CHAPTER 39: Three Words
"Are you gonna be the one to tell them, or should I be the one to?" I was kind of panicking when I asked Rodrick that question over the phone.
Our two families were having dinner again. They probably figured that all their children had free time on the weekend before going back to school. So Mrs. Heffley called up my mom and invited us for dinner.
"I'll do it. I can tell them. Just back me up," he replied.
I massaged my temples. "Okay, okay. How are we gonna bring it up?"
"I don't know. We'll somehow get to say it at some point."
"Fine. Whew, I'm nervous."
I heard him take a deep breath. "Same. I've never been nervous for a stupid family dinner."
My thoughts were all over the place. What if my parents don't approve of Rodrick? What if Rodrick's parents don't like me for their son? What if they all end up fighting? Or what if everything suddenly gets awkward? I heaved a sigh. "Everything will be fine, right?"
"Yeah. Everything will be fine," he assured me, but I could tell he was worried too. "You know, let's just get this over with."
When my parents and I got to the Heffleys', it was Rodrick who opened the door.
"Oh hi Rodrick!" my mom greeted.
He stepped to the side with a smile on his face. "Hi, Mrs. Preston, Mr. Preston." My parents nodded, and proceeded to say hello to Mr. and Mrs. Heffley.
"You look great. Nice dress," he whispered to me after closing the door.
I looked down at my white dress, which I don't wear too often. "Thanks. You look good too. Bit more dashing than usual." I sneaked a smile. He was wearing a long-sleeved shirt, folded up to his elbows.
He smirked, and then took a deep breath. "Okay, let's do this."
Dinner with the Heffleys' went as it always did. It was just the adults chatting away. Rodrick and I sat next to each other, while Greg sat beside Rodrick. Across us were our moms and Manny. The dads were sitting at both ends of the table.
The longer we waited, the more nervous we got.
"Do you think we'll still get to bring it up?" I whispered to Rodrick. "They're still busy talking about work and community yoga."
"Should we just tell them next time?" he whispered back. I nodded in agreement.
"Tell what?" Greg asked, a little too loudly that the parents all turned to the three of us.
We all just stared at each other for a second. I got too scared to actually take the opportunity and say it. "Uh, n-nothing, Greg—"
Rodrick squeezed my hand under the table, and then just went for it. "April and I are together. She's my girlfriend."
"Y-Yeah. And Rodrick's my boyfriend." I gave a sheepish smile.
All of them were frozen for a second, and all I wanted to do was run away and hide. Then Rodrick's mom was the first to break the silence.
"Oh my goodness, that's so cute! I'm so happy to hear this!" Her hand flew to her chest, and she looked so touched.
"Honey! Since when?" my mom said.
"Since January, mom," I replied.
"Why didn't you tell us?" my dad asked. Initially, I thought he wasn't happy about it, but then he flashed a gentle smile. Turned out he was really just curious.
"Well, I was scared you wouldn't approve. And we wanted to make sure we're okay before telling you."
"Oh honey, of course we'd approve. Rodrick's a good kid! Aww, this is so sweet." She turned to Mrs. Heffley.
"I know! I couldn't ask for anyone better, honestly," she replied, glancing at Mr. Heffley who had a huge grin on his face as he reached over to pat Rodrick's shoulder. "Oh, I'm so happy! They could go to prom together and take cute pictures." Mrs. Heffley gushed.
"Great idea! They could get matching outfits too!" my mom added.
"Mooom!" Both Rodrick and I whined. They were obviously making a big deal about it.
Greg had this disgusted look on his face. Rodrick playfully elbowed him, and he laughed. "Happy for you two," Greg said. "And for the record, I already knew before your big announcement."
"How—?" I asked.
"You two couldn't get any more obvious these past months."
Rodrick and I turned to each other, a little confused. We weren't really trying to hide it, but we didn't think it was that obvious. It wasn't, right?
