When I got back to the house, my mom was sitting on the couch watching TV. I grabbed a soda and plopped down next to her.
“So you and Ashton are… friends?” I knew that she would want some questions answered. I hadn’t really had the opportunity to tell mom much about Ashton yet.
“Mom, she is kind of my girlfriend.” Her eyes got a size larger at my answer.
“Really? I mean you have never brought a girl home for me to meet let alone have an actual girlfriend. When did this happen?”
“Officially two days ago but we have been getting to know each other since school started.” Taking a drink from my soda I waited for her response.
“Wow, this is some news. I am sorry I seem so surprised.”
I laughed, “I know. It is okay mom, I think everyone, including myself, was a little surprised by it but to tell you the truth I just couldn’t help it. From the first time I saw her, it was like she put a spell on me. She is so different from other girls mom, she is real and honest, not to mention beautiful, sweet and simple. I really like her.”
When I looked into my mother’s eyes, they were glistening with unshed tears.
“Charlie I am so happy for you. You are such a sweet boy deep down, I am just glad you have found someone, besides me, to finally share that side of you.” She hugged me tightly.
“I love you mom.”
“I love you. You are my only child and I worry about you sometimes.”
“You don’t need to worry about me, I am good, really good actually.”
She smiled, “I am so glad.”
THE WEEK had passed by quickly. Ashton had been coming over to my house every day since meeting my mother; they got along like a house on fire. They “girl talked” in the kitchen while Ashton helped her make dinner. I even found myself turning off the game and helping set the table. It was almost scary how easy she fit into my world with my mother and I, it almost felt like she was meant to be here with us all along. We had just sat down at the table to eat when the house phone rang. My mom got up and answered it. I had just put a giant forkful of chicken and potatoes into my mouth when my mom handed me the phone.
“It’s your father.”
I swallowed my food and took the phone from her. “Hello,” I said curtly last thing I wanted to do was talk to him with Ashton sitting directly across from me.
“Charles I tried calling your cell but as usual you did not answer my calls or texts.”
“My phone is upstairs in my room and I am downstairs eating, what’s up?”
“I had a meeting today with the head coach from Boston College, he is very interested in meeting with you. I was calling to set it up.”
I let out a deep sigh and pinched the bridge of my nose. “I already told you, if scouts want to come watch the team play that’s great, more power to them, but I am not going to have special meetings set up by you.” I could feel myself already getting irritated.
“I went through a lot to get this meeting for us and you will be in attendance Charles.”
“For us? Dad, seriously, you got this meeting for you. Does it even matter to you where I want to go to college? It’s my choice not yours.” I pushed away from the table and walked down the hallway leaving Ashton sitting at the table with my mother. She had her head down looking at her plate of food as she moved things around with her fork.
“If you want my money to go to college you will do as I say.”
“Who said I wanted or even needed your money for college dad? I am sure I am going to get a full ride somewhere; I already had a couple scholarship offers come in.”
“So you think you can just go and have a professional hockey career without my help, now that you have made it huh? Who do you think got you into hockey in the first place? You’re an ungrateful little shit, you know that?”
There’s the father I grew up with. He was showing his true colors. Unfortunately, it was usually only with me, he never let anybody else, besides maybe my mom, see what a dick he truly was.
“Have the meeting with him by yourself dad, I don’t even want to know what you did to get the meeting in the first place. I’m done living my life the way you think I should. I am eighteen and tired of your bullshit, from now on I am calling the shots when it comes to my future.”
I ended the call. It had been this way for as long as I could remember, my father was a constant hard ass. My entire youth consisted of hockey, summer camps and also private lessons that he would set up for me on the side. I would have hated him even more if I didn’t fall in the love with the game instantly. I had natural talent but he was right, without him doing all of those things to push me, I might not be in the position I was in now. I pretty much had my pick of where to go to college and play hockey. I should be happy about that but it was hard because the last thing I wanted in life was to please that man. He just wanted to look like a big shot in front of people, he wanted to brag about me and all my accomplishments because they reflected wonderfully on him.
I walked back out to the kitchen and placed the phone back into its cradle. Ashton’s eyes were on me and she was watching every move I made. My jaw was tight and I couldn’t even think about finishing my dinner. “Pay him no mind sweetie, you know how your father is, he just wants to see you succeed.” My mother, always the positive one. No matter how much she disliked my father, she rarely ever spoke badly of him. She was a far better person than I would ever be. I cleared my plate and put it into the sink. I wasn’t sure what Ashton was thinking. I had never really let anyone see my relationship with my father and I didn’t necessarily want to hide it from her but I was a little embarrassed by it.
“Why don’t you two go for a walk I can clean up,” my mother suggested. I finally looked at Ashton finding her already looking at me.
“You want to?” She nodded and thanked my mother for dinner.
As we walked down my driveway, I wasn’t sure how much of what was going on in my head I wanted to share with her. I didn’t know if she would even bring it up. This walk would be interesting.
