YOU AND ME

I knew it was wrong, but it felt just right. Cam’s parents were out of town, and it was the perfect opportunity to have a private evening just the two of us. We don’t get much time to ourselves because of our families. I could feel my heart pounding out of my chest as my sweaty palms knocked on the door. He opens the door and as soon as I look into his eyes, my body relaxes. He smiles and I smile back almost immediately. He invites me in and my eyes widen. The table had a beautiful set up with candles, and flowers, and a dinner that smelled delicious. We ate, talked, and were having a great time after not seeing each other for a couple weeks.

We were sitting on the couch really close to each other, talking about nonsense when all of the sudden, I hear the back door open. That’s weird, I thought we were supposed to be home alone.

“Cam, I’m home,” said a mysterious woman’s voice. “Can you come and help me with my bags please?”

Cam and I just looked at each other, both just frozen in place. We didn’t even had time to process what was happening when his mom walked into the living room.

“What are you doing in MY house?” Mrs. Smith said.

I could basically see the smoke coming out of her ears.

“Get out!” she yelled, “You are not welcomed here.”

“Mom, please, I—” Cam said.

“Cam, shut up,” Mrs. Smith said looking at him. “What were you thinking? You know how everyone feels about her and her family.

“Cam, its okay,” I said, trying to de-escalate the situation. “Its getting late anyways, I should get going.” I grabbed my purse and walked out, thanking Cam for having me on the way out and head home.

I knew things would get complicated once our families knew, but I didn’t expect this to blow up the way it did. To say that Cam’s family and mine do not get along would be an understatement. Everyone knew that, and yet here we are. I tried to stay away from him, I really did. No matter how hard I tried, though, there was always something that just kept me coming back to him. I guess you can call us the real-life Romeo and Juliet, well without the death part of the story. We met one night while I was out by myself in the city, and we had an instant connection. Ever since then, we have kept everything a secret. We were doing pretty good at that, until today.

I knew what we needed to do as soon and we heard that it was out in the open that we were dating. We needed to confront this head-on, and it wasn’t going to be easy. I walked up to Cam’s door and knocked. A couple moments later he opens the door, eyes wide to see that I am actually at his apartment, knowing that his mom was there.

“Ana, what in the world are you doing here?” he asked. “You know she’s still here.”
“Yeah, that’s exactly why I am here, Cam,” I told him. “We need to talk.”

“I don’t know about this, Ana,” he said, puzzled. “She’s not—”

“Cam, who was that?” I hear his mother asked, walking towards the door. “What are you doing here?” she said looking at me with disgust.

“Actually, I came to talk to you, Mrs. Smith,” I said. “It’s about your son and me.”
“I don’t care about what you—”
“Well, I wasn’t really asking you, I need to talk to you.” I told her. “This is important.”

She just stares at me. I look at Cam for support and he just nods, encouraging me.

“Your problems with my family, have nothing to do with me. You don’t know me.” I told her. “Your son is an amazing man, and yes it was wrong to go behind your back the way we did, but we had no choice.”

She rolls her eyes at me, still very unhappy.

“I’ve never met someone who makes me feel what your son does.” I explained. “He makes me feel like the most amazing girl on the planet, and I really don’t want this to end. I’m not braking up with your son, so I would really like for us to get to know each other as people without any grudges from things that I had nothing to do with, so that we can continue this amazing thing that we have going on.”

Cam stands right next to me, arm around my waist.

“Listen, mom, I know it was wrong hiding it the way we did for the past 6 months,” he said. “but, Ana makes me the happiest man on earth. She is the most amazing woman and I would love nothing more than to have your blessing.”
Mrs. Smith just stays silent. Taking it all in, while looking at the both of us.

“I have noticed that you have been acting differently over these past few months,” she said. “You’ve been a lot happier and that is all a mom wants for their sons. To be happy. I know its not going to be easy at first, but if she makes you this happy, then who am I to get in the way of that.”
We both start smiling from ear to ear. I can’t believe this.

“I will warn you though,” Mrs. Smith said, pointing a finger at me, “You better not make me regret this.”

I look at her in the eyes. “I won’t,” I said. “I promise.”

Maria Barrezueta: Born in Quito, Ecuador, Maria Barrezueta moved to Central Florida in 2016. If not writing, you can find her enjoying music or watching all kinds of TV shows and movies. Follow her on Instagram @mariebarrezueta