Chapter 43 Awkward
Liam POV
The shock of her arms wrapping tightly around my neck completely paralyzed my brain. For a few seconds, I stood frozen in the middle of the restaurant entrance, completely forgetting about Grandma and Elena standing right there.
I gently pried her hands away and pulled back to look at her face. My eyes widened as the familiar features of my childhood friend fully registered in my mind.
"Maya?" I gasped, my voice barely a whisper.
Without waiting for her to answer or saying a single word to anyone else, I grabbed her wrist. I pulled her quickly past the counter and led her straight upstairs to my bedroom, slamming the door shut behind us.
We both sat down on the edge of my bed, the heavy silence of the rest of the house completely locked outside. It took a while of excited gisting and catching up about our old lives before the initial wave of complete surprise finally began to settle down. I looked at her closely, still unable to believe she was actually sitting right in front of me after all these years apart.
"What exactly are you doing here in this country right now, Maya?" I asked, leaning forward with deep curiosity.
A bright smile broke across her face as she smoothed down her jacket, clearly matching my excitement.
"My father finally agreed to let me move here to finish my high school education," she answered happily, her eyes sparkling.
A wave of pure joy washed over me at her words, the heavy dark clouds from the camping trip temporarily lifting from my mind. Maya stood up from the bed and walked around the space, her eyes scanning the familiar posters and books lining my walls.
"Your bedroom still looks exactly the same as it did when we were kids," she noted with a soft chuckle, touching the edge of my desk.
She turned back to face me, her expression shifting into a serious look as she crossed her arms tightly over her chest.
"I have honestly missed you so much, Liam," she admitted quietly, stepping back toward the center of the room. "And I definitely missed your grandma’s special dish that she always used to cook for us after school."
Suddenly, her playful expression returned, her eyes narrowing slightly as she walked over and leaned forward toward me.
"But let's not forget to talk about that girl downstairs," she stated, a small, teasing smile appearing on her lips. "So tell me the truth, Liam, is she the special one you've been hiding from me?"
"No, it is absolutely not what you are thinking right now," I stammered out defensively, my hands waving in a frantic gesture of denial.
My heart rate instantly spiked into a nervous rhythm as the image of Elena's cold face flashed through my mind. I looked away from Maya's piercing gaze, trying my best to suppress the obvious panic bubbling in my chest.
"Then who exactly is she?" Maya questioned sharply, her arms folding tightly as she waited for an explanation.
I cleared my throat roughly, desperately searching my brain for a believable story to protect Elena's true situation.
"She is just a far away cousin who is staying with us for a little while," I lied smoothly, hoping my voice didn't crack.
Maya stared at me for a long moment, studying my face before letting out a loud laugh. She waved her hand through the air to dismiss the topic entirely.
"Enough of all this talking for now, because I am absolutely starving and want to go eat," she declared firmly.
Maya turned on her heel, walked over to the door, and pushed it open to step out.
The heavy wooden door suddenly swung open with a loud creak, catching both of us off guard. A startled gasp escaped from outside before someone lost their balance and stumbled straight into the room, hitting the floor hard.
Maya and I both froze in absolute, paralyzed shock as we stared down at Elena sprawling right at our feet.
Elena quickly scrambled back onto her feet, her cheeks flushing completely red as she refused to meet my eyes. She dusted off her clothes with shaking hands, her breath hitching.
"Grandma... Grandma was the one who asked me to come up and call you guys for dinner," she whispered frantically.
Before I could say anything, she spun around and ran down the hallway as fast as she could. Maya slowly turned her head back to look at me, her eyebrows raised high in a silent demand for answers.
I simply shrugged my shoulders helplessly, offering her an absolute 'I don't understand' look in return. The awkward interaction hung heavily in the air as the two of us finally left the bedroom to follow Elena downstairs.
……..…….
A few minutes later, we were all sitting together around the large dinner table in the warm dining room of the restaurant.
Grandma smiled happily as she moved around the table, serving us massive portions of her special hot food from a heavy ceramic bowl. The comforting scent of the home-cooked meal filled the air, briefly hiding the strange tension between the three of us.
Grandma set the serving spoon down and looked directly across the table at Maya with a warm, curious expression.
"So, sweetheart, what exactly is your plan now that you are finally back in town?" she asked gently.
Maya swallowed her food quickly, her face lighting up with that same bright excitement she had shown upstairs in my room.
"My father has officially agreed for me to finish the rest of my school terms here," Maya explained happily to her.
Grandma clapped her hands together in pure joy, letting out a delighted exclamation at the wonderful news of her permanent stay. I smiled warmly at the exchange, feeling a genuine sense of happiness for the first time all day.
Suddenly, the cheerful atmosphere was completely shattered when Elena locked her eyes onto her plate and took a sudden, sharp breath. She became completely stuck on her food, a violent, ragged cough tearing out of her throat as her face turned pale. Her entire body trembled against the back of her chair as she struggled to catch her breath.
I panicked instantly, quickly picking up my own cup of water and handing it directly across the table to her.
"Here, drink this right now," I urged frantically, my hand hovering in the air as I waited for her to take it.
Elena completely ignored my outstretched hand, her cold gaze cutting right past me as she looked away.
She bypassed my cup entirely, reaching out with a trembling hand to collect Grandma's glass of water from the opposite side instead. I brought my hand back slowly, a sharp jolt of complete surprise and deep hurt shooting straight down my spine at her blatant rejection. I stared at her silent form, utterly bewildered by the sudden wall she was building between us.