Greg must have noticed the look on our faces. "You don't think I see your van stopping by April's house almost every day?" Well, good point.
The conversation eventually went back to their earlier topics. Relief washed on our faces. Thankfully, the atmosphere didn't become awkward nor bad because of our little announcement.
And just like that, Rodrick and I were officially, official. No more hiding, no more secrets from anyone.
. . . . . . . . . .
"You like him like him, don't you?" Claire asked Olivia. We were talking about how we spotted her with Chad walking to school together that morning.
She hid a smile. "I don't know. I think so?"
Claire, like the way she is, got excited for her. "Oh girl, I'm rooting for you! I mean, it's been ages since—" I elbowed her before she said anything that might ruin the mood. "Ah. Sorry," she said, rubbing her arm.
She waved her hand. "It's okay. It's about time anyway."
I smiled. "I'm happy for you."
"Me too. We're just here for you, you know that?" Claire added.
Olivia nodded, and this time didn't bother hiding that smile on her face. "Thanks guys."
From the corner of my eye, I could see Rodrick walking towards our table already. I glanced at him and waved hello. "Sorry, I'll go ahead," I said to my friends as I gathered my things.
"Boyfriend alert!" Claire sipped from her carton of milk, a teasing smile spreading on her face. Olivia gave a knowing glance as well.
I rolled my eyes, laughing. "See you guys later!"
Rodrick waved at my friends too, putting an arm around my shoulders as we walked out of the cafeteria.
It was the usual routine. On some days like this one, we headed to the bleachers after having lunch separately with our friends. Sometimes we hung out at the library, especially when we had some last-minute homework to finish. On other days, we don't get to see each other until the end of the day, and that was alright. We've pretty much gotten past the super clingy stage of our relationship already.
. . . . . . . . . .
Days turned into weeks.
"Olivia and Chad are officially boyfriend and girlfriend already!" I shared the happy news to Rodrick one lunch time.
"Wow, congrats to them!" He actually seemed surprised. "Honestly, I thought Olivia wasn't interested in relationships. Not that I know her personally or anything. I just never saw her with anyone recently."
"She had a boyfriend when we first met—that was some time last year—but I guess it didn't end well. So she decided to take a break from all the dating stuff."
Rodrick nodded, leaning back on the bleachers. "Happy for her then."
"Yeah, me too. She said she likes him a lot."
A quiet moment passed.
"Speaking of past relationships," Rodrick suddenly spoke up again. "I just realized we never talked about this, even before we got together."
I gave a laugh. "Are you curious about my ex-boyfriends, Rodrick?"
He suddenly sat up straight. "Ex-boyfriends? With an s?"
"What, you think I didn't I'd have ex-boyfriends with an s?" I placed a hand over my chest, pretending to get hurt.
He quickly shook his head in defense. "No! No, it's not that—"
I interrupted with a laugh. "Just kidding!" At that, Rodrick seemed to relax a bit, so I continued. "I've only had one ex-boyfriend. This guy named Jasper back where we used to live."
"Oh. Why'd you break up?"
"Um, we weren't that serious. My friends just set me up with him, we kinda liked each other, tried to date, things didn't work so, poof! It was over in a few months." I shrugged.
"Damn. That sucks."
"Nah, I'm over it. We're in good terms, so there's nothing to worry about. Plus, I wasn't really ready for anything super serious back then. I've seen my friends go through the worst breakups. It was scary knowing it might happen to me too."
Suddenly, the lighthearted chat turned serious as Rodrick simply nodded and stayed quiet. I didn't mean to make the atmosphere so heavy.
I turned to him with a smile. "And you? Any ex-girlfriends, with an s? You know, aside from that whole thing with Anne."
He raised two fingers.
"Hmm, interesting."
"Eh, not really. I think the longest was 3 weeks." He grinned sheepishly and scratched the back of his neck.
I winced. Wow, that was short. "Ouch. I'm guessing both weren't that serious either?"
