26. Your mom again.

BETH.

As I walked in and apologized to everyone on the table for coming late, I noticed a new face and I guessed it was Tony's brother who had just returned. But something was oddly familiar about him. It seemed like we had met somewhere before, but I couldn't quite fathom it. I squinted my eyes and shook my head, something I do whenever I'm trying to remember a piece of important information. And suddenly, I remembered.

"So, meet my best friend, Beth." Lara turned to me. "Beth, meet my baby's brother—"

"Luca?" I called a look of surprise on his face as well as I stared at Luca in disbelief. It's been years since I last saw him, and that was why I couldn't recognize him at first glance. "Is that you?" I asked again, trying to be sure it was him that was sitting right in front of me.

"Okayyy looks like you know his name already, even though I don't know how," Lara muttered to herself as she stared at both Luca and me, everyone else on the table also doing the same. I could tell by the expression on their faces that they were all wondering where and how I know him.

"We meet again, Elizabeth," Luca replied with a smirk on his face, his arms folded.

"Okay, am I the only one that's lost? Can someone explain what's going on here? One of you?" Tony asked, looking from me to Luca and back to me.

"Wow! This world is such a small place. You're Tony's brother that Lara wouldn't stop talking about all week?" I asked again, still not believing my eyes.

"And you're her best friend that she wouldn't stop talking about since we got here?" Luca replied with a broad smile on his face.

Lara rolled her eyes and banged her hands on the table. "Attention, you two! What is going on? You two aren't the only ones on this table, you both know that, right?"

"Sorry, my in-law," Luca replied, making Lara blush, even though she was dark-skinned.

"You two should just tell us how you met and all of that. Not that I'm dying to know, but duh, this whole thing is confusing." Tony replied and shrugged, and the girls agreed with him.

"We used to be friends in—" I started, but Luca cut in.

"Used? Are we enemies now or something?" He asked with raised eyebrows, although I knew he was just joking about it.

"Hey!" I said and nudged him, a large smile on my face. "You know what I mean."

"Yeah, yeah. I was kidding. Go on," he said.

"So, yeah. We were friends in high school, close friends at that. But for some reason, he ditched me and ran abroad and never remembered to contact me again. So, I thought he was dead or something." I added the last part to make them laugh, and my plan did work. They all burst into laughter.

"Why didn't you contact her?" Tony asked him, poking his head a little.

"I lost her number, okay?! And why didn't she contact me too?"

"You changed numbers after moving to another country." I replied giving him a 'you don't have an excuse to blame it on me' look.

"Fine, fine. I'm sorry about that, but it's all bygones now."

"Of course."

Lara raised her glass of wine up in the air and exclaimed, "cheers to Luca!"

"To Luca!" We did the same thing as she did, and then clicked our glasses with one another's.

"To me!" Luca exclaimed with a large smile on his face. Then, we all gulped in the glass of wine. Right after, everyone began to talk about random things.

My phone rang and I quickly brought it out of my bag, but on seeing who the caller was, I sighed.

"Excuse me, please," I said and stood up, then I walked to a more quiet part of the bar to pick up my call. It was my mother.

"Hi, mum," I said to her, uninterested in whatever she had to say.

"Elizabeth! Is it until this woman kills me and sends my body to you before you understand the gravity of what I'm saying?! I'm about to die, okay? And she's treating me anyhow. I mean, it's not my fault that her husband had a child with me. But she keeps—"

I sighed before I cut in. "Mum, what is it again? What is this about this time?"

"Can't you hear me?! You have to come and see me right away if you don't want to hear that I'm dead by tomorrow morning, okay? She continued ranting on the phone, her voice unnecessarily loud. "I mean, why does it have to be when I'm being maltreated that I only get to talk to you, and you don't even—"

"Fine, I'm on my way to your place now," I said and hung up without waiting for her to reply to me. I sighed and just stood there for a while. What is all this?

I sighed one more time before heading back to our table.

"Uhm, sorry I have to ditch y'all. I have an important thing to attend to. I got a call from home and—"

"It's your mum again, uh?" Lara blurted out, much to my surprise. I mean, no one asked her any information about who it was, so I didn't get why she just started talking without filtering her words. "You know this is one of the disadvantages of being a mistress, no peace, nothing! Now, the daughter has to suffer from it too! When did you just get here that you're leaving because of your mother again? Is it your fault that she turned out to be some man's—"

Tony stopped her from talking by covering her mouth with his hand. Then, he looked up at me from where he sat. "I'm sorry. I think she had a lot to drink, and you know how she is Whenever she's drunk."

I simply nodded. "It's fine." But no, it wasn't. I was very offended, and for one, I knew quite well that Lara wasn't drunk. Tony was only trying to justify her rude action with that, but I have to let it go.

I picked up my bag on the table and set to go, then Tony released her hand from Lara's mouth, glaring at her in a scolding manner. I rolled my eyes at them, acting like I didn't see their whole love play. "I'm off," I turned to Luca. "I think I'll see your around, Luca."

"No, you won't." He replied and stood up, making all heads snap in his direction.

"Sorry, what? Are you returning there?" I asked him, unsure of what he meant by that.

"Oh, no, not at all," he chuckled lightly. "I meant you won't see me around because you won't be going off on your own. I'll give you a ride home."

"Ouuuuuuu!" Lara and the other girls exclaimed, making me smile a bit at Luca's cheesiness.

"You want to drive her… home?" Tony asked, the look on his face as if he was about to object to it.

"Yeah, why?" Luca asked him, looking unbothered by his reaction.

Tony scoffed. "Why? Dude, they threw this little party for you and you're leaving in the middle of it?"

Luca bent his head a bit and said, "if you ask me, I don't think you're pissed because I'm leaving the party. I think it's about something else. But that's a matter for another day." He raised his head and winked at his brother, who just stared at him, speechless. "Shall we?" He turned to ask me.