Haven

Secretly stuffing a cream puff into my mouth, I wiggled my bare toes in the grass as I waited for the bell to ring. It would soon be three in the afternoon, meaning Zephaniah would come over for the, oh so amazing, High Tea mum had prepared.

I wondered if he was nervous- better asked, how nervous he was at this very moment. Wishing to take away all of his nerves, I simply prayed for him to be calm, prayed that I could make him comfortable in some way.

"Mum, I told you he'd bring a dog, yeah?" I wondered, watching her as she placed more sweet foods onto the table, frowning when she counted the cream puffs. "Sorry, I ate one." I added sheepishly, playing with my watch.

"Haven." She sighed, softly shaking her head. "You did tell me. For different purposes, yeah? Epilepsy seizure dog and perhaps, for his autism."

"Tara, his cousin, told me that." I said quickly, shrugging. "Don't ask him about it.. I don't know if he likes it that I told you guys he has autism. I mean, he seems to be ashamed that he's autistic, you know? He doesn't have to be- of course not! I just thought.. I mean you may understand him better. I don't know the way he will introduce himself or-"

Mum cut me off, she stared at my face. "Haven, we don't mind. We're very happy he's coming over and we will love him the way he is, always. He seems like a very sweet guy."

"He is." I agreed quietly, giving dad a small smile as he came outside as well, ruffling my hair.

Watching them set up the table for a while more, I decided to go inside where Jonah, Sarah and Jude were playing a game. I didn't really know the game, but I couldn't be focused on it, anyway. My eyes kept drifting towards the window, wondering when he would arrive.

"How old is he, Have?" Jonah asked out of nowhere, his light eyes trained onto the game still.

"He's nineteen." I simply answered, for some reasons no more words tried to leave my mouth, even when on other days I'd probably have to hold myself back from telling his whole life story.

Suddenly, dog barks where heard, a soft shushing after that. My heart fluttered, I peeked through the window. The car drove off, I thought I saw Hannah behind the steering wheel. The bell rang not much later, making me jog over towards the front door. Ten minutes to three. He'd be on time, of course he would be.

Swinging it open, I smiled widely when Zephaniah was standing in front of me. He wore a grey coloured beanie on top of his slightly messy black hair, the fringe hanging over his eyebrows. The warm orange hoodie with the white, not to forget knotted, strings, he wore fitted him well, the black colour of his trousers had faded lightly, perhaps because of the washing machine.

"Zeph, hey." I breathed out, looking into his bright, green eyes.

Zephaniah smiled, but his cheeks were rosy. "Haven." He said simply. His eyes blinked a little faster, his fingers rapidly fiddling with Cooper's leash.

"I'm so happy you're here!" I cheered, doing a little happy dance. "Thought I promised you the happy dance on text, so, there it was." I chuckled, watching him breathe out a little, a soft chuckle leaving his mouth after that. "Are you feeling alright?"

Zephaniah's eyes roamed around for a while, they landed onto Cooper, eventually. "I am very nervous, but.. uhm, I'm very happy to be here." He stammered out, looking up at me after a brief moment of silence.

"That's okay. I understand it." I gave him a soft smile, hoping my family would make him feel at ease as well, knowing how blunt Jude could be too.

Zephaniah started flapping his hands, but once he noticed I saw it- he hid them behind his back. I frowned a little, reached for his wrist and held it loosely, not wanting to overwhelm him when it came to the stimulus. "You don't have to hide your nerves, Zeph. And you know what? Just be you. My family will love you the way you are."

"Sorry." He apologised, gripping onto Cooper's hairs softly.

"No need to say so." I gave him a reassuring smile. "I'd want to fly away too, if I was in your position." I blurted out, wanting to slap myself because I was afraid I just hurt him with the comment. I wanted to apologise too, but before I could, his green eyes bored into mine.

"What?" He seemed genuinely confused. It was a joke, after all.

"Your flapping hands.. I just associated that with a bird wanting to fly away from the certain emotion or situation. It was a joke, Zeph. No intentions of hurting you or anything, you know?" I added quickly, staring at his cheek as a slight, tiny visibly dimple on his left cheek appeared.

His melodic, but extremely soft, laughter filled my ears, confusing me. "I like that. People, uhm, say it's dumb but you give.. different perspectives." He whispered, giving himself a look after that, as if he spilled something he actually didn't want to spill.

I didn't dwell on it, I didn't want to make him feel uncomfortable, though, I definitely cherished the comment. "Zeph, come in. You've been standing here for so long." I chuckled softly. "Are you ready to meet them? Or would you rather wait for a while?" Observing his expression, I could tell he was very nervous. I was happy he had told me that honestly, I wanted to help him feel comfortable.

"Okay." He whispered, his eyes blinking rapidly again.

I felt sad for him, wishing I could at least take some of his nerves away, somehow. "They should be outside." Smiling at him, I realised my brothers and Sarah weren't playing their game anymore. I glanced through the back window, my parents were filling glasses with soda and lemonade, Jude was secretly eating and Jonah and Sarah were engrossed in a conversation.

