Excerpt: Almost Legendary

The day I was to leave for the States, he made a cameo. My parents loaded up the ancient Volvo with everything I supposedly needed for the coming year. I had been accepted to a special freshman academic group that could take all the required classes within the dorms, so we technically didn’t need to change out of our pyjamas except for foreign language and other elective courses. Unfortunately, that meant the bulk of my maxed-out curriculum.
“So, you’re really going,” he stated, not a question.
“Yeah,” I responded, suddenly shy. There was a long silence that allowed me to tick over our entire relationship, from pragmatic tutoring sessions to pregnancy scares. Every second was suddenly important.
He had nothing to say. We stood for several long minutes in the dewy early-morning air, neither of us wanting to say anything further. An oblivious bird chirped merrily somewhere, making our silence all the more apparent.
“Fuck this,” he muttered after a long pause. I looked up. He grabbed my face with both of his large hands and pulled me toward him. He was only an inch taller than I, so the familiar kiss meshed perfectly. We were equals, our mouths feasting hungrily on one another for the last time for months to come. We clutched at each other, clawing, desperate, before he broke the kiss.
“We should’ve done this days ago,” he mused quietly, our foreheads touching. I revelled in the semi-privacy created by our intimate embrace. I don’t know for how long, but I forgot that I was in my parents’ front yard.
“Tabarnac,” I swore quietly and started to pull away, but he stopped me.
“Pas maintenant, ma cherie,” he responded in strangled French. Abruptly, he tore his face from mine and crushed me to him, locking me in his powerful embrace. “Monsieur D’Argent,” he called over my shoulder to my father, holding me tightly, “puis-je épouser votre fille?”
He never asked my dad if he could marry me before that moment.
I nestled my face into Rob’s muscular shoulder. Inwardly, I was tingling while I waited for my father’s response, but I wanted to seem aloof, like I suddenly didn’t speak a word of my native language.
The silence in the yard was palpable. I could feel Papa standing there, boring his gaze into Rob’s. It was an old fashioned test of manly will.
Robert won. I heard my father sigh and set down a box on the lawn. “Bien sûr, mon garçon. S’il elle veut toi.”
If I wanted him?