Shutout (The Core Four Book 4)

by Stacy Borel

  I was maturing and I was growing. I didn’t need to collect stray baseballs, and paint my nails out of false hope. Taking the box downstairs, my mom saw me when I got to the bottom step.

  “Hey, whatcha got there?”

  She was currently peeling a sack full of potatoes. “Oh, I’m tossing this box of junk out on the street for pick up.”

  Mom nodded. “What is it?”

  I glanced down and smiled. “Just a bunch of things I don’t need anymore.”

  “Okay, well, when you’re done would you mind coming in here and giving me a hand making the green bean casserole?”

  “Sure.”

  The next two hours went by and Mom and I talked up a storm. She wanted to know every detail about school and how I was really doing. I laughed and said she already knew all of this. It wasn’t like we didn’t talk a few times a week. Didn’t matter to her, it was like hearing brand new news.

  “What about any guys? Anyone special catching your attention yet?”

  I was setting the table and dropped a fork on a dinner plate. “Guys?”

  She eyed me skeptically. “Yes. You know, males? The opposite sex?”

  “Sex?” I coughed. Get it together, Hadley. “I mean, no. No guys really. There’s a decent one in my art class, but I don’t even know his name. We sit too far apart to make conversation, and class consists of mostly slides.”

  I was lying straight through my teeth. I wondered if Wrigley had told his parents about us, and if Donna had mentioned anything to my mom and that’s why she was asking.

  “Well, can’t you catch him outside of class or something? You aren’t shy, Hadley.”

  “Mom, I’m not going to sit outside of class and bombard the guy like a stalker. I mean, what would I do, go up to him and be like ‘hi, my name is Hadley Marten. What’s yours?’ Seems a little elementary.”

  She rolled her eyes at me. “Well, it would be ridiculous if you did it in that tone. But I see no reason why you can’t go up to someone and introduce yourself. Who knows, he could potentially be the love of your life.”

  I giggled. “Mom, this isn’t an episode of Days of Our Lives. Did I ever have a boyfriend in high school?”

  “Well no, but that’s because you were always so hung up on Wrigley Brooks.”

  My eyes shot up and I about tripped walking back into the kitchen. “How did you know that?”

  She gave me that mom look. You know the one that is all knowing? “Are you actually asking me that as a serious question? Honey, you may not have ever come out and directly told your dad or I that you liked him, but it was pretty obvious when you’d ask to go to every one of his baseball games and you’d wear a shirt with his number on it.”

  I brushed my hair out of my face haughtily. “I was also ten years old, Mother.”

  Her brow rose. “Mother, is it? Well, just know that a mother knows everything.”

  That may possibly be true, but it seems she didn’t know that I was currently with the boy I had crushed on.

  “So have you ran into Wrigley on campus at all this semester?”

  I walked past her and checked the timer on the oven for the casserole. Still had ten minutes left. “Who? Oh, no. That campus is too large. I didn’t think I’d see him anyway.”

  Now I was blatantly lying and there was absolutely no reason for it. Much like word vomit, once I started, it wouldn’t stop. So I kept up the lie.

  “Well, I think I saw him once, but honestly, we didn’t ever hardly speak in school, so there’s no reason for us to talk in college. You know?”

  That mom side-eye thing was happening. “Huh, if you say so.”

  “Ladies, ladies, what are my two favorite girls cooking?”

  My dad came walking into the kitchen and set some weird part down on the counter. I nearly ran and jumped into his waiting arms.

  “Daddy!” He held me tightly.

  “Hi Princess, how are you?” He set me down and beamed down at me.

  “I’m good. Mom and I are almost done cooking. Looks like you could use a good helping of turkey.”

  He chuckled and turned to the side, puffing out and patting his stomach. “Yep, I’ve been working on my girlish figure. Seems to be working. I’ve lost a few pounds.”

  “Yeah, you have,” I stated enthusiastically. “You look fabulous, Dad!”

  “Thanks kiddo.” He ruffled my hair that had been growing out and was now a few inches past my shoulders. “You’re looking good too. School treating you okay?”