I WASN’T sure if Charlie wanted to talk about the conversation he had with his father, it had seemed pretty intense. I decided to just walk beside him and let him cool off. If he wanted to talk about it I would be ‘all ears’ but I wasn’t going to push him. We walked in silence until he reached down and entwined his fingers with mine and let out a breath.
“You okay?”
“Yeah I’m good, he just has a way of pissing me off like nobody else.” I nodded, I understood difficult parents; hell my parents were in a whole other category than difficult. I decided to change the subject to something lighter.
“So we have our first away game next week. It’s only two hours away but I will be gone for three days, you think you will be able to live without me for that long?” I asked with a teasing smirk. That got a smile out of him.
“I don’t know, I may have to drive down and be your cheerleader. Three days is a long time.”
“Don’t you have practice?”
“Yeah but like you said its only two hours away, I think I could make it work. Maybe Zach and Tess could come too, we can have a whole cheering section just for you.”
I laughed, “I think I like the sound of that.” He wrapped his arm around my shoulder and I put mine around his waist as we began to circle around and walk back to his house.
Just as he said, Charlie drove to my away games and watched me play. He even brought Zach, and Tess also to my surprise, Anna too. They all sat together on the bleachers and cheered extra loud whenever I touched the ball. It was ridiculous but at the same time one of the sweetest things anyone had ever done for me. These four people were here just to support me. Besides Dee, I had never had people in my life do anything remotely close to it.
We had ended up taking 2nd place in the tournament and I had made the all-tournament team. After traveling back home I had fallen into a comfortable routine of school, volleyball and Charlie. Time was flying and before I knew i
t my eighteenth birthday was only two days away.
I entered the dorm office where Janice sat at her computer typing like a maniac. Raising her head from her screen she smiled.
“What can I do for you Ashton?”
“I actually wanted to update all my paperwork, see I turn eighteen in two days and I would like to remove my parents from all of it.”
She gave me a puzzled look. “Are you sure about that?”
I nodded my head, “Yes I am sure.”
“Okay I will get it all together and you can come in and re-sign everything.”
“Thanks Janice.”
THE NEXT day we were all sitting in the lunchroom when Tess spoke up.
“So what are the plans for your birthday Ash? I was thinking we could go...”
Charlie interrupted her. “Hold up, it’s your birthday? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“It’s not a big deal, I have never celebrated a birthday before, I am not about to start now.” All three of them stopped eating and peered at me.
Zach was the first to ask me the obvious question, “You never celebrated a birthday? How is that possible? Like didn’t you have parties as a little kid? You know cake and ice cream? Balloons?”
I looked down at my trey of food, moving it around with my fork. Not like I could tell them that my parents never remembered or did anything for my birthday. The only reason I even knew what day it actually was is because I had found my birth certificate hidden in a drawer when I was seven. Charlie clutched my chin and turned my face towards him as if he could see my inner turmoil over the subject.
“Well this year you are officially an adult and you are going to celebrate. I am going to celebrate because you being born is definitely something that I am happy about.” He placed a soft kiss on my forehead.
Wow talk about melting into a puddle at his feet.
I was clearing my lunch trey into the trash when out of the corner of my eye I saw Noah walk past. I looked at Charlie and he was watching him with an annoyed look on his face.
“I need to go talk to him.”
“Um no you don’t.”
“Charlie we have been friends since we both moved here. I just want to try and fix things. I promise it will be fine.”
He looked away and then back down at me. “You know I don’t like this right?”
“I know but you don’t have anything to worry about. I am all yours.”
I weaved my way down the hallways until I found him; he was sitting on the floor leaning his back against his locker writing in a notebook. I slid down the locker and sat next to him. He was ignoring me so I bumped his shoulder with mine. He stopped what he was doing and glanced sideways at me. “You finally come to your senses and dump that dumbass?”
I couldn’t help it, I smiled, “no, not yet.” He made a face then went back to ignoring me. “I do miss my friend though. I am sorry that I didn’t know you liked me more than a friend Noah. I guess I can be really clueless sometimes, it must be my blonde hair.”
His sour puss changed to a small smile. “I am sorry too, I should not have gotten mad and said those things to you, I was just frustrated. I won’t apologize for kissing you though. I had to show you how I felt.”
I nodded but didn’t know exactly what to say next so I decided to just be honest and ask the question I really needed to know the answer to. “So do you think we can still be friends? Or will it be too hard for you?”
“I don’t know, I guess I can try if you still want to be my friend.”
“I would really like that Noah.”
TESS AND I had been trying to come up with the perfect birthday party for Ashton. We both agreed that she would like it to be pretty low key, you know, just the four of us and maybe my mom.
“You know she would probably like it if we invited Noah, since they made up and everything.”
I stiffened at just the mention of his name. He had kissed my girlfriend and pretty much tried to steal her away from me. I was not a fan of his in the least but I knew that it was something that would make Ashton happy, if I tried to get along with him. “I guess I can try and suck it up just for one night but if he tries to pull any crap with her, I have free reign to kick his ass.”
