Chapter 31: Can I sleep with you?

Amelia's eyes were wide open in horror like it was taking her time to decide if she heard me correctly. Her gaze turned from me to my mother who shook her head like she didn't know what to do anymore.
We had never eaten dinner this late, and now that it's happening for the first time, the so-called "Amelia Rosewood" made it so as to fry the chicken for more than the time deserved and make it strong like the shell of a tortoise. If a bullet-loaded gun was put on my head to state the truth, the chicken isn't that bad. But it all seems like I was being controlled when I spitted out the meat; or, *Could Luca be trying to…?*
Amelia suddenly interrupted my thoughts as she stood up from her chair and walked out of the dining room with an angry look on her face. My eyes didn't follow the direction she walked because a part of me didn't want to know.
"What was that all about, Lucian?" Mom asked and dropped her fork from the air to the table, it made an ear-disturbing sound as it hit the glass plate.
"She deserved it!" I replied without thinking.
"She what?" Mom asked and I noticed a type of anger I've never seen in her eyes before.
"I'm sorry," I muttered, "But you should prolly take a bite of the chicken before you take one of me."
Mom looked at me for a minute like I was an entirely different person, the expression in her eyes read, *Is this really Lucian?*
"What's so wrong with the damn chicken?" Mom swore, and for the first time in my life, I was happy that she wasn't fully American. Least she'd fry me up with swear curses and make me cook for her and Amelia so they could both mock me when they noticed any little mistake in the meal.
"You'll never know what's wrong with the damn chicken if you don't check, woman!" I replied, silenting the "Woman" part because mom very much hated to be called "woman" in this type of circumstances.
She looked at me from head to toe and made an unsuccessful eye-roll before she angrily raised up the chicken on her plate and took a bite. It surprised and amused me very much because she had never eaten without a fork in my presence.
"The chicken is fabu…" she started to say but stopped in mid air, her face in a mixture of emotions I couldn't describe.
"What? Why'd you stop?" I mockingly asked her.
I noticed the way she flinched and practically forced herself to swallow the meat down her throat. "Okay," she started saying, "You really weren't wrong after all, but the problem with the chicken is just minor, and I can literally say it's a little overcooked.
"Why are you supporting her?" I asked with annoyance. "It's not "literally" overcooked, it's 100% overcooked."
"Alright, you won. It's 100% overcooked but that isn't enough for you to spit the thing on the ground and make her feel like a fool. You've got to go to her and apologise now before I lose my patience!"
"Okay. But I still haven't eaten."
"I don't care, Lucian!" She exclaimed. "Just go to her and I'll clean up this mess." She pointed to the stuff I spit on the ground as she said it.
I started to walk away without a sense of direction of where she went, but then I remembered that I still didn't know what she was doing in our house and where she came from. I suddenly turned back to look at mom and ask her, "Who is she, anyways?"
Mom stood up from the spot where she had bent down to pick what I spat on the ground with a tissue. "Who's who?" She asked like she didn't know who I was talking about.
"Who's Amelia Rosewood?" I repeated, "I've never heard of a Rosewood in all of your countless family friend's I know."
"Ooh!" Mother said and a smile crept up her cheeks. "She is the daughter of the Rosewood family, her mother was a longtime friend of mine until the family relocated to Canada. But Amelia got tired of the country and insisted to her family that she wanted to come back to America."
I nodded my head as the information digested, but I still couldn't get the reason as to why she was in our house of all places she could go to. "What then is she doing here?" I finally asked my mother and held my breath.
"She'll be staying here for awhile!" She replied with shining eyes. I use my hands to rub my ears so I could confirm if I just heard mom correctly. *She'll be fucking staying here? For fucking what?*
"Why?" I asked. Mom stood up and looked at me like she didn't understand the meaning of what I just said.
"What is why?"
"Why is she staying here? Did you turn the house into a private hotel without my knowledge?" I asked her and suddenly regretted it when a recollection of what she and late dad did for me ever since they found me in that basket came to my mind. *I didn't have the right to ask her questions and claim the house when I knew deep inside my heart that she wasn't my biological mother.*
Mom looked hurt as a result of what I said but she replied like she doesn't care, "She's here to go to college, the same college which you refused to go to."
I observed mom's facial expressions and my instinct told me there was more to her reason for Amelia Rosewood staying here, she obviously had another hidden agenda.
"Now you should really go and find her and apologise, you've wasted enough time already." Mom bent to the ground once again and I left.
I walked to my room and wanted to go in before I forcefully dragged myself to look for Amelia. I finally found her in the backyard garden and it seemed like she'd been crying because I noticed droplets of tears on her face though it was really dark. She was sitting down on the same chair mom had been earlier and I awkwardly walked up to her and noticed Luca growl inside me like it was irritated.
"Hey!" I said to her and she jumped off the chair like she wasn't expecting my presence at all. She looked at me straight in the eyes and for the first time, I didn't notice a blush on her face. She looked too angry to even force a smile.
"What are you doing here?" She asked with an irritated tone.
"I just came to say…"
*"You deserved it!"* Luca completed the sentence in my mind.
I quietly clenched my teeth in annoyance and continued, "I just had a really bad day, and I'm sorry I behaved that way when I tasted the food." Luca seemed to be getting more angry that I was apologising, it was growling more and more like it couldn't stand the presence of me talking to Amelia.
"It's alright." She said to my surprise. *What the fuck! Does a person forgive that easily?*
"I admit that I'm not much of a cook, since we have up to a dozen servants back at my house to carry out every single chore." She added.
*What the heck now! Don't tell me that she's boasting.*
I managed a nod and made her walk back into the house with me. We both met mom near her room-door and a cunning smile crept up her face when she saw us together.
"Amelia, I'm sorry about Lucian, he gets a little harsh sometimes when he's stressed out from work." She said,
"It's alright ma'm." Amelia muttered back.
"Lucain will lead you to your room. Goodnight!" Mom smiled before she opened the door to her room and got in.
I stood for a while with my mouth open. Mom didn't tell me what room she would be staying in, but she probably already knew because she walked in the direction of the only visitor's room in our house. *Thank God mom didn't let her use dad's.*
"Whatever." I muttered to myself and walked to my own room and to my bed without changing into my night clothes. I was almost asleep thirty minutes later when I heard a knock on my door. I swore and hissed in irritation before I forced myself to walk to the door. I opened the door and saw a sleepy looking Amelia who had finally removed the bun from her head. I noticed with slight admiration that her hair was blonde and shoulder-short at the same time.
"Lucian." She said with evidence of drowsiness in her eyes. "I had a terrifying dream, can I sleep with you?"
"......"