  “Mhmm.”

  He looked me up and down. “I don’t see that Freshman Fifteen everyone goes on about. You eating junk food like you’re supposed to?”

  “Dad.” I rolled my eyes. “I’m eating fine.”

  The door bell rang and we all turned our heads as my aunt and uncle stepped inside. Thanksgiving dinner smelled incredible and my stomach was growling. I’d only had a Starbucks coffee, a muffin, and a few bites of the cooked turkey I’d snuck in. I was ready to sit down and dig in.

  Dinner raced by, and I was so full, I had to unbutton the top of my jeans. I needed to remember that yoga pants are the way to go during dinners like these. My parents and my mom’s sister and husband were all still chatting away about some raise my aunt had gotten, when I heard my cell go off. I glanced down at my phone that was in my lap and saw Wrigley’s name across the screen.

  WRIGLEY: Hey u, how’s the feast?

  ME: It was ok. Got my fill.

  WRIGLEY: Liar. UR going to come back to me ten pounds heavier.

  ME: Probably. I’ve had 3 helpings so far and I know I’m gonna want more later. Why does Thanksgiving food do that to me?

  WRIGLEY: Traitorous turkey bastard!

  ME: lol. How R U doing? Have you eaten anything?

  WRIGLEY: My Hungry Man TV dinner was incredible.

  ME: *sad face* I’m sorry. I wish U were here.

  WRIGLEY: It’s ok. Have some pumpkin pie for me with extra whipped cream.

  ME: You really want me to come back to you fat and happy.

  WRIGLEY: Maybe not fat, but how about happy?

  ME: I can manage that. I’ll call later tonight, k?

  WRIGLEY: K. Miss you.

  He missed me. It was such a small and sweet sentiment. But it was one that had my fingers hovering over the keypad, and I couldn’t type the words back. I was having some serious issues here that I would need to address and soon, but now wasn’t the time.

  “Hadley, I need you to do me a favor. Can you run this jar of jelly down to Mrs. Brooks? I made an extra jar for her and if I don’t do it now, Lord knows I’ll forget.”

  I held my breath. I wasn’t sure I was ready to see Wrigley’s family. Not without him here with me. “Sure.”

  I didn’t know what else I was supposed to do besides comply. I took it from my mom and made my way out the door. The whole walk there I went over and over how I’d just ring the doorbell, and hand it to whoever answered.

  The driveway had a few cars, and I knew I should have expected that there would be company at their house during Thanksgiving. I was anxious and my hands were shaky but I rang the doorbell anyway. I had high hopes that whoever answered the door would take the jar and I could walk back home without visiting or conversing. The fates had other plans. Donna’s face greeted me and she had a surprised expression, which quickly morphed into joy and smiles. She was truly a beautiful woman. Her boys looked more like her than their father, Paul. But I’d heard people say the opposite.

  “Hadley, honey what are you doing here? Oh my goodness gracious, would you look at you!” she exclaimed. “Please come in.”

  She nearly yanked on my arm and pulled me into a tight hug. “Hi Mrs. Brooks. Just dropping off a jar of jelly.” I pulled back and held it up in between us.

  Donna chortled. “Yes, yes, that’s right. I forgot your mom had said she was going to bring some down. I didn’t know you’d be personally delivering it. What a great surprise.”

  Her southern accent wa
s like a breath of fresh air. Every place in the south had their own dialect. By LSU, it was a Cajun accent mixed with southern. Almost like they curled their tongue with certain words. When I’d first heard it, it was almost harsh to my ears. But I was now in tune to it. Texas accents seemed choppy, and here in Georgia it felt more smooth like a glass of bourbon. It was dark and rich—Southern Comfort. Donna’s accent was stronger than mine or my parents. If Wrigley had one, I didn’t hear it very much. We spoke the same.

  “Well, come on in, kick your shoes off and stay a while. We were just about to sit down for dinner.”

