It wasn’t long before my other aunt and uncle, Neena and Liam, showed up with their two sons, Mason and Grayson. When everyone greeted them, I was surprised at how grown up they both looked. Mason was now seventeen, and definitely took after this father with blonde hair and blue eyes. Even though Grayson was only ten, he was totally a heartbreaker. They could almost pass as twins, though.
Not long after introductions were made, Luke yelled out about playing a game. This was where the real fun began. The food was cooking, so Mom could take a break for a bit as well. Since it was only one now, we had plenty of time to play a few games.
After a few arguments, everyone decided to play Heads Up first. For the game, everyone would have to wear a headband that could connect a card to on the front. Because there were so many of us, we split into teams instead of couples, hoping it would go faster. One person would draw a card with a certain category, and that person would try to get the person on their left to guess what they were doing. They had to either act, sing, or describe whatever it was. While it didn’t sound too hard, it actually was, but it was also hilarious.
Imagine seeing grown men, aka my father and Nick, trying to act out stripping and who certain people were. Throughout the game everyone was laughing and having fun, exactly what I wanted.
Not going to lie, though, that when we split into groups and when Ethan joined Gage and my team, there were some tense moments. Both guys sized each other up, and whenever Ethan got too close to me, Gage would pull me to his side. While I did like it, I was getting slightly fed up with their actions.
Ethan was clearly provoking Gage by touching me, making me laugh, or doing something Gage didn’t like. By the end of the game I was ready to rip both boys’ heads off. When my mom, dad, and Nick and Kacey’s team won, we decided on another game, and I was thankful for that. I needed to get away from both testosterone-filled men.
When we decided on Pictionary, I made sure Ethan was on another team so we wouldn’t have a problem. As the game went on, Gage started to relax a bit and things turned out a little bit better. No awkward tension or silence. Everyone was getting along, and Gage and Rose fit right in with my crazy family.
Hours passed as we played games, laughed, told stories, and ate dinner. Because there were so many of us “kids,” we got separated into another table while the “adults” sat elsewhere. Both Ethan and Gage got along fine; they actually barely talked. We just talked about whatever throughout the meal.
Dinner passed by quickly and by the end of it, I was beyond stuffed. I regretted the decision to wear jeans because they had no give whatsoever. My mom made plenty of food, and there were still plenty of leftovers, and everyone got up at least three times to get more.
We all decided that we should do something before having dessert. I, for one, was grateful because I didn’t think I could eat any more. Everyone worked their way out back for some fresh air. I was hoping my food would digest a bit so I could eat some of the yummy-looking apple pie Gage’s grandma made.
“How about we play some football?” Ethan suggested, twirling the football in his hands.
“Do we have an even number, though?” I asked, counting all of us.
“I’m not playing,” Aunt Kay, Neena, Rose, and Mom said.
“Okay, that makes it five on five. Perfect,” Uncle Liam said, rubbing his hands together. “Let’s split up.”
Things quickly went into motion and I got a little lost. The next thing I knew, I was on a team with my dad, Ashton, Uncle Liam, Ethan, and Mason. On the other team was Luke, Uncle Nick, Macey, Grayson, and Gage.
“So, rules. Two-hand touch, and no tackling since there are girls present,” Uncle Nick rattled off. “Touchdowns are six points, and two points for extra. Don’t play too rough.” When he said the last part, he looked at Luke, Ethan, and Gage. It was Ethan and Gage I was worried about more than anything. Right now, Gage was glaring at Ethan who was standing close to me.
For the next thirty minutes we played football. The score went higher and higher as we went, each team pretty evenly matched. Thank God Ethan and Luke weren’t on the same team. It turned out, though, that Gage was good at football; actually, he was really good. He was one of the ones that always got a touchdown.
We only had a few minutes left on our so-called “timer”—Mom—before the game would end. I was put on guarding Gage, even though he was double my size. I had been put on Macey before just because we were the same height and girls, but this time I requested to guard Gage. Maybe I could distract him so we could win.
When Luke said “Hike” and Gage started running toward me, I had no clue what to do. He was bigger and faster than me, which did not help. It was two-hand touch, but these last few minutes, everyone had been a bit rougher. I watched as the ball flew right into his hands. Being slightly competitive, I decided I had only one option: attack Gage.
With my plan in mind, I ran at him. He noticed me as I came up behind him. He was so close to the touchdown point that I jumped out and onto his back. Normally I wouldn’t have been able to even move Gage, but my momentum took us both by surprise and we went down.
Our bodies tumbled to the ground and Gage took most of it for me. I landed on his hard back with a grunt. His muscular body was not fun to fall on, I tell you. Both of us groaned as we lay there. When the pain finally ebbed, I heard my mom yelling that the time was up. Which meant my team won, and because of me!
Pushing off of Gage, I stood up and yelled out. I didn’t think we would win, honestly. Behind me, Gage stood up and dusted himself off as Ethan came toward me and picked me up.
