A Rose of Passion

Hesitation and Anticipation

"That's a wonderful idea!"

Antonio gasped at the brown haired, 42 year old man in front of him. Tall with bright purple eyes, wearing a high quality, dark blue, business suit and with a dashingly handsome face, the headmaster, Mr Roderich Eldestein, was smiling approvingly at Gilbert's crazy idea. Was the world against him? Antonio had clanged on this last ray of hope that Mr Edelstein would have refused flat out but now, his last hope had been shattered.

"I would like to meet that friend of yours, Mr Carriedo! This idea is fantastic. It will benefit greatly the children."

"Si …"

"It's a great opportunity for our school to make contact with a German school and we might manage an exchange programme with it too! Perfect! I want to you to convince a few pupils in your class to go to this dinner!"

"But … my pupils are doing Spanish … not German. Wouldn't it be better to ask another class?"

"No! I need it to be your class since you're one of the organisers!"

'Organiser'? Since when?

"Find pupils from various other classes too if you like and try to take some from other nationalities than English to show how good they are at it despite it not being their mother tongue."

Antonio smiled to himself. With all the choices he had, it would be fine if he didn't invite Arthur!

"We do need some British ones too! How about that Arthur Kirkland? He's an excellent student I heard and he recently transferred from a good school in London. Invite him too!"

Antonio felt his heart sink in his chest. Now, he had to invite Arthur and go through with the dinner.

The week passed and Antonio had already invited five people: Lovino and Feliciano Vargas (the two Italian twins, with Feliciano being from a different class), Heracles Karpusi (his Greek pupil who spends his time sleeping in class), Belle Koning (Lars Koning's little sister) and Eric Styrsson (a shy and quiet boy Antonio doesn't really know about and from another class). All that was left was … Arthur Kirkland. Antonio still hadn't invited him to the dinner. He had tried but each time his courage had left him before he could even talk to the English boy. And now, a week was gone, it was Friday evening, the last day of Arthur's detention, and the dinner was tomorrow evening. This was his last chance to invite him. Antonio was tapping the floor nervously with his foot and he cringed when he heard a knock on the teacher's lounge door. He wasn't ready!

"Come in."

Arthur came in and with a sense of habit, sat in Matthew's chair, in front of Antonio, took out a pen and waited for his Spanish detention sheet of exercise. They hadn't talked at all since the first detention and Antonio was getting desperate. How was he meant to invite him when he couldn't even talk to him? They worked in silence for an hour. Antonio tried to focus with his mind trying to come up with a topic on which to start a conversation. He couldn't think of anything. Another hour passed and Arthur was about to leave when Antonio finally spoke.

"Usted está invitado mañana a la noche en una cena." ("You're invited tomorrow evening at a dinner.") Antonio had said in a rush, getting it out of his chest, finally. He then realised that he had spoken in Spanish and was about to repeat it in English when Arthur replied to him … in Spanish!

"¿Qué cena, señor?" ("What dinner, Sir?")

Antonio was startled for a minute then continued. He felt it easier to speak with Arthur in his native tongue. And he liked the sound of Arthur's voice when he spoke Spanish.

"El director y uno de mis amigos han organizado una cena mañana por la noche. El hermano de mi amigo va a venir de Alemania a mejorar su Inglés. Esta cena es que le permita conocer gente y practicar su Inglés. Y tú estás invitado." ("The headmaster and one of my friends have organised a dinner tomorrow night. My friend's brother is coming over from Germany to improve his English. This dinner is to allow him to meet people and practice his English. And you're invited.")

Antonio expected Arthur not to understand such long sentences but his English pupil only frowned for a minute, registering what the Spaniard had said, and answered back:

"¿A qué hora es la cena y durante cuánto tiempo durará?" ("At what time is the dinner and how long will it last?")

"Se inicia a las siete y termina a las nueve y media." ("It starts at seven and finishes at around half past nine.")

He looked at Arthur as he was considering the invitation.

"¿Puedo llamar más tarde esta noche para darle mi respuesta? Me gustaría consultar a mi familia." ("Can I phone you later tonight to give you my answer? I would like to consult my family.")

"Sí, por supuesto!" ("Yes, of course!")

"¿Puedo pedirle su número de móvil, por favor?" ("May I ask for your mobile number, please?")

Antonio blushed slightly and exchanged mobile numbers with Arthur. He kept staring at the number on his phone, reading it over and over again, imprinting it in his mind while Arthur was leaving the room. Antonio whispered to him before he left:

"Por favor, venga mañana." ("Please, come tomorrow.")

Arthur left without even glancing back. Maybe he hadn't heard him? Antonio didn't move from his seat. He realised that he wanted Arthur to come. The fact that he had tried to find a way not to invite him was because he was afraid. Not afraid of inviting him but afraid that Arthur would turn him down. He wanted Arthur to come even if it made him look like a fool. He wanted to see him as much as he could. He wanted him to come. But by delaying the invitation … he might have dug his own grave. Antonio hid his face in his hands and cried silently. It hurt him so much. Why was love so painful? Why? Why did he act like an idiot each time he was in front of Arthur? Why? Why did it hurt so much? Antonio cried. 'Please, come!' he mentally begged.

"Antonio! Come out already! What's wrong with you today?" Gilbert shouted from outside Antonio's room, hitting the door violently with his fist in order to get the Spaniard's attention.

It was late and Francis had left for one of his night guards at the hospital. When Antonio had returned from school, had rushed to his room without a word or even a greeting and had locked himself up. Gilbert had left him alone but as time passed and Antonio still hadn't emerged from his room, not even for dinner, Gilbert had gotten worried. He was now trying to call out his friend but couldn't get any answer.

