by Karen Einsel
“Stop it. You’ll make me pee my pants.”
Cracking up, Brandon faces forward, grabs her hand and they start running. They turn the corner and see Brandon’s car parked in front of the house, but no Brent. They slow down to a walk and both of them are a little out of breath as they walk up to the porch and find Brent sitting on the porch swing. Chris looks at Brandon shyly and tucks her hair behind her ear. “Thank you” Brent gets up and walks down the steps towards the car. Brandon doesn’t kiss her but squeezes her hand before he walks out to his car. Barb must have heard them come up, because when Chris turns to go in the house Barb is standing by the screen door with a smile on her face. Brad pulls up in the driveway as Chris walks into the house. Barb puts her arm around Chris.
“Come on, we’ll set the table and dip up dinner. I won’t ask anything until we sit down to eat, because your dad is going to want to hear all the details too.”
They sit down to eat and Barb remarks, “That’s quite ingenious.” Chris looks at her and slurps a spaghetti noodle into her mouth.
“What?”
“How he had his friend drive his car just so he could walk home with you. That was really sweet. I would have liked to have met him, but if he’s anything like his friend Brent, I’m guessing he’s probably really nice.”
Chris slurps another noodle before commenting..
“I was wondering why Brent was sitting on our porch swing. I take it you were wondering who the guy was, sitting in a car in front of our house?”
Barb smiles at her.
“Just mom, being nosy.”
Brad puts down his fork.
“So when do we get to meet him?”
“I don’t know.”
Then Barb asks,
“Did he ask you out?” Slurping another spaghetti noodle into her mouth, this one whips around and smacks Chris in the nose. Using the back of her hand she wipes the sauce off of her nose as Brad tells Barb.
“Well if he did, let’s hope he’s not taking her out for spaghetti.” Chris laughs,
“No he didn’t ask me out.”
“So when are you seeing him again?” Chris puts down her fork, seeing as they aren’t going to let her eat until they hear everything. Interlocking her fingers together, Chris puts her elbows on the table, and rests her chin on her folded hands.
“Probably at school on Monday.”
Brad’s turn, “Did they win?”
“Yes they did.”
“What was the score?”
“Hmm…17 to 14, I believe.”
“And when’s their next game? Maybe we can all go.”
“I don’t know. I can ask him on Monday.”
Barb looks at her.
“Chris honey, eat your dinner before it gets cold.”
Chris looks at Barb then Brad.
“Are you done asking questions?” They exchange glances and nod. Chris unfolds her hands and picks up her fork.
“No wait, I have another question.”
“Mom…” Chris says exasperated and Barb laughs.
“I’m just teasing. Go ahead and eat.”
Saturday morning Brandon pulls up in front of the house. He gets out and walks up to Brad, who is trying to start the lawn mower.
“Need some help?”
Shielding his eyes from the sun, Brad looks up.
“Know anything about lawn mowers?”
Brandon shrugs and smiles.
“A little.”
Brad stands up and puts his hand out to Brandon.
“Brad” Brandon takes Brad’s hand in his.
“Brandon”
“We were wondering when we would get to meet you.”
Brandon points to the lawn mower.
“So what’s wrong with it?”
“Just doesn’t want to start. It’s not out of gas, so I have no idea what’s up with it.” Brandon gets down on one knee and takes off the spark plug cable and tries to untwist the sparkplug by hand.
“Do you have a sparkplug wrench? Maybe it needs to be cleaned and gapped.” Brad goes into the garage and comes back out with the wrench. Brandon takes out the plug, cleans it and puts it back in before he checks the oil and the air filter. Standing back up he pulls the cord a few times, gets it started and then shuts it back down. Brad hands him a rag to wipe some of the grease off his hands.
“Thanks. Come on, you can wash up in the kitchen.”
They walk in and Brad points towards the kitchen. Chris has the swinging door shut and is rinsing her rag out in the sink. Hearing the door open, without turning around she says,
“Don’t even think of walking in here on my clean floor.”
