The oven beeping saved you from having to retort.

Kevin stared at you for a few more seconds before he got up and went to grab the food, carefully separating it into two portions. It smelled good…

“You still like pasta, right?” he asked softly, coming back.

“Yeah, why?”

“And cheese?”

“Also, but why…”

“Here. Baked alfredo linguine, covered in cheese.”

You were ‘pastavorous’. He knew that. He knew that you would feed only on pasta if it could make you live a healthy life. Too bad it couldn’t. You still ate mostly pasta anyway.

You almost started drooling at the portion he was giving you. It wasn’t big, but it looked so damn good. You immediately frowned, however, when you noticed that he had given you the biggest portion.

“Dude.”

“Hmm?”

He looked as if he was wondering what he had done wrong. You pointed your plate.

“I’m not eating all of that.”

“Eh? Not hungry enough?”

“It’s not like that. It’s just that you’re ing stupid and gave me the biggest portion despite the fact that you obviously need to gain more weight than I do.”

“I did?”

“Don’t play dumb with me. You did it on purpose.”

He looked like a pitiful puppy getting caught in the act of doing something bad. He looked down and you shook your head softly, simply exchanging the plates.

“Looks more like it. There, eat. You need it.”

Kevin pouted but nodded softly and started eating. You ate too, quickly noticing that the food tasted as good at it looked. You didn’t know Kevin was supposed to be a good cook…

“Do you like it?” he asked in a quiet voice.

“Hmm? Of course I do, it’s pasta.”

“Well, I used not to be able to cook anything, so…”

“I don’t care, this is great.”

He looked happy and smiled widely, obviously glad to be praised. You smiled too, laughing a bit because he looked way too happy. The awkwardness of before had disappeared, and you were now spending a good time with Kevin, listening to his soft voice as he was telling you a few things that had happened lately in his life. He had found a new job, since he had been fired from one of his other jobs because of a budget reduction; he had managed to save enough to soon be able to get a microwave oven; his fridge had been acting up, so he had called a repairman to get it fixed, and it had been pretty expensive; and he was thinking of you everyday.

At these words, you looked down softly. Well, the awkwardness was back now. It was just weird… knowing that your ex-boyfriend who had been the one to break up still loved you…

“Kevin…”

It was his turn to look down. He looked so sad. You bit your lower lip. “Vinnie.”

He looked at you with melancholic eyes and you hesitated. “Why do you…”

“Why do I what?”

“Why do you… still like me?”

“Love you.”

“Love me. Why?”

“Because. I love you. I just do.”

“But I’m mean to you, I’m eating more food in one meal than you probably eat in a day, I hit you, I insult you… I even threw my bag at your face earlier today.”

“Try explaining that to my heart. Maybe he’ll listen to you, but he sure won’t listen to me.”

He was smiling, just a bit sadly, but especially tenderly. You looked down again.

“I just don’t understand.”

“I don’t either. I told you, I just love you. I’ve always loved you ever since I first saw you.”

“How did we meet?”

He had a little laugh and finished his plate before going to wash it, coming back, explaining while you were finishing your own plate.

“It was years ago. I was new in Quebec, not speaking French at all, but at least I had gotten lucky and I had been accepted in an English high school. First day of school, I got bullied because I was new, Asian, not understanding a word of French, not having good results and being smaller than everybody else. You stood up for me and punched the guys who were bullying me.”

You almost choked on your food.

“I did?!”

“Yeah, you did,” he laughed. “You did, and you almost got kicked out of school for that. But people had seen me getting bullied, and so they didn’t dare throw you out, because you had defended me. The next day, you joined me and slapped me in the back so hard I dropped my books down, and you apologized and smiled. And I saw an angel.”

“Eh?”

“You. Your smile was the most beautiful I had ever seen. You looked so happy, so… bright. You looked like an angel. Like one of the Lord’s holy messengers. I fell in love with you. Desperately. We started hanging out, but I couldn’t forget my feelings. At some point, I got clumsy and dropped a love letter I was planning to give you, right in front of you. You saw it and read it before I could do anything, and I wanted to die in a corner. But you didn’t laugh. You smiled and made me look at you. And you kissed me.”

He was smiling tenderly, remembering those happy, innocent times. You finished your food and he got up, going to wash the plate, coming back before continuing.

“We started dating. You were my everything. You were the one who made my life complete. The one who filled me with joyfulness. You were like… like a dream come true. As if God had asked one of his angels to come down on Earth, and I had met this angel. I started writing songs for you, and singing them when we’d be alone.”

“How do you remember all those small details?”

“How could I forget them? They marked my soul forever.”

You shivered when you noticed how intense his gaze was. He was staring at you, into your mind, into your soul. With tenderness, with softness, with intensity, with sadness, with despair, with hope. With love.

