SLOW HANDS

It wasn’t that he regretted staying, He didn’t. He loved his family and just didn’t want to go too far away from them, but there were times when his parents… Especially his mother, could be a bit meddlesome. Just like she was doing right now. This was like the hundredth time this evening, that she had mentioned how close he and Chloe used to be, and she wouldn’t stop going on and on about it. Not that he was still upset with Chloe, he wasn’t, but that didn’t mean that he wanted to be reminded that once upon a time, he had loved her.

The fact that it had happened a long time ago didn’t change the fact that he had been terribly Hurt after their relationship had ended. Back then he had been naive, open, inexperienced and soft. Realizing that his high school sweetheart and best friend hadn’t cared as much as he did about their relationship had been almost too much to take, and he sincerely wished his mother would stop talking about how cute they were together. Of course they were cute. They were Young and stupid back then. What the hell did they know?

He risked a glance in Chloe’s direction. She didn’t seem to be bothered one bit by the stories his mother was telling. In fact, she seemed to be enjoying it and had this amused, interested look on her beautiful face. Timothy frowned at how aware of her he was, and it annoyed him even further to see that he was clearly the only one still upset about something that happened years ago. It made him feel silly.

“…. I’m really glad that you decided to join us tonight” Katherine said to Chloe when she was ready to leave. She handed a box to her. “Here, you can have these… Some of the cupcakes I made. I don’t know how long you are going to be in town, but please, feel free to come visit anytime you have the chance. I really do hope that you and Timothy catch up. It would be nice to see you guys renew your friendship. Such a shame that you guys had to grow apart and such a wonderful friendship had to come to an end”

Timothy just couldn’t take it any more. And he wasn’t sure who he was more mad at… Himself, his mom, or Chloe? So he blurted out without thinking,”Just stop it mom. It was a long time ago, and besides, sometimes friendships do end. It doesn’t always mean the same thing to the two people involved. Some people can just walk away without a second thought, so can we just let it go? Please”

The room was quiet for a few seconds after Timothy’s outburst before Chloe said, “It was really nice of you to have me around for dinner, Mr and Mrs Packard,…. And thanks for the cupcakes… I remember how delicious they were. Anyways, I have to leave now as I have a lot to do tomorrow. Thank you so much.”

“You’re welcome dear” Jensen said, while Katherine smiled at her. “It was nice to have you over”

“Good night” Chloe said as she stood from her chair.

“Good night, hun. Drive safe” Katherine replied.

Another silence descended on the room again and as they all listened to Chloe’s footsteps as she walked through the living room, then out of the house through the front door.

“Let me help you with the dishes before I leave, mom” Timothy offered as he stood up too, but he was stopped immediately by Katherine.

“No,” she said. “You are not going to help me with the dishes. I’ll tell you what you are going to do… You are going to go out there right now after Chloe and apologize to her for being so rude and unwelcoming. I know that I can’t tell you what to do anymore, but you know that you were wrong, and I think I raised you well enough for you to know when you are wrong and when you should apologize”

“Fine,” Timothy replied. “I will just leave since you clearly don’t need my help. Good night dad” And with that, he hurried out of the house. He didn’t care if he had been rude or not. There was no way in hell that he was going to apologize to Chloe. As far as he was concerned, if anyone deserved an apology, it was him.

________________

Chloe spent a minute searching frantically in her bag for her keys. She was mad. So angry that she knew she had to leave the Packard’s house before she did something crazy like go back into the house and give Timothy Kavell a piece of her mind.

The nerve of the man! He was so inconsiderate… So selfish and so unforgiving. She could understand if he was still mad at her. She knew that she must have hurt him badly when she left, but he could at least talk to her and not be such an asshole about it. She would have brought it up herself, but she hadn’t because she wanted to concentrate on what had brought her back… Getting Packard Enterprises account for Golden gates, and bringing up their past didn’t seem like the professional thing to do. It wasn’t like he had given her any impression that he wanted to talk anyways. Since he had been distant and cold towards her…

At this point, she didn’t care if he was mad. It still didn’t give him the right to be rude to her. She finally found her keys and unlocked her car. She hurriedly got in and was about to slide her key into the ignition when she heard a knock on her half opened glass window and saw someone appear there.

Shocked, she dropped her keys and screamed, then instantly regretted her actions when she saw who it was. Timothy!

He backed away from her car with his two hands raised. His eyebrows were lifted in surprise as he watched her sigh with relief then bend to pick up her keys.

“Damn it, Tim. You sacred the hell out of me. What the hell are you doing sneaking up on me like that?”

“I’m sorry” Timothy replied as he stepped closer to her again. “And for your information, I wasn’t sneaking up on you and I didn’t mean to scare you. Didn’t even know you scare that easily. Is that something you picked up after high school?”