  I started to shake my head, but I saw the disapproving look on her face. “We just ate, but I could sit for a bit.”

  Her brilliant smile reminded me so much of Wrigley, and a pang of sadness swept through me that he wasn’t here with me. This was his family, and I knew he wished he could be here.

  Tentatively I walked into the kitchen where food in dishes was scattered all over the counters, and noises were coming from all over the house. I knew Camden and Dodger were home because I’d seen their cars in the driveway. They were probably in the living room with Paul watching football, hence the loud grumbling and curse words. The team they were rooting for must have been losing.

  “So how is school treating you?” Donna walked to the other side of her island and pulled out a pumpkin pie that smelled amazing. Okay, I might be staying long enough to have a piece of it.

  I looked down at my feet and shuffled them around. “It’s good. The classes are a bit tougher than I’d expected, but I’m getting the hang of it.”

  “Sure you are, Honey. You always were a bright girl. I’m surprised you didn’t beat out that Miranda girl for Valedictorian.”

  Her vote of confidence was sweet. I was a good student, but never an over the top one. “Her GPA score was higher than a four point one, I think. Mine was only a three point nine.”

  “Now,” she clucked her tongue. “Don’t disregard just how hard you worked to achieve that. Shoot, I would have taken myself to Tahiti to celebrate if my boys ever got GPA’s that high.”

  I laughed. “They still did pretty decent.”

  “Oh please. Camden barely skirted by with his grades. He only did enough to keep himself on whatever sports team he was on. Wrigley was a little bit better than that. Dodger, was my good student. And Turner was the over achiever. But baseball and football was all that ever went on in this house.” She waved a dish rag around.

  “You wouldn’t figure.” Macie, Dodger’s friend, came walking into the kitchen.

  “With these boys, I wish I could get them to talk about something else.”

  The two of them talked to each other while I looked around. There were a few photos hanging on the refrigerator that she had never taken down or replaced from two years ago. One was of Wrigley with his arm slung around his mom, grinning like an idiot. And the others were of the whole family on their annual vacation they took. I swear they were like the Cleavers. The perfect happy family.

  “Oh my gosh, I apologize for my manners. Macie, this is Hadley. She is one of Wrigley’s friends.”

  Macie nodded and smiled at me. “Speaking of the little brat, where is he?”

  “He is back at school studying for finals. Hadley is in town for a short visit and stopped by to bring me a jar of her mom’s jelly.”

  God, that made me sound like such a child. I felt my cheeks heat up with embarrassment. What was even weirder was that I already knew who Macie was, apparently, because of my level two stalking I did with Wrigley, and she didn’t have a clue who I was. Just another point on the negative side. Had things not been so crappy during our younger school days, no introductions would have been needed.

  “So how is Wrigley really doing?” Donna asked sincerely.

  I’m not sure why I went the route that I did. I opened my mouth and words flowed out, and before I knew it, I couldn’t take them back. I lied to her, and since Macie was in here, I lied to her as well. It just seemed like the thing to do at the moment.

  “I think he’s okay.” I shrugged. “I barely see him besides the one class that we have together.”

  Donna appeared confused. She seemed to be mulling over my words and trying to piece them together. By the look on her face, I knew she was aware of my closeness with her son. I wanted to rub my hand across my face, apologize, and run like hell back home. But keeping up the façade was clearly what was going to happen.

  “Oh.” She shook her head in misunderstanding. “I was under the impression that you were seeing a bit more of him.”

  Macie’s name was being called, so she politely stepped out of the room.

  “I mean, we sit next to each other in class, and he’s invited me to a few of his practices, but that’s about all.”

  Could I find a corner and vomit, or would that be considered socially unacceptable? I felt so sick to my stomach, and I could feel the bile rising. I was going to need to excuse myself soon, or Thanksgiving for the Brooks family was going to be one for the record books.

  There was almost a sadness in her eyes that I didn’t quite understand. “I’m sure Wrigley holds you in a high regard. He has nothing but nice things to say about you.”

