully someone still cares.. But I need to kinda disappear for the semester because believe it or not College sucks and sometimes is really, really hard. :[ I apologize for this long authors note, but just alerting everyone as to what's up in Howls life away from the computer. How about all of you? How are you guys..

.. I'm still ready to dream.

After recovering from the initial shock of my mother entering the room, we had a second of awkward silence. Both Feliciano and my mom took a moment to examine each other, or in my mom's case I figured she was trying to think of the most embarrassing thing she could possibly think of to tell the Italian.

My mom's name is Terese, pronounced Ter, as in tariff, then ese, as in Greece, but she usually gets every other pronunciation aside from the actual one, because apparently it's the hardest name to say in the world. Even though we live in California, my mom is convinced she is a cowgirl. Probably because she has friends who ride horses and she occasionally saddles up to walk a trail with said friends. So, she almost always wears cowboy boots and a pair of blue jeans. A subtle reminder to her-self is how I like to think of it, of how she is the Wild West, apparently. Aside from that, my mom is only a little taller than me, with short salt and pepper colored hair. The problem always was, she seemed unassuming enough until she started to talk and you realize what you've gotten yourself into.

Not about to give her the opportunity to speak first, I cleared my throat and broke the momentary pause that time had taken. "Mommy, this is my new friend. His names Feliciano and-"

"Oh so that's what this is about!" My mom cut me off with a dangerous smile. "Has Del told you about her obsession with everything Italian? She's going to go there you know. Maybe you can take her, huh?"

My hand covered my eyes immediately in complete embarrassment. "Mom.."

"And you are a cutie too aren't you!" My mom nudged me with her elbow as she got a closer look at Feliciano, who now giggled into his palm. "So what's the deal here? How did you two hook up?"

"Did you, have to say it like that.." I tried to keep my blush under control as I looked up at Feli for an answer.

"School~" He answered easily, but then hesitated. "Well, sorta. I was here on business, kinda. I work for important.. What's that word.. Ambassadors! Yeah I work for some ambassadors, and other people like that. And I was out here for a while on business before with my boss, and I liked it so I came back. But.. But.. I had to take some classes so I could stay.. here?" He trailed off and I literally face palmed.

I let out a slow breath to recompose myself, than nodded. "Feliciano works for the government, but kinda quit to live out here for a while. Isn't that interesting?"

My mom gave us both a strange look. "Look, if you guys met somewhere else that's fine. You don't have to make up a weird story. Besides you could to better then that hottie, just a thought. But if that's what you're going with then I won't judge." She paused. "You're not a sexy travel agent are you? Here to whisk this one away to foreign lands so she'll stop bothering me about it?"

"Mom!" I tried.

Feli only laughed again. "A travel agent? I could be one if you want! That's an easy one for me."

I let out an exasperated sigh and opened my mouth to answer. If my mom wasn't there I would have grabbed him and accepted but I restrained myself.

"Oh you should hear her talk about traveling. It's like, Italy this and Venice that. I swear if I have to hear about that country one more time.." She paused. "I never introduced myself did I? I'm Terese, Del's mom. I'm going to go shower. Are you still going to be here when I get back Mr. Travel Agent?" She was already halfway up the stairs, so neither me or Feli answered. But I really don't think she was listening though, as the door to her room shut tight and the shower started to run almost immediately.

Having been thoroughly embarrassed, I sank into one of the chairs at the kitchen table and set my face on my arms. "I am so sorry."

"Your mom is nice." He turned to me. "Hey what's wrong?"

I shook my head. "Nothing. She just said all that to embarrass me is all."

His mouth formed a little 'o' and he sat down next to me. I felt one of those perfect artist hands on my shoulder. "Well don't worry too much. Everything will be just fine. I promise!"

I nodded and watched him for a moment. "We have to hide you before my mom gets out of the shower. Otherwise she'll know you're gonna be staying here. Which you will be right? I mean you did show up here without a car or anything."

His face fell a little bit.

I sighed. "Yeah that's what I thought."

"I'm sorry.."

"No, no. Don't be sorry at all. We'll figure it out. If you showed up on my doorstep I'll consider you my guest. I'll take care of everything alright?" I met his nervous gaze with a genuine smile followed quickly by my hands awkwardly covering his. Silence settled over the kitchen as I tried desperately to come up with something to say. I had begun to chew on my lip when my attention was redirected rather suddenly. My mom's shower water shut off and I hopped to my feet. "Shit.. Come on we gotta get you upstairs or you'll never get up there. I'll tell my mom you left or something but we've got to move now."