Opening the door that led to our backyard, I was surprised when I felt his soft fingers wrapping around mine. "Uhm, Haven? I- uhm, do I shake their hands? Dad says some people will- will maybe kiss cheeks or shake hands it depends? I guess."

Looking at him, I smiled at his purity. I'd recently learned some autistic people learned from experience. For us, some things were self- evident, they sometimes had to experience it before they understood what would be normal and what not. "My mum might kiss your cheeks, but you can shake their hands, it's okay. Can you.. like, touch today?"

Zephaniah hummed, but quickly removed his hand from mine, glancing into the backyard. "Is it okay that Cooper is walking in your house?"

"Yeah, totally." I assured him, stepping outside. Zephaniah followed close, standing right beside me when my family looked up, all of them smiling.

"Hi, love. How are you doing?" My mum walked over to him, relieving me. I knew first steps were the hardest- for him, at least. "My name is Esther, I'm Haven's mum."

Zephaniah parted his lips, his cheeks colored rosy. "Zephaniah." He said simply, it was enough. Mum did kiss his cheeks, it surprised me that he leaned in. He seemed to be affectionate in some ways. Would he be like that with his parents? My heart warmed.

"Jeremiah. Haven's father." My dad shook his hand, which Zephaniah did politely as well. "Zephaniah, what a beautiful name. We're both prophets." My dad joked, I wondered if Zephaniah understood the Bible reference. "And a beautiful dog." He scratched Cooper's ears.

His eyes squinted, the left side of his mouth curling up lightly. "Thank you." Zephaniah said quietly, his eyes averting to the ground, them lingering on Cooper when he pressed his snout into his hand.

Smiling, I walked over to my brothers. "Zeph. Jonah and Jude, my two annoying but sweet brothers. Jonah the dark blonde, Jude the brown haired one." I said, hoping to help him in some way. "Sarah- Jonah's girlfriend, over there."

"Zephaniah." He said again, giving my brothers and Sarah a smile, making eye contact for a second or two.

"It's nice to meet you, bro. Have you met Cookie already? Haven must've shown you already, that weed monster means more to her than I do." Jude snickered, sticking out his tongue at me. I simply rolled my eyes, noticing that Zephaniah just gave a small smile- he most likely hadn't quite followed what Jude said.

Looking at him, I noticed he was still fiddling with his fingers, just quietly observing the, for his, strange area. "Would you like to see Cookie?"

"The guinea pig?" He frowned lightly, but when I nodded, his eyes lightened up. "Yeah, please."

"Yeah! Let's go back inside then" I said happily, smiling. "Mum, I'm going to show him Cookie. We'll be back in a minute. Then we can start." Once mum had nodded, Zephaniah followed me close- he was in my personal space. It didn't matter to me, it was Zephaniah after all, it just made me wonder why because there were times where he flinched when people came too close in his space.

Jude looked up, he clearly observed Zephaniah. "Keep your shoes on, bro. That monster nibbles on your toes." He laughed, pulling a face at me when we made eye contact.

Zephaniah smiled lightly and once we were inside, he briefly looked at me, hesitating. "Uhm," he wiggled his bare toes, pointing at the hallway. "Should I put on my shoes? Is Cookie a monster?"

"No." I sighed softly, feeling warm. "Jude was kidding. He's afraid of him, remember?"

"Right." Zephaniah's eyes were full of wonder once we were seated in front of Cookie's cage, who was quietly nibbling on some hay. Cooper sniffled a few times, but remained focused on Zephaniah, not giving it too much attention.

Opening its cage, I carefully took Cookie out and held her up, kissing its little head. "Isn't she funny? I'm still getting used to the fact that it's a girl. Look, her hairs on top of her head stand up slightly, Jude says I should've called it Punky instead." I laughed, softly stroking her beige and black hairs.

Zephaniah smiled, his eyes were glued to Cookie. He parted his lips, but stayed silent. He carefully touched Cookie's hairs- he seemed to be so focused on it, it warmed me for some reasons.

"You can hold her." Pressing her into his hands, I noticed how he blinked his eyes a little faster, but adjusted her so gently. He rested her against his chest, softly kissing her head. "Do you like her?"

"She's very sweet." He said quietly, crossing his legs. "I had a hamster when I was, uhm, twelve."

"Really?" I smiled. "What was it called?"

Zephaniah stared up at the ceiling, his tongue rolling over his upper lip. "Moses." His eyes squinted as he laughed, "Mama made that up."

"I like that name." I laughed as well, scratching Cooper's ears. "What happened to him?"

Zephaniah hummed a little as he thought, his eyes averting to the floor. They moved quickly, I wondered if he was tracing the pattern of the laminating with his eyes. "I opened the cage for- for water and then he was gone, accidentally. Baba stood up from the couch, he was stuck to his trousers, like half in the back pocket."

"Moses?" I wondered, not exactly understanding.

He hummed again, licking his lips. "Dad sat down on it, he didn't know Moses was on the couch. He was dead."

I wanted to burst out in laughter, but knowing he was rather sensitive, I didn't want to hurt his feelings. Trying to hold it back, a snort left my mouth not much later, Zephaniah started laughing immediately. So, that was that. Seated on the ground, surrounded by Cooper and Cookie, not being able to stop laughing.

