You are Definitely Going to Hell Ch. 05

"Maria, I'll ask Carole to dance while I'm up. Is that okay?"

"Yeah, but I hope you're not avoiding my mother. Anyway, how well did she do?"

"Zero, right, and that's being generous," I reply.

Maria laughs, "Doesn't she know who you are?"

"No, she didn't give me a chance to say a word."

"Do you mind if I keep who you are from them, just for tonight?" Maria asks with that look; she's up to no good.

"What are you up to?"

"Just want to see how deep a hole my mother digs," Maria says.

"As long as I don't have to sit there and be insulted again," I say without thinking.

My stomach drops when I see Maria's expression change. "She insulted you? How?" Maria is now looking upset.

"Oh baby, I don't want this to ruin your time here," I say trying to calm the situation.

"What about your time? What did she say?"

"Oh god, I feel I should leave," I say, not wanting to ruin the wedding.

"You go, I go," Maria says. "What did my mother say?"

"Words to the effect that I am a leech and vermin. I'm only at University at the taxpayer's expense. That sort of thing, and I'm not good enough for you. I'm only with you for your money, and she prefers Daniel to me," I say, feeling uncomfortable.

Maria pulls me into a hug. "I'm so sorry, baby. You should not have to put up with that...Go and have your dance with Carole. I will chat with some family I haven't seen for a while and then go to our room. I'm too angry to confront my mother."

"Hey Maria, what's this about you being caught shagging your boyfriend by your ex?" Someone says from behind me, interrupting Maria.

"Hey Christina, good to see you. Christina, this is my boyfriend, Rob. Rob, this is the blushing bride and my cousin, Christina." I get a quick smile before she turns back to Maria. "So, what are you talking about?" I take my drink and give Maria a quick peck before making my way over to the Bamfords.

"Apparently, Daniel walked in on you with your knickers around your ankles, having sex with some guy with a tiny cock." Christina replies to Maria.

"For Christ's sake. Where did you hear that crock of shit from?" Maria says angrily.

Christina takes a step back. "Calm down, Maria, take a chill pill," she says, trying to lighten the mood.

"Christina, I am not in the mood. Where did you hear about Daniel walking in on me having sex?"

"Mum told me," she says, pointing at her.

Maria walks over. "Aunty Jean, where did you hear about me getting caught having sex?"

"Pardon Maria?"

"Where did you hear this crap about me being caught having sex?" Maria is getting quite stressed.

"Ummm, your mother......"

"I've had enough already. I'm going to my room," Maria says, holding back both her anger and her tears. She turns to Christina, who has a smug smile after stirring the pot. "Sorry, Christina, I will be leaving in the morning. Sorry, I won't be at your wedding."

Christina's face drops. "No, you can't. You're one of the bridesmaids," she says, almost in tears.

Maria takes a deep breath. "You, for one, should have known my reaction to rumors about me." Without another word, Maria calmly walks out of the ballroom.

I have missed all the commotion as I dance with Carole, unaware. We finish the second waltz; Carole looks a little flustered and says, "I'm going to have to stop at two tonight, Rob. We've got to be up and out by five. Antony needs to be home for lunch."

"No need to apologize. Hopefully, we will bump into each other another time," I say as I escort her off the dance floor.

As I walk away after saying my goodbyes to Antony, I walk straight into an angry-looking mob. "I've got a bone to pick with you," Maria's mother says.

I instantly guess what's happened, and I will not hold back. "You are annoyed at me. What have I done......nothing. I guess Maria has gone back to our room. You know, she only came because I said I would come with her, and now I see why. You have insulted me and treated me like something on the bottom of your shoes. Spread rumours that are so far from the truth, it's laughable, and now you have the audacity to blame me....Why were my parents ever friends with you? My father is very picky about who he hangs around with."

The group are stunned, so I begin to walk off. Maria's mother grabs my arm. "Who's your father?" She asks, not knowing what else to say.

"Phillip Johnson," I reply before pulling my arm free and walking out of the room.

As I walk away, I hear Maria's mother say, "Rob, Robert?" I look back as I get to the door, and I see the shock and realization of what she has done written all over her face. "Robert, please," she calls in one last attempt to take back some part of what she has caused. It's no good; my only thought is to get back to the room and ensure Maria is fine.

I open the door, and Maria is standing looking out of the window. "You know, I don't know why I thought it would be any different." She looks at me and smiles at my concerned look. "Good to see you got here unscathed. It looks like my family wins."

"Wins what?"

"Weirdest family award. Did you get any hassle after I walked out?"

"I think telling your mum what a horrible person she is and then dropping the bomb of who I am, thwarted her," I say, moving behind her and wrapping her in my arms.

"Do you realize you are the first boyfriend to stand up to her, or put me first?"