“Well that’s no fair, how come you get to walk in here then?” Chris turns around and meekly answers with a question. “Because I don’t have my shoes on?”
Brandon smiles and locks eyes with her. “Okay fair enough.” Holding the door open with his back, not wanting to touch anything with his greasy hands and using toe to heel, he kicks off one shoe, then the other and pushes them against the wall with the side of his foot. “Okay?” Chris grins and Brandon walks in letting the door shut behind him. “Hi, your dad said I could come and wash my hands in here.” Chris reaches down under the sink, grabs the nail brush and the dish soap and places them on the sink for him. “Thank you” Brandon tells her as he lets his eyes linger on her breast. Until that moment Chris had completely forgotten that she’s wearing a tank top without a bra and crosses her arms.
“I should go change. I didn’t know you were coming.”
“Why? You look okay.” Brandon knows he’s made her feel uncomfortable by checking her out, so he refrains from telling her that he likes what he sees and changes the subject. “Did you enjoy the game?”
“Yes I did. I’m going to have to learn a little more about the rules though. First down, five yards, penalty, it was a little confusing. I mean you guys are out there tackling each other to…? I’m guessing the goal is to get the ball from this side to that side without getting stopped…?”
He grins at her analogy.
“Yes, something like that.”
“Would you like a soda?”
“Sure, then I’ve got to get going. I’ve got practice in half an hour.” Chris pulls out two bottles of root beer from the fridge, opens one and hands it to him, and then opens the other.
“You met my dad. Did you meet my mom too?” Brandon shakes his head. “Okay well she’s probably right on the other side of the door listening.” Chris pushes the door open slowly and peeks into the living room. “Hmm, guess not. Come on we’ll go see where she’s at.” Chris peeks out the front door and sees Barb sitting on the porch swing looking through a magazine and Chris walks out onto the porch with Brandon behind her. “Mom I want you to meet Brandon. Brandon this is my mom, Barb.”
Barb reaches out her hand to him.
“Hi Brandon, we were hoping to meet you last night. I wanted to thank you for walking home with Chris.” Brandon looks over at Chris and smiles.
“It was my pleasure. Thank you for letting her stay to watch my game.”
“Brad had mentioned to Chris last night that he’d like to come and watch you play. That is if you have any night or weekend games scheduled.”
“Yeah we do. I’ll get a schedule from the coach at practice and give it to Chris on Monday. Well I better get going. If I’m late the coach will make me run 10 laps around the track and I think I did enough running yesterday.” He smiles at Chris and hands his empty soda bottle to her. “Thank you for the soda. I’ll see you Monday.”
Barb has got the biggest grin on her face.
“Aren’t you forgetting something?”
Tilting his head to side, Brandon raises his eyebrows at her and Barb nods down to his feet.
“Oh my shoes!”
Trying not to giggle, Chris clamps a hand over her mouth and mumbles through her fingers. “I’ll get them.”
Chris comes back and Brandon sits dow
n in the chair. Getting up he puts his hand out to Barb. “It was nice meeting you.” Brandon looks back at Chris and smiles. “Bye. I‘ll see you at school tomorrow.” As he walks down the side walk he waves at Brad before getting in his car and driving off. Chris sighs and sits down on the porch swing and Barb puts her arm around Chris’ shoulder.
“I like him. He’s sweet and cute. Reminds me of your dad when we were in high school. Maybe we should invite him to dinner next weekend.”
It’s Friday, the week before Christmas and Chris is sitting on the porch swing watching Brandon and Brent play catch with the football on the lawn. Her thoughts replay the last three weeks over in her mind. Brandon and Brent have had dinner at her house three times, she’s stayed after school three times to watch Brandon practice, which means he’s walked her home three times and mom, dad, and her have gone to three of his games and yet he hasn’t ever tried to kiss her and the only time he holds her hand is when he wants to run while walking her home. She’s under the impression that maybe he just wants to be friends.
