Loving a Stranger
Chapter four: Don't Trust Bastards who come Knocking at Four a.m.
Bella had been sent into the house by Francis with a mission none of us knew and he refused to speak of. "You're gonna try some more matchmaking, aren't you?" Alfred asked. Francis shrugged, but there was a mischievous gleam in his blue eyes. "You never know."
While we were waiting, Mathias and Lukas finally returned, the Dane grinning wider than a little kid during Christmas while Lukas tried and failed to look composed. "Awwwww! You two are so adorable let me hug you!" Tino insisted, embracing his two friends.
"See?" Francis asked, poking at Arthur. "I told you my matchmaking techniques are perfect. And now you owe me..."
"Whatever you git."
"Francis?" Came a shy voice from behind us. "Are you sure this is what I'm supposed to be wearing? I feel so embarrassed." We all looked to see Bella in a sexy black and white French maid dress. It exposed most of her chest, all of her arms, and lay at the upper part of her thighs. She wore lacy stockings that when all the way up to her mid thigh, leaving a couple dangerous inches of creamy skin exposed. Her hair was done up with a maid's cap and she held a feather duster in hand, her face red. Dear God, what the hell was Francis up to?
Pretty much every single guy was drooling and making stupid catcalls while Francis nodded to her. "Oui. You know what to do now." Bella flushed more as she sashayed over to us and sat on Antonio's lap, kissing him on the cheek.
I felt as if someone had punched me in the gut.
I stood up, spun on my heel, and marched into the house. I don't even think anyone noticed I left, for they were far too busy observing the scene before them. So Francis the snail eating bastard was trying to pair up Bella and Antonio. Why was I surprised? And more importantly, why was I so fed up and disgusted? I somehow managed to locate the bathroom and locked the door behind me, sinking to the floor so I could bury my head in my hands. Francis' Cupid magic works too, I just bore witness to that, I thought miserably. I don't know why it bothers me, but it does. Hell, I should be rejoicing. When Antonio gets together with Bella, he'll finally stop annoying me and leave me in peace. This was a good thing, right? Then why did I feel so alone? Losing Antonio to the army was bad enough, but losing him in this way as well?
"What the hell is wrong with me?" I muttered as my eyes watered against my will. "I don't have feelings for the bastard. The only thing I feel for him is hatred." Damn Antonio and his stupid perfect face, his cheerful personality, his dense, idiotic self.
"Lovino?" A voice called softly from the other side of the door.
I jumped and swore under my breath. "What the hell do you want, Tomato Bastard?" I muttered, struggling to keep my voice under control.
"Are you okay? I know you're not actually using the bathroom."
"Go fuck yourself. Or better yet, why don't you go with Bella, bastard?"
Antonio sighed. "Is that what this is about?" I sniffled slightly. "Can you open the door?"
"Hell no!" I shouted. "I don't want you in here."
There was a soft thud on the other side as he hit his head against the door. " "Lovi, I'm leaving tomorrow. Can we have just one normal conversation?" Well, this was probably the only time we'd be able to have one. Even when he came back he'd be too involved with Bella to spend any time with me.
I sighed and stood up, cracking the door open. He smiled at me. "I'm not into Bella if that's what you're upset about."
"I don't care if you are or not," I faked. "You don't have to lie to me, bastard."
Antonio pushed the door open a little as I vainly attempted to keep him out. "Lovi, I wouldn't lie to you," he said sincerely, staring at me with a confused look on his face. "But I think you do care. You're eyes are red, mi tomate."
I sniffed and rubbed at my eyes, trying to wipe away the evidence of my tears. "I think I have allergies or something," I said lamely. I blinked and lowered my eyes. "You don't like her?"
Antonio let out a small noise that sounded like a chuckle. "I thought you knew that, Lovi."
"Mm. That was before Francis tried to pair you two up. He somehow knew about Lukas and Mathias, so I assumed he read between the lines again," I muttered, wanting to get on his case for using those stupid nicknames, but finding it hard to utter the words.
He reached over and cupped my trembling chin in his warm hand, tilting my head up so I would look at him. "And that bothered you, sì?" He whispered, leaning against the doorframe as he refused to take those bright green eyes off mine.
Yes...yes it did bother me, you idiot. Never allow that crap to happen again, got it? I silently pleaded, finding myself unable to tear my eyes away. But what I said aloud was completely different. "Of course it didn't, you bastard. I don't care about you."
Antonio sighed and removed his hand from my face, leaving it tingling. "That's what I thought..." He murmured sadly. I don't know why, but that made me want to start crying all over again.
"Remind me again why the hell I'm here," I grumbled in a grouchy manner. It was fucking four a.m. and I was stuck in the backseat of Gilbert's car next to Antonio, who was being so uncharacteristically quiet it was weirding me out. Maybe he just wasn't a morning person, or he was feeling anxious about his plane ride and what would come after that. Maybe he was asleep.
"Because you want to say goodbye to Toni, maybe?" Francis asked from the passenger seat.
"Or maybe because you bastards drove up to my house in the dead of night and forced me to get up?"
"Hm... I think the first one is more accurate," the Frenchman said. I harrumphed and slouched in my seat, too tired to continue arguing with him, but not trusting Gilbert's driving enough to fall asleep. So I merely listened to their dumbass conversation.