Tess smiled at me. “Don’t worry about him. If she wanted Noah, she would be with him but she’s not, she is with you and you guys seem really happy together.” Tess was right, I shouldn’t worry about it. I had her and I was the happiest I had ever been in my life.
We decided the easiest place to have it would be at my house. Tess could do the decorating and my mom had graciously offered to make food and the birthday cake. Now I just needed to figure out what I was going to get her for a gift. I had never had to buy a girlfriend a birthday present before because I never had a girlfriend. Come to think of it, I had never purchased a present for any girl for any reason besides my mother. This was going to be a disaster.
“Mom I need your help” I told her as I sat down at the kitchen table. She was finishing up some prep for tomorrow.
“I don’t have any idea what to get Ashton.” She turned and grinned at me. She walked over to the table and she sat down putting her hand on top of mine in a loving way.
“You really care about her don’t you?”
I nodded, “yeah I do she is the best thing in my life….besides you of course.”
She laughed and patted my hand. “Well for me, the gifts I always enjoyed the most were thoughtful ones. They never had to cost a fortune just as long as the person put some actual thought behind it. Think about what you know about her so far. You know what type of girl she is, think of something she likes and go from there.”
Easier said than done. Ashton was the hardest girl to get to know she never gave anything away about herself without difficulty. You practically had to pry information out of her sometimes. I was her boyfriend, I should know her better than anyone else here right? Besides Tess, that is. We had only been together a short time but I should be able to come up with something. I really didn’t like the pressure. But she was worth it.
Tess was at my house decorating and putting Zach to work, so I headed to the dorms to pick up my girl. Noah was going to follow us in his car back to my house. I sent her a text that I was outside; a little while later she came walking out the door with Noah following behind her. She looked lovely as always. I let out a deep breath, I hoped I would be able to keep myself in check tonight. She jumped in my truck and immediately scooted over next to me straddling the gearshift. She hugged my arm to her, looking at me with those ice blue eyes of hers.
“I told you guys I didn’t need a party.”
“And I told you I was going to celebrate your birth so get over it.” I wrapped her up in my arms and kissed her mouth. If this girl only knew how she had me completely wrapped around her little finger. She had her hands in the back of my hair and was tugging lightly. She drove me crazy when she did that. Giving her one more little peck I pulled away and started the truck.
“Better get my birthday girl to the party, can’t be late for your own party.”
“If you would keep kissing me like that I wouldn’t mind us being just a little late,” she said, as she feathered light kisses along my jaw line. I let out a groan. I was about to shut off the truck and take her up on that offer when a car honking startled both of us. I laughed as I saw Noah sitting in his car glaring at both of us.
“Someone is ready to go I guess,” I said, shooting a cocky smirk in his direction.
I OPENED the front door and let Ashton walk in first. Tess had done an excellent job at decorating. There were multi colored balloons on the floor and also bunches of them clustered all over the living room. She had hung a giant happy birthday banner and was making everyone wear the little kid party hats. Ashton looked around the room taking it all in. I grabbed her hand and whispered in her ear.
“Do you like it?”
She nodded but had a sad look on her face. “So this is what a birthday party is like?”
My heart fell. I couldn’t imagine growing up without birthday parties. It is definitely some of the greatest childhood memories people usually have and the fact that she had been deprived of those broke my heart. What the hell kind of parents did she have that didn’t do anything for their only daughter’s birthday?
Tess came bouncing up and hugged Ashton tight, saying “Happy birthday chick,” placing a sparkly tiara on her head that said “birthday girl” on it. My mom was next, she gave Ashton a hug and told her happy birthday. “I hope you’re hungry, I think I made enough food to feed a small army.” Zach already had a mouthful of food when he spoke, “I’m on it.” Tess slapped his arm, “you’re an animal, you know that? Save some for the rest of us.” He winked at her, while swallowing his giant mouthful. “You love it babe.” She beamed at him; those two were really perfect for each other.
Everyone came in and filled small, paper party plates full of all the food my mother had made. We were all chit chatting and eating when my mom came out of the laundry room holding a giant cake.
“And this is for later,” she said smiling at Ashton.
Ashton immediately began to choke. I patted her on the back. “Are you okay babe?” She nodded taking a drink from her cup.
After she had calmed herself down, she leaned into me speaking softly. “Is that cake for me? Like…my birthday cake?”
I smiled at her. “Of course beautiful girl.”
“I just can’t believe you guys did all this, it’s too much and I don’t deserve all the fuss,” she said, lowering her head and looking down at the floor. Her classic go to move when she felt embarrassed or uncomfortable. Bringing her head up to look at me I looked her straight in the eyes.
“It’s not nearly enough. You deserve a lot more but for now this will have to do. And don’t forget, we still get to sing happy birthday to you, and then you get to open presents.”
She shook her head. “I can’t believe this.”
Ashton made it through the singing and she blew out her candles. My mom and Tess took about a million pictures.
Getting Out Page 10