I bury my face in her neck and breath in. "Mmmmmm, I love your natural smell," I say. I'm not sure where it came from; it just came out.

Maria laughs. "I like your manly smell. Most men smell of BO, but you have a natural musky scent. As soon as you hold me, my pussy starts to leak."

I'm biting my tongue, trying to stop myself from telling Maria that I love her. A knock on the door saves me.

"I bet that's my gran; she's normally sent up as peacekeeper," Maria says as she unravels my arms and moves towards the door. "Oh, thought you would be Gran," she says as she opens the door on her parents.

"Can we come in?" Maria's dad asks. Maria steps aside, and they walk in.

"We would normally have sent mum up, but this is too important and should be dealt with in person," he says with authority.

"Robert, first of all, I must apologize for what I said at the table when you first sat down. There's no excuse for treating anyone like that, let alone the son of some very dear friends. Secondly, Maria, I must apologize for spreading what I can now see as lies about you. I will add that I had a very tearful best friend on the phone today, and I was reacting to that."

"That's no excuse, Mum. You know I've suffered from lies being spread about me and my math teacher. He even got the sack over them, which ruined my time at school."

"I know, but..."

"But nothing. How dare you judge my choice of boyfriend, and how dare you judge anyone for not having what we are privileged to have. Is that why you stopped going to see Rob's parents?"

"No, we haven't stopped seeing them. We see them quite often at functions throughout the year. I talk to Phillip quite often about work, he even rang me last week for advice about some money that Robert might want to invest." She turns to me. "He was a little vague about how much, so I haven't looked into it yet."

"It looks like I have about two hundred a quarter to invest, but that will fluctuate," I say.

"Oh, he made it sound a little more than two hundred pounds," she says, a little disappointed.

"He was Mother; Rob is talking in thousands," Maria informs her.

Maria's mother's eyes double in size. "Two hundred thousand a quarter?"

"Yes, I don't know how long this money tree will last, so it would be sensible to invest the money so it works for me," I say. "It's all these rich people I hang around with and leech off, they can't help dropping wads of money." I add with a smirk.

Maria's mother smiles at my dig. "I suppose I deserved that one. So, what do you do? I thought you were at University."

"I make computer programs work," I say, dumbing it down. Maria smiles at my simplistic description.

"Where's the money in that?" Mrs. Hunter asks.

"I also am in the gaming sector and get a royalty on games with my name on them. I also have my own game and a second out next year."

"He's getting quite a name for himself," Maria adds proudly.

"What, like Rojo?" Her dad asks.

"I am Rojo," I say.

"Oh wow, you did our data cross-reference program; it saves us so much time," he says enthusiastically.

"Anyway," Maria's mother interjects. "Do you need my company's help?"

"I'm not sure. Would you in my shoes?" I ask.

"Probably not, but I will still look into it and give you some ideas."

"Please, my mother hasn't come up here to talk business. I'm sure there's more humble pie here somewhere." Maria says, suddenly enjoying her mother's discomfort. We go and sit on the chairs, waiting for Maria's parents.

"You're not going to make this easy, are you?" Mrs. Hunter says.

"After what you said to Rob, you haven't even got close to stopping me from packing my bag and heading back to Kent in the morning."

I look at Maria, pleased she said she wanted to come home with me rather than Richmond.

"Maria, please," her mother says, suddenly seeing what damage she has done. "What about Christina's wedding?"

"Christina dug her own grave on that when she joined in on your character assassination of me and my boyfriend," Maria says, looking at me.

There's another knock at the door. Maria is closest to the door and quickly gets up and opens the door. "Come in, Christina and Aunty Jean. Oh, look, Rob, we have a full set, come in, Gran," Maria says as an upset Christina, an embarrassed-looking Jean, and an older lady I hadn't been introduced to yet, walks in.

Christina and Aunty Jean walk over and stand behind Maria's parents, and Gran sits down in Maria's chair. I go to get up as Maria walks back over, but she signals me to stay. Without a second thought, Maria sits on my lap and curls her legs up as she snuggles into me. "Okay?" She asks me. I nod and smile at her.

"Look at you two, all loved up. The look in both of your eyes as you floated around that dance floor reminded me of me and your grandfather. We was the same, totally in love," Maria's grandmother says all happy for her granddaughter.

There's a silence in the air that you could cut with a knife. Maria and I turn slowly back towards each other with the same scared expression on our faces. The fear of being the only one admitting our love is written over both our faces. We know instantly what the other is feeling, and our expressions change to a knowing smile. Who would have thought? The three most important words we are afraid to speak don't need to be said first by either one of us.

We lean in and kiss, as two people pronouncing their love, totally ignoring the fact we have an audience.

to be continued..............

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