"So Arthur had to give me fifteen dollars yesterday," Francis was saying proudly. "You better get ready to hand over money as well."
"You got lucky with Lukas and Mathias," Gilbert insisted. "And they're awesome and all, but will they even last? Mathias is going back to school in a few weeks. Do you think they can handle a long-distance relationship?"
"Oui. Love always finds a way, mon ami. Besides, our Danish friend will be home during holidays and such."
"Ja, but still. Emil is going to be a senior, right?"
"Yes. Lukas only needs to support his brother one more year and then Emil can go to college using the money their parents saved before they passed."
"Lukas has what, two full time jobs? That one coffee shop and Barnes and Noble. I'm pretty sure he hides out in behind the bookshelves and reads Norse mythology every day."
"I don't know. He is rather serious about getting Emil through high school. If he was to get fired it would be difficult for him to find another decent job with no college education."
"My point exactly! That guy is way too stressed out as it is for a long-distance relationship! So Arthur might get his money back. That means you are not the awesome matchmaker you claim to be, which also means I will not lose this bet."
What the hell were they even talking about? Oh right. They were probably discussing the possibility of Antonio and Bella hooking up. I fought the urge to growl and closed my eyes, no longer wanting to hear the stupid conversation. Besides, I was so tired, and the car's humming was really soothing...
I awoke several hours later to Gilbert shouting and swearing loudly in German, laying on the horn with no remorse. "GET THE HELL OUT OF MY LANE!" He shouted to some poor lady in her car. "Scheiße!"
I stirred, my neck slightly sore from leaning my head on Antonio's shoulder- wait. What the hell? "What the fuck is wrong with you?" I yelled, jumping away from the slowly waking Spaniard.
Gilbert glared at me from the rearview mirror. "She was in the way of the awesome me!" He insisted.
"She was not," Francis grumbled. "You just realized you were losing the bet and decided to make a distraction. Which is cheating, by the way."
"I have no idea what you are talking about. The awesome Gilbert doesn't cheat."
"Why are you talking about yourself in third person, bastard?" I questioned.
Antonio rubbed his eyes and yawned. "What's going on?" He asked sleepily.
"I don't have a damn clue. These bastards are-"
"It's after six!" Gilbert shouted again. "The plane leaves at eight thirty! But all these unawesome people won't move their asses out of my way!"
We finally made it to the airport parking lot, where we ran into some more problems with road rage. "Move!" Gilbert yelled out the window. "How long does it fucking take to pull your shitty car out of the parking spot?!" The guy in the car flipped him off, which Gilbert retaliated by returning the favor with both hands while the rest of us sunk lower in our seats.
"That's it. I'm driving home, you idiotic albino bastard!" I grumbled as we grabbed Antonio's meager belongings and entered the crowed airport. After a few minutes and a talk with security, we realized we couldn't accompany him all the way to the gate. In fact, we really had to just leave him there.
"So no touching goodbyes then?" Gilbert asked, smirking at Francis.
The blonde smiled. "Non. We have our touching goodbyes right here."
"I don't know why," Antonio chuckled. "But you two are acting strange." Nevertheless he embraced his two best friends as they wished him the best of luck.
"And adios to you as well, Lovi," he murmured, hugging me before I could stop him. "I'll miss you."
My eye twitched slightly. "Yeah yeah. Let go already, Tomato Bastard. Ciao..." He smiled but released me, fingered my curl as I blushed, swore, and swatted at him, and picked up his bags.
"Auf Wiedersehen!" Gilbert said, elbowing Francis like he was saying 'I told you so.'
Before the Frenchman could dejectedly reach for his wallet, Antonio dropped his bags and ran back over to us. Oh please tell me he was changing his-
Before I could finish my thought, he was holding me again, his warm lips against mine. I wanted to smack him, to get out of his arms, but I found myself subconsciously leaning closer to him. Damn him! Antonio broke away and brushed some hair out of my eyes. "I know you don't feel the same way, but I love you Lovi." He left for good that time.
I was unable to move, as if Antonio's actions and words froze me to the ground like they were some kind of evil spell. He...loves me? Me? Pfft, yeah right. That doesn't happen. People don't love me; they love my brother, or anyone but me! I'm not a lovable person! Yet, my lips still tingled from his kiss and my ears still rung from his confession. That stupid tomato freak, what the hell does he think he's doing, playing with my emotions like that?
I somehow managed to get control over my body again and turned to the others, surprised to see Francis smirking at Gilbert with his palm open, while the self-proclaimed Prussian scowled and pulled out a twenty. Wait a minute.
"IS THAT WHAT YOUR DAMN BET WAS ABOUT?" Mio Dio, I hated those bastards. Good thing I'll get a break from all of them.
Translations:
Oui(French)- Yes
Mi tomate(Spanish)- My tomato
Sí(Spanish/Italian)- Yes
Mon ami(French)- My friend
Ja(German)- Yes
Scheiße(German)- Shit
Non(French)- No
Adios(Spanish)- Goodbye
Ciao(Italian)- [in this context:] Bye
Auf Wiedersehen(German)- Goodbye
Mio Dio(Italian)- My God
A/N: Oh my gosh guys! Thank you so much for all the love you've given me! You honestly have no idea how important you all are to me! I love you all so much!
altera vita mea