He hesitated then stood slowly. "You need to sneak me around? Will everything be alright then? Where will I be hiding mostly? What if someone finds me. How will I make food?" The more he said the more frantic he became and his questions came out rushed.

I was suddenly out of my element and unsure of how to comfort him so I set a hand back on his. "Uh.. It'll be alright. Just smile and.. Oh! I know, are you hungry? We'll get you hidden away and then I'll make you something. How does that sound?" My hand moved to his wrist and I tugged gently.

Feliciano's face lit up. "You can cook? Oh that'd be great!"

I pulled him up the stairs and he chattered away happily about recipes and things I should try. I peeked into my mom's bedroom warily. I would hear her humming along with the radio as a shadow passed in from of the curtain separating the bedroom from the bathroom. I turned and pushed the Italian gently down the hallway. As quick as I could, I shut the door tight behind us.

"Oh wow! Your room is super cool! Oh what are these! You must really like green and owls! And oh look at this! You have so many movies!" Feliciano jumped around my room, looking at piles of nick-knacks on shelves and pictures of my pets and other things that had accumulated in my cluttered space.

I let out a breath. "Thank you. All this stuff means a lot to me, I kinda have been making it just so for a long time now." My eyes skimmed over the space I thought looked something like a dusty antique gallery. Old shelves were covered with knick-knacks and the walls were covered with things. I was always bringing home new candles or something to fill any empty spaces that were left scattered around my room. "I'm glad you like it. I need you to relax here for a while. You can put in a movie or TV or you can nap or something and I'll go see what I can make you."

"Okay~"

I shushed him and he set both hands over his mouth. "Whatever you do, do it quietly alright? Remember you aren't supposed to be here. Be right back."With that, I slipped from the door and back down the stairs. I hopped off the last few and turned into the kitchen, practically toppling my mom and over my dog.

"Oh there you are. Where'd that cutie pie get to?" She asked.

"Home." I answered, digging through the fridge and pulling out things to put together a sandwich for the aforementioned 'cutie-pie'. He was a picky eater, I recalled, but hopefully a simple sandwich would be alright. "But.. Hopefully he'll be back soon. He's a really nice guy. Ruby, stop begging." I scolded my dog, whose eyes had locked on my food since I pulled it from the fridge.

"So whats the deal there? Are you finally done fantasizing about cartoons and actors you will never meet and try out someone who's actually made of flesh and bones?"

I snorted. The irony of the situation was too much. That and I could foresee a large amount of stress in the near future. Sneaking Feliciano around the house while simultaneously keeping him at ease would be hard, but I would do my best. I wanted him to be comfortable, and secretly I thought maybe I could get him to fall in love with me, and he would whisk me away to what I presumed was a luxury apartment on Venice island. My mind had wandered far enough and I focused back in on the sandwich I was rushing to make.

"-Del are you even listening to me?" My mom crossed her arms and gave me a look from across the room. "If you don't get your head out of Disneyland nothing's ever going to happen for you. Do you understand?"

"Yeah yeah. I got it. Reality and Disneyland. I love you." I kissed my mom's cheek and darted upstairs before she could say anything else.

She was right though, on a certain level. I did need to get my head out of the clouds and start focusing on real life. As much as that was something I really didn't want to do, as I much preferred it on my cloud of daydreams, real life was calling and I needed to pick up the phone before it passed me by and I was left a twenty something old failure. I set my hand on the door to my room, half thinking the day so far had all been another elaborate dream that my over imaginative brain had concocted. If that was the case, everything could go on normally, I would hop on the internet, eat the sandwich I had made myself and not have to worry about trying to figure out what to do with a personified Mediterranean country in my house. The irony was so much more then I could handle. My mom lecturing me about reality when there was a country from what I had previously thought belonged in nothing but a made up universe in my room.

Almost reluctantly, I pushed the door of my room open and practically dropped my food. There was indeed someone in my room, someone who had removed all their clothes minus a pair of pale yellow boxers and had fallen asleep on my bed. I choked on my breath as I tried to keep myself from looking at his skin.

"Well, this is going to be interesting." I managed to whisper to myself.