  And now I felt like crying. “Yes ma’am. I regard him highly as well.” Lies, all lies. “Would you excuse me for a moment?”

  She nodded just before I bolted off to the bathroom to dry heave into the toilet. I think it was time for me to seek out counseling or something. I needed my head examined. Why on God’s green earth did I feel the need to tell his mother that I barely saw her son, when it was so much more than that? Why did I feel the need to hide a relationship that was evidently going on, and she clearly knew a little about it? Made no sense to me.

  It wasn’t like I was ashamed of him. This was a thousand times worse that hiding the relationship from my mother. This was Wrigley’s mother. She deserved better than this. My mother deserved better. In fact, I was starting to wonder if Wrigley even deserved me. I was treating him like he was my dirty little secret, when all I’d wanted for my whole life was to be with him. I would have shouted it from the rooftops that he was mine, except, that wasn’t what was happening. It was disgusting and I hated myself for the lies. I was going to need to tell Wrigley what I told Donna today. And sooner than later. Texts wouldn’t be the best idea because you could never hear inflections in a person’s voice. I wanted him to hear me and know that I was sorry and I truly didn’t understand why I didn’t say more about us.

  I turned on the faucet and splashed a little cool water over my face. I had very little make up on after travelling and spending the day pigging out. Wiping my eyes, and drying my face, I squared my shoulders and decided that deflection was best for now. While I wouldn’t mind talking about Wrigley while I was here, if any questions arose about how often I had been seeing him, I would do my best to change the subject.

  I ended up spending a little over an hour at the Brooks’. I decided it was time to leave when Macie announced she was pregnant, and then she tried to murder Dodger because he put an offer in on a house that she apparently tried to place an offer on as well. He got the house. Truly, it was the most bizarre thing I’d witnessed. The family was definitely one for a little excitement, but my stomach couldn’t handle any more thrilling news, or food for that matter. I decided I was going to spend the next three days reflecting over what I’d done, what I needed to change, and what Wrigley and I were going to need to talk about when I got home. Maybe it was time for those labels to be put in place.

  MY TRIP WAS SHORT AND SWEET. I missed being home and being around my parents. It was easy to get used to not seeing them every day when you’re so far away, but having them around reminded me of all the fun quirky stuff we’d always done. All of that had stopped once I’d moved out. But I couldn’t wait to get back. Wrigley seemed off since yesterday, and I wondered if maybe it was just me overthinking things. Only way to know was to see him.

  Aurora picked me u
p from the airport and she was all smiles and bouncing brown curls.

  “What’s up, girlfriend.” She grinned like an idiot.

  I loaded my bag into the trunk and gave her the side eye. “Hey. What’s got you peppier than normal?”

  She was nearly bouncing on her toes. “Oh, just a certain boyfriend of mine said he wants me to meet the fam. Can you believe it? I’ll be going to North Carolina for part of my Christmas break.”

  I was happy for her. “Wow, meeting the family is a pretty big deal. Things must be getting serious.”

  “Yep! Serious enough that he thinks I’m worth letting his family meet me. I’m not some college girlfriend he’s banging for shits and giggles then tosses to the side for next semester’s hoe.”

  We were jumping onto the highway and I blinked rapidly at her. “That’s a lot of information and assumptions in that sentence. I don’t think you were ever some random hoe. Bishop has always seemed quite enamored with you. You shouldn’t be surprised he wants to take you home to meet his folks. You should be surprised that he wants to take you home after just a few months of being together.”

  Aurora was looking at me like I’d sprouted a second head. “Enamored with me? I swear Hadley, sometimes you talk too much like a grown up and not a girl who is eighteen and experiencing the best years of her young adult life.”

  “What is that supposed to mean?”

  “It means loosen up, and be your age. Take selfies, be reckless, post your butt cheeks on Instagram, use acronyms.”

  I giggled. “You just used an adult word there.”

  “Shut up,” she teased.

  “I do take selfies.”

  “Yeah? When?”

  “When I’m at the library and I’m bored, or if I think there’s something in my teeth and I need to check.”