Once it had died down, he carefully handed Cookie back to me, my eyes widening when I felt something. "Zeph! The babies are kicking! I feel it, I feel it! Come here with your hand."

Zephaniah pressed his finger to the place I pointed at. He frowned, stood up and shook his head. "No." He said quietly, brushing his trousers off. "That's her heartbeat."

Really, Haven? I chuckled and looked up in admiration, actually liking how he sounded as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Oh, wow. Forget I said that." Giving him a sheepish smile, he returned it warmly, briefly glancing at me. "Do you want to go outside? I think mum wants to start."

Zephaniah nodded quickly, glancing outside the window. "Yeah, sure Haven."

"Okay." I smiled, standing up myself. "Let's go back."

Once we were back outside, mum told us to take a seat so we did. I sat in the middle of Zephaniah and Sarah. Jonah across her, Jude across me, Mum across Zephaniah and Dad at the end of the table between mum and Zeph.

"So, to get things straight Zephaniah, before you're going to think weird of our family. No, this is not a weekly tradition and yes- mumma forced us to do this." Jude laughed, secretly eyeing Zephaniah. I did too, wondering how he would react to certain things. "It's good, though. To meet you this way."

"Oh." He laughed a little, glancing at my parents for a brief moment. His cheeks turned a little red. I wondered if he got everything Jude said.

"Mum did her best." Jonah added, giving my mum a genuine smile. "What's all the food?"

"Yeah, let's start with that." I agreed.

"Haven, why don't you tell? You made most of it." Mum chuckled, everyone turned their attention on me.

Standing up, I cleared my throat, raised my glass of strawberry lemonade and eyed the food. "Welcome everybody, to this very official High Tea Party, organized by Esther Sparks. I'm super glad to see you all here and I hope-"

"Get to the point, Haven! I'm hungry." Jude groaned, rolling his eyes at me.

I heard Zephaniah stifling a soft laugh beside me, it warmed my heart. At least he was feeling comfortable, in someway. Despite the fact that he was rapidly fiddling Cooper's ears underneath the table. "Welcome to our family, I must say." Chuckling myself, I pointed at the cream puffs. "Cream puffs, vanilla custard inside and sprinkled with powdered sugar. Uhm, brownies because why not? Scones with jam or whipped cream, mum's recipe, pistachio macarons, glazed lemon cookies, tiny cheesecakes, and a strawberry sponge cake with vanilla cream and strawberries on top. Fruit over there, and if your teeth haven't fallen out of your mouth yet, top it off with soda or lemonade."

"And tea." Jonah whispered, smiling softly at me.

"Oh, right. And tea, as if that isn't the whole point of this thing here. But if you'd rather have coffee, you can have that too." I shrugged, taking a seat again. I felt Zephaniah glancing at me, I wondered what he was thinking right now.

Mum chuckled and shook her head, standing up. "Zephaniah, love, do you want something to drink?"

Zephaniah's eyes flickered up, I doubted they ever met my mum's. "Yeah, 's okay." He said quietly, I was glad mum was used to lip- reading, Jonah used to be a very quiet kid.

"What'd you like, darling?" She questioned, I secretly glanced at him, just like everybody else. I could feel he was aware of that, I could also feel he didn't know how to handle the attention. His cheeks were still flushed pink, his eyes blinking faster than normally.

"Uhm," he glanced at Cooper, who rested his paw onto Zephaniah's lap. I nudged Sarah, pointing at Jonah. Thank goodness, they got the note and started talking, including Jude into their conversation as well. "Uhm I- I don't really mind, Haven's mum."

Goodness.

"You can call her Esther, Zeph." I smiled, deciding to help him out a bit- dad's words from a while back lingering in my mind. "Maybe we can start with tea? We can have soda later. Or are you more of a coffee guy?" I wondered.

Zephaniah breathed out, blowing a few nerves away, it seemed. "Okay." He nodded his head, mum poured hot water in our cups. "Thank you, Esther." He stammered a little with her name, perhaps, because he was still hesitant about calling her by her name.

"You're welcome, love. Help yourself with the food, yeah?" She smiled, glancing at me. I gave her a thankful smile. I didn't know if it would make it easier for him, but at least he could choose without the pressure of someone waiting for a reaction. I could always stuff his plate full, he was a big eater as I had noticed at Uni.

"What do you want to try first?" I questioned, searching for his green eyes- but they lingered on the food instead.

Zephaniah stayed quiet for a while, he seemed to be thinking deep, his eyes roaming all over the food. "Cream puff, maybe?" He hesitated, glancing at me.

"Sure!" Stuffing four of them onto his plate, I stuffed one into my mouth, looking at him.

What was today going to bring?

~~~

Zeph met Haven's family :') What do you think of it? Do you think they will like him?

Do you think Zephaniah will eventually feel at ease, or the complete opposite; overwhelmed?

Question for you; What is your first language?
Mine is Dutch!

Thank you all for your support.. let me know what you thought of it! Votes, comments and feedback are much appreciated :D love, Hannah. 75+ votes for the new chapter.