He shook his head. "Nope. And, uh, I realized was kind of a shitty boyfriend too, so... yeah."
I took his hand. "Well, I'm glad you're not a shitty boyfriend anymore."
He glanced at me and took a deep breath. "I really hope I'm not." With a smile, I leaned onto his shoulder.
. . . . . . . . . .
Weeks turned into months.
Being with Rodrick was great. And he was nowhere near being the 'shitty boyfriend' that he said he used to be. But as in any relationship, things weren't always smooth-sailing.
For instance, there was this one time when Rodrick wanted to go to a party his friend's friend was hosting, and he asked me to come with him. I had initially agreed, but when the day came, I didn't feel like going. It had been a long week so I just wanted to stay home, do the things I had to do for school, and then rest.
"You said you'll go. Why are you cancelling last minute?" He sounded annoyed over the phone.
I paced around in my room, rubbing my temples. "I told you, I'm tired. I don't have the energy to go to a stupid party—"
Then he started raising his voice. "A stupid what? For all I know you're just gonna do some homework. Loosen up, will you!"
It's the way he said it that really ticked me off. "What did you just say?"
"Yeah, you did nothing but homework the whole week, and now you won't even take a few hours off to enjoy!"
"Wow, I'm sorry for actually knowing what prioritize! Oh and forgive me for cancelling on a party for the first time!"
"So you're saying, I don't know what to prioritize? I've been doing school stuff for a long-ass week, and I'm not even allowed to chill and take a break?!"
At that point, I was frustrated. Why was he talking like I was the type of person who wanted to control his life? "What?! No one's stopping you! I can't believe you're getting angry at me just because I don't want to go to one party! Just go then! Don't talk to me." I hung up and threw my phone to the bed.
We didn't talk for a few days after that fight. It was probably one of our major fights since we got into a relationship. Not to mention, it was what Rodrick and I always argued about even before, so it's not like we didn't see it coming. Don't get me wrong, we've both changed a lot in this aspect. Rodrick had actually been studying a lot these days and he deserved credit for that. I, on the other hand, have been going out more and doing my best not to overwork. It just so happened that I was tired that weekend and I wanted a literal break.
One afternoon after that screaming-over-the-phone drama, someone knocked on the door of our house. When I opened it, Rodrick was standing out there, carrying a paper bag.
"What do you want?" I asked.
"C-Can I come in?" he asked shyly.
I sighed, and opened the door wider so he can step inside. He went directly to the dining table and pulled out two take-out milkshakes from the paper bag. He took one and offered it to me.
"You came to my house to give me milkshake?" I said blankly.
He put the milkshake back on the table and walked towards me. "Okay, I came to say sorry."
I crossed my arms. "Sorry for what?"
"For what happened last Saturday. I was wrong. I shouldn't have yelled, I shouldn't have gotten angry, and I shouldn't have said the things I said. I'm sorry."
I didn't look at him. "What you said hurt."
"I know. I shouldn't have said those. I'm sorry."
"Well, I'm sorry too for cancelling last minute."
He put his hands on my shoulders. "No, you don't have to apologize for that. It's my bad."
When I looked at him, I realized I was holding back tears. "You know it was a really dumb thing to fight about."
"I know, I know. I'm sorry," he said as he pulled me in for a hug.
I hugged him back. "Ugh, I missed you Heffley."
"Me too."
We had more stupid fights along the way, but we always did our best to fix them immediately. Eventually, we promised to tell each other whenever there's a problem or when something was bothering us. We're friends anyway, and that's what friends do right? That way, we avoided guessing, assuming, and potentially arguing about petty things again.
Despite those little bumps on the road, I was still beyond grateful for having Rodrick by my side. Yeah I knew I had close friends and all, but he was the one I could talk to about literally anything. From weird conversations about parallel universes and whether unicorns exist or not to serious stuff like passing our classes and what we'd do in the future.