Chris gets up and walks down the steps to stand on the sidewalk. She watches as Brent cocks his arm back. Quick on her feet, Chris sprints out in front of Brandon just as Brent releases the ball. Catching it, Brandon grabs her and pulls her down on the grass with him. Chris clutches the football in her arms and starts laughing. Brandon rises up on his elbow and watches her breast rise with every breath she takes. Chris’ lips part as Brandon bends down and kisses her for the first time. Brent walks over near them.
“Ahem”
Brandon smiles at Chris, gets up and holds out his hand to her.
“Good catch. Are you coming to practice tomorrow?”
“I don’t think so. Mom and I are supposed to be going Christmas shopping.”
“So then can I come and see you on Sunday?”
“Sure. Just plan on wearing an apron and being covered in flour, because we will be baking Christmas goodies all day.”
“About 11 a.m. okay?”
“Sure”
“I don’t know if I have an apron though.”
Chris smiles.
“That’s okay dad probably has an extra one you can borrow.” Brandon furrows his brow and wonders if she’s joking or not. Chris grins. “You’ll see.”
Brandon looks into her eyes. He really wants to kiss her again but Brent has already gotten in the car and is honking the horn.
“I’ll see you Sunday.”
“Okay”
Brent yells out. “Bye Chris.”
Chris smiles and waves. “Bye Brent”
Sunday morning Chris is up early. She takes a shower, brushes her teeth and puts on some makeup. Walking back to her room Barb pokes her head out of her door.
“Chris…”
“Sorry mom. I’ll be quiet now.” Barb closes the door and Chris continues on to her own room. Chris takes off her robe and massages lotion into her wet skin before she slips into her clothes and combs out her wet hair. She smiles at her reflection in the mirror and then tiptoes downstairs. After grabbing the newspaper from the porch Chris heads for the kitchen to start breakfast.
Barb walks into the kitchen and pours herself a cup of coffee.
“Sundays now too?”
“Sorry mom I didn‘t mean to wake you up.”
“You look nice this morning and you smell good. What’s going on today?” Chris smiles at her.
“I told Brandon that he could come help us bake.”
Barb grabs the paper and walks towards the living room stopping at the door to look back at Chris.
“Okay, that should be fun. Two men, in aprons, in the kitchen, covered in flour. I’ll be in the living room, call me when breakfast is ready.”
Chris glances up at the clock and sees it’s 4:30 p.m.
“Mom?”
Barb looks over at her and smiles.
“Go ahead. Dad and I will finish up.”
Brad grins at Barb while protesting.
“Hey, that‘s not fair!”
Chris grins. “Sorry dad. Thanks mom” Grabbing another cookie off the plate Chris looks at Brandon. “Do you want one?“
“Ugh no. I think I’ve eaten at least ten already.” Brandon unties his apron and lays it on the chair. “How come we have to wear aprons and you don’t?”
Chris looks at Brad who is covered in flour and then grins at Brandon.
“Cause guys are messy.”
“Yeah right and girls aren’t?” Brandon smiles as he dusts the flour off of Chris’ nose. Chris blushes, grabs his hand and leads him out to the porch swing. Brandon sits down next to her.
“I like your mom and dad.”
Chris smiles. “I do too. I’m glad they kept me.” Brandon tilts his head and Chris sees the curious look in his eyes. “Brandon, you have to have known I am a foster child. Everyone at school seems to know. It’s not a secret.”
Brandon thinks about it for a moment, trying to think of the right thing to say.
“I wasn’t sure. I thought maybe it was just a rumor that was being passed around.”
Chris shakes her head. “No it’s true, I’ve been here since my twelve birthday.”
“How long have you been in foster care?”
“Hmm, I don’t know, since I was three or four, I think.”
“Where were you before here?”
“I was in a not so good foster home. The foster mom took us in mainly to collect the money, but I do have to thank her for being the way she was. She taught me a lot.”