"Listen Antonio! If there's something bothering you then you can share it with the awesome me! I'll definitely help you with my awesomeness! So come on! Answer me already! Did something happen at school? Is it because of Artie?"

"His name is Arthur!" Gilbert heard a half sobbing and half angry voice answer him from the room.

"Alright! Arthur! Whatever! Just tell me what happened!"

"…"

"Antonio! I can't hear you!"
"… Go away."

"Nein! I am not leaving until you tell me what's wrong! Did you forget to invite him to the dinner or something?"

"No … I invited him …"

"Ok, so everything's gute! Why are you so depressed then?"

"… None of your business."

Gilbert sighed. This was going nowhere! How was he going to get Antonio to talk? Suddenly, Gilbert heard Antonio's phone ring. He heard his friend answer his phone hurriedly and pressed his ear against the door to hear the conversation.

"Holla? Ah! Si! Arthur!"

Gilbert grinned at hearing the boy's name and the shivering voice of Antonio as he spoke. So that's what it was all about! But why would Antonio be depressed if he was expecting Arthur's call? Wouldn't he be overjoyed instead?

"Si! Y? Así que ... vas a venir? Eso es ... genial! Yo ... ¿qué? ¡Ah! ¡Sí! Te texto que la dirección en un minuto. No es demasiado lejos de la escuela. Estoy ... Me alegro de que lo consiguió! ¿Qué?" ("Yes! And? So ... you're coming? That's ... great! I ... what? Ah! Yes! I'll text you the address in a minute. It's not too far from the school. I'm ... I'm glad you could manage it! What?")

Gilbert listened with surprise. Since when did those two speak in Spanish to one another? Was that progress … or not? Difficult to say. And why the hell was Antonio speaking in such an unawesome way? The guy's voice was shaking and unusually high pitched and Gilbert could clearly hear the hidden excitement in it. Gilbert smirked at his friend's unawesomness but then started to wonder what was happening. Antonio had suddenly stopped talking. When he finally did talk again, his voice was breathless and barely a whisper.

"Grazias!"

Gilbert waited but nothing else came. What was that for? 'Thank you'? For what? What had the boy done? The door suddenly opened while Gilbert was still pondering in his thought. He fell over as his weight was being shift from the door moving. Antonio took no notice of the albino lying at his feet. He was absent – minded and a small and self – content smile hung on his lips. Gilbert looked at him a bit crept out. Suddenly, Antonio became aware of his friend's presence and smiled happily at him while helping him back on his feet.

"Was ist passiert?"

"Hmm? Oh! Nada! Arthur said that he'd be able to come tomorrow!" the Spaniard answered, grinning widely.

"Gute! This whole dinner thing would have been pointless otherwise! You do realise that we organised this for you?"

"Wasn't it for Ludwig?"

"Nein! Of course not! Ludwig doesn't need this kind of stuff to improve! It was just an excuse! Good thing that prissy aristocrat agreed to the plan! I wasn't expecting him to.

"The prissy aristocrat?"

"That Austrian headmaster of yours!"

"Mr Edelstein?"

"That's the one! Anyway, you better not let this opportunity slip away! Francis and I have decided to help you out! So tomorrow, we're going to prepare you! It'll be an awesome dinner!" Gilbert stated proudly with a devilish smirk that often meant that he was planning something crazy.

"Si! Ok! Whatever!" Antonio said lightly. He was too happy to worry about his friends' plans for him. He would worry about it tomorrow! Just now he wanted to savour what Arthur had told him!

During their phone exchange, Arthur's voice had sounded as good as usual. Antonio was so glad to be able to talk to him like that, he actually felt like they were getting closer … a bit.

"Si! Y? Así que ... vas a venir? Eso es ... genial! Yo ... ¿qué? ¡Ah! ¡Sí! Voy texto que la dirección en un minuto. No es demasiado lejos de la escuela. Estoy ... Me alegro de que lo consiguió! ¿Qué?" ("Yes! And? So ... you're coming? That's ... great! I ... what? Ah! Yes! I'll text you the address in a minute. It's not too far from the school. I'm ... I'm glad you could manage it! What?")

Antonio was interrupted by Arthur:

"Por supuesto que sí! ... ¿No me pidas que?" ("Of course I would! ... Didn't you ask me to?")

Antonio was rendered speechless. Was Arthur referring to his plead in detention, earlier today? Yes, he had asked him to come but … he hadn't expected Arthur to actually take his plead into consideration. He didn't even think Arthur had heard him. But he did. And he said that he was coming because … he had asked him to? Really? Was it really the reason? Antonio felt his heart race and his head become lighter. He was so happy! Arthur was coming!

"Mr Carriedo? ¿Qué está pasando? ¿Todavía estás ahí?" ("Mr Carriedo? What is going on? Are you still there?")

Antonio smiled at hearing Arthur's confused voice. Was he worried about him? Probably not but … just now, Antonio wanted to pretend that he was! He whispered, breathless, unable to express his true feelings through a simple phone call.

"Grazias."

He heard Arthur muffle a chuckle on the other end. The sound of his laughing voice was music to Antonio's ears.

"I will see you tomorrow evening then. Good night, Mr Carriedo." Arthur ended in English before hanging up. Antonio was feeling so light – headed and happy. He could have cried of joy. Instead, He got out of his room to calm Gilbert's worries. Almost in a trance, he left his room. He was happy! Arthur was coming! He was happy! He was coming for him! He was happy! He was going to have a dinner with Arthur! He was happy! Oh, so happy!