There was that one time when he felt bummed because he failed one of his math quizzes.
"You're bothered about failing a 15-item quiz? Rodrick is that really you?" I asked, still not believing it the first time I heard it.
He rolled his eyes. "Ha ha, very funny. Seriously though, I need to pass all my classes this time if I want to graduate on time." He groaned, ruffling his hair with his hands in frustration. "Why the heck am I dumb?"
"Hey! You are not dumb. You're not a genius either, to be honest, but you're pretty smart," I told him. He scoffed. "Yeah it sucks to fail a quiz. But it's just one quiz, you know?"
He shook his head, looking down. "Easy for you to say. You never fail."
"Oh I had my fair share of failed quizzes. I even cried waterfalls about it. Then I realized, it happens to everyone. You fail, then you do better the next time. Besides, grades don't define us."
He just stared at me in disbelief. "Did we switch bodies or do we just spend too much time with each other?"
We both laughed. "Nah, I think we spend just the right amount of time with each other." I smiled at him. "You wanna go grab something to eat at the mall? My treat."
. . . . . . . . . .
Months turned into years full of moments we'll always cherish.
One of my favorites happened just a few months after we told our families about our relationship.
"I hope I didn't burn it." I opened the microwave, and was about to pull the bag of popcorn out, not really sure if I set the time right. Upon touching it, I almost burned my fingers. "Ah, hot hot hot!"
"I got it!" Rodrick took it with a pair of tongs, and placed it on a bowl in the dining room. He then sniffed it. "Hmm, you smell that? It smells like burnt popcorn."
"Oh, just open it will you?" I crossed my arms as I waited beside him.
He carefully did, and poured the contents into the bowl. Then he stared at me, deadpan.
"Oh good, at least half of it is still good to eat! Come on." I carried the bowl with me and headed to the living room where we've connected my laptop to the TV.
Rodrick gave a laugh as he sat beside me on the couch. "Please, let me be in charge of making popcorn next time? You suck at it."
I rolled my eyes as I pressed play. "Fine, whatever."
It was one fine summer day. Classes had just finished a week ago, and my parents were at work. Rodrick came over so we could bond and have a movie marathon 'til the sun sets.
"Tangled? Again?" he asked, though he didn't sound annoyed.
"What! It doesn't have to be something we haven't watched before, right? You're picking the next movie anyway." I took a handful of popcorn and munched on it.
He didn't complain anymore. No, actually, I knew he loved that movie as much as I did, being the whole softie that he is deep inside.
Soon enough, we were already cuddled next to each other, laughing, singing along to an animated family film. Then it came to that beautiful part with the flying lanterns.
"Oh, I love this part!" I probably sounded too excited.
I heard a laugh beside me. I turned, and Rodrick was watching me with an amused smile, and a look in his eyes that seemed so familiar.
"What? What's funny?" I said.
He shook his head. "Nothing."
"Then why are you looking at me like that?"
He raised is eyebrows. "Like what?"
"Like that."
"Hm. I just realized something." His hand squeezed mine for a second.
"And what's that?"
He just gazed into my eyes for a few seconds. I knew that look. It was the same look he had during some of those unforgettable times before we even got into a relationship during the previous year, when it seemed that he wanted to confess somethi—
"I love you."
Three words. Three words we've never really said out loud to each other before. And yet when Rodrick said it, he sounded so sure.
I was stunned, at loss for words. I had to pause the movie. "Y-You love me?"
He simply nodded, smile not faltering from his face. "So much."
And that's when I pulled him down for a kiss, wrapping my arms around his neck, while his hands made their way around my waist.
Three words we've never said out loud before, but nevertheless we somehow knew.
I pulled away, out of breath.
"I love you too, Rodrick Heffley. So much."
A/N: Hey guys, so this story is finally coming to an end. The next chapter is an epilogue. Thanks to everyone who read this story, and I'm sorry it always took me ages to update.