“Like what?”
Chris takes a breath and thinks about it.
“For one, that I didn’t want to be like her. I was almost 10 when I got placed with her. A lot of the foster homes want kids under 5, mainly because they don’t have kids of their own and when kids are younger, they haven’t really picked up bad habits and are still sweet. If people take in older ones, it’s usually to help take care of the younger ones, clean, cook, do laundry, that sort of thing. So those are things that I learned while being in her care. Not that she taught me how…so there was a lot of trial and error on my part, but I think being there shaped me into who I am. It made me stronger, so I was able to deal with other things in my life, like the kids in our school.”
“Why doesn’t Barb pull you out of our school, so you don’t have to put up with being treated the way you are?”
“She didn’t know until the day before I talked to you the first time.”
“Why though?”
“Because… I don’t like to create problems for anyone else. You know it doesn’t matter what kind of car you drive, or if you wear designer clothes, get your hair and nails done. None of those things make you a good person. Just because someone has more money, doesn’t make them better than anyone else. I think I never said anything because it’s made me a better person on the inside. When you started tugging on my hair every day, it made me feel good and yet at the same time, I was afraid that you were like everyone else. That maybe you paid attention to me just for the laughs you got. Even on that day when I stayed after school the first time to watch your game. You had told me to wait until you came out of the locker room and as I was sitting on the bleachers looking around and seeing that I was like the only one left sitting there, I started panicking that you were playing a practical joke on me and I would be the laughing stock of the school on Monday.”
“Chris where’s your real mom at?”
Chris shrugs her shoulders.
“I have no idea.”
“Have you ever thought about trying to find her?”
“Don’t want to.”
“Why?”
“Because Barb and Brad are my parents, maybe not biological or legally, but in my heart they are and if I found my biological parents, things would be different and I’m happy right where I’m at.”
“Don’t you think that’s being just a little bit selfish on your part?”
“Nooo, because everything happens for a reason and some things are just meant to be. Besides I wouldn’t have met you if things didn’t happen the way they have. Brandon what are your parents like? I don’t think I’ve seen them at your games, well I don’t know what they look like, so I wouldn’t know who they were, even if I did see them.”
He smiles a sad smile.
“They are high society snobs like most of the students at our school. Well my mom is. Dad’s away on business a lot so he doesn’t come to my games and mom, well you would never catch her sitting on a cold hard bleacher. In fact dad had to go to NY on business yesterday and mom decided to go with him to do some shopping. They won’t be back until the day before Christmas, so I have the house to myself. Wanna come over and keep me company?”
Brad pokes his head out the door.
“Brandon, Barb wants to know if you want to stay and have dinner with us.”
“No I should go, I think I’ve imposed enough.”
“You haven’t imposed. Besides it’s spaghetti night and we have a lot of fun on spaghetti night, don’t we Chris? Chris keeps us entertained throughout our entire dinner, right down to the last noodle slurped.”
“Dad!”
Brandon smiles at her.
“You slurp noodles?” He grins at Brad, “Yeah I’ll stay.”
“Great! Barb says to come in and wash up.”
Brad closes the door and Brandon grabs Chris’ hand as she goes to get up. Chris sits back down and whispers.
“What?”
“You really slurp your noodles?”
Chris punches him in the arm.
“Shut up. Come on let’s go eat.”
While Chris and Barb put away the leftovers and clean up the kitchen, Brandon and Brad go in to watch the game on TV.
“Mr. Clancy.”
“Mr. Clancy?” Brad raises one eyebrow at Brandon. “What’s up with that?”
Brandon smiles, “I want to take Chris out. You know maybe for pizza and a movie. I mean, we are out of school for a couple of weeks and even though you don’t know me very well and you won’t let her ride in my car….”
Brad chuckles. “I can’t see any harm in that. She should be going out on dates. Ask her.”
Brandon grins, “Thanks”