He twirled me around in his arms and I threw my head back laughing. It was nothing to be excited about, but it just meant more that I was the reason we won. Ethan placed a kiss on my cheek as my feet touched the ground. Smiling at him, I turned and hugged my other teammates. Moving around, I saw Gage standing a few feet from me, his hands balled into fists and his jaw clenched. Confused, I went over to him.
“Hey, are you okay?” I touched his arm. Everyone behind me was heading inside to get some dessert.
“I’m fine.” He didn’t sound fine.
“I’m sorry for jumping on you and making you fall,” I said, but I was still smiling. “I totally kicked your ass again.” I giggled. When Gage didn’t smile, I became a little concerned.
“Gage, is something wrong?” I peered up at him. His eyes were hard and the muscle in his jaw was clenched tight.
“Are you still in love with him?” he bit out suddenly.
“What?” I asked, taken aback and confused by what he meant. Still in love with who? Gage looked around before he grabbed my hand and pulled me toward the side of the house, away from anyone that could see or hear us.
“Are you still in love with Ethan?” he ground out the moment we were away from anyone.
“Gage, what are you talking about?” The sudden topic threw me off. Did Gage think I was going to cheat on him with Ethan or something? Did he think something was going on between us?
“All day Ethan has been very close to you and sending you looks.”
“Gage, that doesn’t mean anything! Ethan is just trying to rile you up.” I reached out for him but he jerked back. His reaction hurt me. Did he really believe I still liked Ethan?
“Answer me, Carter.” His tone was dark and for some reason it pissed me off.
“No, I am not going to answer you, Gage! It sounds like you are accusing me of cheating or something!” I yelled back at him.
“Well if you are still in love with him, then you are basically cheating!”
“Who said I was still in love with him, Gage?” I glared at him. He was literally accusing me of something he had no idea about.
“The look on your face is enough for me to know.” Gage’s expression was dark. He stood a few feet from me, his hands clenched into fists.
I didn’t know what was happening here. One second, we were having fun playing football and hanging out with my family, and the n
ext we were yelling at one another. Whatever Gage was thinking about Ethan and I was wrong.
I was not going to lie; before today, I thought I did have feelings for Ethan still, but after seeing him this morning, I didn’t get that heart-stopping butterflies-in-my-stomach feeling that I used to. I would probably always feel something for Ethan just because he was my first love and he was so close to me, but it was nothing compared to what I used to feel.
The worst part about it all, though, was that we were at my parents’ house. This was our first fight and it had to be here. I was more than hurt Gage thought so little of me. That I would immediately jump back into Ethan’s arms, and with him around. And I was hurt that he didn’t know how I felt about him. Did he not pick up on any of the clues this last month or so that we had been together? I wanted to tell him how I felt, but I was too angry to do so.
“What brought this up?” I asked, staring at him.
“It is clear you are meant to be together. Everyone thinks so,” he finally said after a few minutes of tense silence.
“Since when do you care about what people think?”
“When it is about my girlfriend’s long-time feelings for some asshole that doesn’t give two shits about her! And never will either!” His words cut right into me. I stumbled back, as if I’d been hit, and stared wide-eyed at him.
Never did I think Gage would be the one to say that to me. I had thought those words many times to myself, but hearing them out loud and from him made it all worse. Gage looked so angry at me, it actually hurt.
I knew Ethan would never like me the way I wanted. I knew my crush was stupid, but having it thrown in my face wasn’t right. Everyone had something they weren’t proud of or regretted. It wasn’t like Gage was so innocent either.
My mouth opened and closed. Tears pricked at the back of my eyes, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to stop them once they started. Gage didn’t react, and just stood there clenching his jaw, his brown eyes hard.
“Gage! Carter!” I heard my mom suddenly yell. At my mother’s voice Gage closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he opened them, he still looked the same. Without saying a word to me, he turned to walk off.
“Gage.” I reached for him, but he jerked away from me. My heart clenched at that.
“Don’t,” he growled. I choked as my tears came back. Not even bothering to look at me again, he stalked off back to the house.
I stood there with my mind reeling. What just happened? How did this day turn from great to terrible? I needed to go back inside before someone came out and saw me like this. I took a few deep breaths to calm myself and wiped my eyes. I had to act like nothing was wrong.
Once I was okay enough to go inside, I moved out from around the house and headed inside.
Chapter Ten
The rest of the night was awkward and tense. When I came back inside, I found Gage sitting beside his grandmother on the whole other side of the table. The only empty seat was beside Macey on the opposite side. I tried not to show how hurt I felt, with him far away from me and clearly ignoring me.
Thankfully, though, no one thought anything was different between us. Everyone talked like normal as we ate our desserts. I did try to engage in conversation, but my head was a mess. I just kept replaying what Gage had said to me outside. I was so confused as to why he suddenly got so angry at me. I kept telling myself to let him cool off a bit and things would be back to normal.
