His mind stayed, for a few seconds, ecstatic until he could absorb that whole situation. He then closed the door and looked at Henrie, noticed that he was properly tidy. Hair trimmed with well-drawn curls, an almost-just-white T-shirt and black social pants.

He just gave a crooked smile and said,

"Sorry... I'm sorry for the indiscretion," he stammered "but did we match anything?"

"In fact, I agreed with your mother."

"What do you mean, with my mother?"

"TOD, WHO WAS IN THE DOOR..." Exclaimed his mother appearing in the room and already approaching Henrie almost hugging him and saying:

"Henrie, my dear! How are you?"

"I'm fine, thank you, and from what I see you look great!" He hugged her in a way that he could look at Tod, and when their eyes met Henrie gave a completely strange smile, but Tod knew that smile hid something, just did not know what it was.

Tod tried to figure out how it happened. "Why would your mother have lied about Henrie's visit? And how did they know each other? What if they knew as well as they did because she pretended to forget his name?" Nothing seemed to fit, but he thought it would not be a good time to ask any of it.

"Are you just standing there?" Said Tod's mother, calling him to the kitchen.

Tod just nodded and continued on until, he realized that Henrie already felt like he was at home. He had just donned an apron, but was stopped by Tod's mother exclaiming:

"Not at all, good boy!", she shouted. "You're invited today. Let me and Tod take care of everything, and what's more", she snorted, "everything was ready, but the table is still missing."But as if to surprise him, he went to the kitchen and began to help set the table, and it was not long before the table was all set. They all sat down. Tod and Henrie sat side by side.

"Mom, will not Dad come to dinner tonight?" Tod asked.

"No, your father traveled this afternoon to sort things out of the company."

"Hmmm." he answered taking his plate to take the food, but for some reason was interrupted:

"Tod! Let our guest take it first." She snorted. He just smiled sideways and put his plate back on the table. Henrie was unresponsive for some time, but did not undo and served himself, followed by Tod and her mother.

"So, Henrie, how are things at school?" Tod's mother asked.

"Best impossible, Mrs. Evans." He answered and then tasted the shank. "My God, this is incredible!"

Mrs. Evans chuckled at the extravagance of the comment and said,

"Actually, it was Tod who made the most of it." She lied.

Tod nearly choked on the food in his throat. At the same moment he took a sip of water. He just did not understand why his mother would have lied, in fact, that whole day was strange. When he realized Henrie was smiling at him, but with half-closed lips and eyes too. Tod was expressionless and tried to hold back the laugh, because that grimace was very funny, but he restrained himself.

"The food is very good, the person who stays with you is very lucky." Henrie chuckled at Tod.

"Yes, I think so," he said sheepishly.

Dinner continued for several hours, until Tod's mother decided to go to bed. She thanked Henrie and they continued the subject a bit more with something that seemed to be their inner joke and soon after she went upstairs to the bedroom. When he noticed Tod was picking up things from the dinner table, but it did not take long for him to apply himself,

"Need help?" He asked, already approaching and grabbing some plates without even waiting for the answer.

"No thank you! Today you're visit forgot?" He answered in a sarcastic smile.

"Oh, come on! Drop it! I matter."

"Alright, I'll wash and you wipe?"

"That's fine with me!"

They headed for the kitchen where Tod started to do the dishes. The silence seemed not to last long this time,

"Since when are you and my mother friends?" Tod asked.

Henrie laughed and said,

"Actually, we met at a book club in a bookstore here in town.

"Book Club?" he snorted. "Does it still exist?"

"Of course, it does, they're pretty cool. Someday I invite you to know the place, I bet you will love it.

Tod was ashamed to hear that and continued to do the dishes without any response. Henrie then came up behind him close to his ear and whispered,

"Why were you jealous?"

Tod felt his whole body shiver so hard that almost the glass slipped from his hand, but it was faster and held back the impulse. His reaction after that was swift and he tried to turn around, but he noticed that Henrie's face was very close. His face flushed, but before he could do anything else, Henrie just picked up some of the dishes that Tod left aside because he was too interested in the conversation and did not give it to him, and went back to where he was.

Tod felt a tremendous relief when he walked away and did not give his answer, as he found the question completely unnecessary. It was not long before they finished packing things in the kitchen, but all this time silence was king in that environment.

Tod walked into the living room and looked at the half-past-the-clock clock, startled the schedule. The silence was finally broken by Henrie,

"Tod, I wanted to talk to you."

"Clear! What would it be?" He asked shakily, waiting for the matter to come.

"It's because my parents travel directly and the club was a place that welcomed me and I did not feel alone there. Your mother practically adopted me there, so we're so close and I wanted to apologize if I caused you any problems because of it. He explained, his eyes watering and drooping.

Tod felt his whole heart break into pieces with that statement and could not help but hug him to comfort him. He did not really understand his reaction, but in his head, it seemed right, since it would be a normal reaction from anyone, and then he said,

"Not! That this... Do not feel this way, I said it for fun.", he blushed, "and sorry to have done that, I really did not know about your situation."

Henrie took great care not to cry. He only felt that warm embrace for a few seconds and for a few thousandths he felt that he was not alone. His heartbeat gradually returned to normal and his body relaxed, and before he had finished his embrace, he approached Tod's ear and again whispered,

"So, after all this. I do not think it's going to be any problem if I decide to sleep here today, is not it?"