“I love you,” he whispered. “I can’t forget about you.”

“Vinnie…”

“Because… You are the only one I want, you’re the only one I love.”

You remembered those words. Those lyrics. That song. It was in one of the recordings…

“If there is anything I could say to show my love, I would say them to you right away. Even if I’ve been around this world, there’d be nothing to show how much I really adore you, girl. I’m afraid this can turn into memories, but I’ll try not to think of it. Cause a lifetime’s not enough to be loving you. Forever, I will love you.”

His voice…

It was bringing back forgotten feelings. Forgotten fears, forgotten pains, forgotten sadness. Forgotten happiness, forgotten hopes, forgotten love.

“Vinnie…”

“I’m sorry, girl. I’m sorry I disappointed you. I’m sorry I dared let go of you…”

“…”

“Please give me one more chance. Not as in one more date to prove you that I still love you. But as in one more chance of me being your boyfriend. Please.”

You hesitated and he slowly got up, going next to you and falling on his knees, taking your hands, looking pitiful. You observed his long fingers holding yours as tears appeared in his eyes.

“It’s been so hard without you… I thought I could let go of you. I thought I would stop thinking about you. But I can’t… The more I try, the more I think about you, the more I remember how much I love you, the more I feel like an for breaking up with you… the more I feel guilty for what happened to you… the more I want to hold you in my arms once again, and never let go of you…”

You looked into his eyes. He was sincere. Sweet. Nice. Gentle. Sensitive. A bit of a wimp. That was all right. Adorable. Perseverant. Stronger than he looked. Cute.

Desperately, truly in love with you.

You squeezed his hands softly.

“Vinnie…”

He didn’t dare say anything. So he just looked at you, ready for the impact of you refusing everything he was talking about. You had to repress an embarrassed laughter. It would ruin the moment and the effect of what you wanted to do…

“Vinnie, listen, I’m sorry, but…”

His tears started rolling down his cheeks. You continued.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t remember those happy moments you spoke of…”

He looked down, shaking. His hands started letting go of yours, but you grabbed them, holding them back. You smiled, not able to hold it back.

“… so you’ll need to make me live them once again. You can do that, right, Vinnie?”

He slowly looked up and saw your smile. His tears started falling even more and he hid his face into your lap, making you blush in embarrassment, but you didn’t have the courage to just push him back. Instead, you patted his head softly and took advantage of his position to brush a hand in his Ô divinely fluffy hair. What a liar. You weren’t the angel. He was.

“Vinnie, I hate your hair,” you mumbled.

He looked up immediately, alarmed, but you chuckled.

“It’s too fluffy for your own good. What do you do to keep it that fluffy?”

He looked lost.

“I don’t know… I wash it?”

“I wash my hair too and it doesn’t stay that fluffy.”

“I don’t know…”

He looked so puppy-like that you patted his head again.

“Don’t be like that, Vinnie. And stop crying, would you?”

“But… but I’m so happy… that you’re giving me another chance…”

“Which is why, stop crying! Ugh.”

He only cried even more and you sighed in disbelief. Oh well. Kevin being a crybaby was part of the package. You had to accept this side of him. It wasn’t too tough. He looked so cute when he was repeating again and again that he loved you, even crying non-stop like that…

“Vinnie?”

He slowly stopped crying and grabbed a tissue to get rid of his runny nose before he looked at you again.

“Yeah?”

“You cried on the teddy bear.”

He looked so sorry that you had no choice but laugh out loud. You threw the teddy at him and he caught it with lost eyes.

“That’s all right, I’ll handwash it once I’ll be home,” you told him.

“No, I’ll handwash it now, it’s my fault…”

“Vinnie, I’m clearly the one with the pants in this relationship, so please just let me handle things and everything will be fine, okay?”

“But you’re wearing a dress…”

“I can go home and change into pants if I need to prove that this is my status in this relationship, dude.”

“No! No… that’s all right. Just… don’t go…”

You smiled. “Good boy.”

“Hey, love…”

“Hmm?”

“Does that mean… that I’m not your ex anymore?”

You couldn’t help the smirk. “Technically speaking, you’re my boyfriend, my ex-boyfriend, and my re-boyfriend. Though, we can drop all titles now and just go for ‘boyfriend’.”

“So… you’re my girl, once again, right?”

“Yes, you flat- idiot.”

“My is not flat!”

“It is, but that’s all right. I like it like that.”

He blushed, and you laughed at his shy look. Well, then. Seemed like you had a boyfriend once again. You were pretty curious to see if things would turn out all right, now…

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Sorry for the time this is taking to write. I'm working and when I'm free, I'm trying to lose weight ^^' xD