It wasn’t long after we finished eating that Gage stood up and announced they were leaving. My head snapped in his direction and I watched Rose even look at him in surprise. It was nearing six, but it wasn’t that late for them to be leaving.
“Thank you, Mr. and Mrs. Miller, for having my grandmother and me. The food was amazing,” Gage said politely. To others he probably seemed normal and even nice, but I knew him. I knew that he was putting on an act
“Leaving so soon?” my mom asked standing up, looking between Gage and his grandmother. I watched as Rose looked at her grandson for a minute before she stood up and sent my mother a small smile.
“Sadly I have to go home and feed my cat. When she is home all day alone, she gets so grumpy.” She laughed. “Thank you for inviting us. Most fun I have had in years.” As Rose moved around the table to say goodbye to my mom, I stood up. I had no clue what was going on. While they both said goodbyes to my family, I stood there, still.
“I-I’ll show you guys out,” I said quietly as they finished with their goodbyes. Ignoring my mother’s questioning look, I turned and led Rose and Gage to the front door. Gage stayed a good way behind me as his grandmother walked beside me. From the corner of my eye I could see her sending me looks.
Opening the front door, I turned to Rose.
“Thank you for coming. I hope you had a good time.” My voice sounded weird to my own ears.
“Thank you for inviting us, dear.” Rose pulled me into a tight hug.
“I’ll talk to him. Don’t worry,” she whispered in my ear, surprising me. Not knowing what to say, I nodded as she pulled away. Sending me an encouraging smile, she walked out the front door, leaving Gage and I standing there.
“Gage, I—” I started to say, but he cut me off.
“Don’t, Carter.” The way he said my name made me stop. It was very rare he ever called me by my real name. “Just…just don’t.” Not even glancing at me, he brushed past me and out the door.
I watched after him, feeling my heart break. The fact that he didn’t even look at me or let me talk, hurt. I didn’t do anything and yet he couldn’t even look me in the eye! I bit down on my bottom lip as I felt tears forming. This was not how this day was supposed to be. It wasn’t supposed to end in a screaming match between us or with him leaving without saying a word to me.
I stood there frozen as they backed out and drove away. It felt like the further away the car went, the further Gage went out of my life. This was just a fight, nothing serious. Tonight, Gage would call me, apologizing and everything would go back to normal. It had to.
Shutting the door, I leaned against it gulping. I couldn’t cry, I just couldn’t. Not when my family was in the kitchen. I had to act as if nothing was wrong because I didn’t want to ruin Thanksgiving for everyone else. Catching my breath, I pushed off the door and headed back to the kitchen to my family.
***
It wasn’t until eight or so that everyone else started to leave. It was getting late and the kids needed to go home and get ready for bed. I was thankful that everyone was finally leaving because I just wanted to go up to my room and possibly cry myself to sleep.
I was trying hard to act normal, but I was pretty sure everyone knew something was up with me. I kept myself busy with helping clean up dinner and putting it all away, but that didn’t help. I kept seeing Gage walking away from me.
Neena, Liam, and the two boys left first. When Aunt Kay, Nick, and Elizabeth were about to leave, Macey insisted on staying here tonight. She promised her parents she would come over tomorrow, but I thought she wanted to stay the night and see what was wrong. A part of me wanted her to go so I could be alone, but if it had to be anyone I wanted to talk to, it was Mace.
Thankfully, everything was cleaned up as they left, so we could go upstairs and be alone. It was early, but I wasn’t in the mood to try and act okay anymore. Knowing my father, he would ask a ton of questions then threaten to kill Gage for me.
“Honey, are you okay?” my mom asked as we all stood there. Macey was right next to me like she was my guard. Luke, Ethan, and my dad stood in front of us and at my mom’s words, they looked at me.
“I’m fine.” But it didn’t sound too convincing. “I am actually going to go shower and go to bed. I’m not feeling too good.” It wasn’t entirely a lie.
“Are you sure you are okay?” She looked concerned, but I could tell she wanted to ask more, but with the boys in the room, she knew better.
“I’m good. Thank you for dinner, Mom. It was great.” I hugged her and kissed her
cheek. Hugging my dad and sending Ethan and Luke a small smile, I turned and headed for the stairs, Macey right on my heels.
I had to force myself not to run to my room. Now that I was alone, it was like the walls were closing in on me. I was gasping and trying to breathe as I stood in the middle of the room. I briefly heard the door close behind me. Tears escaped my eyes and ran down my face.
“Carter?” Macey asked, coming toward me. “Carter?” When she moved in front of me, I lost it. I let out a loud sob and clenched my middle. Macey’s arms wrapped around me and pulled me to her. Holding onto her small body, I finally let myself break down.
Macey let me cry against her for who knew how long. The tears wouldn’t seem to stop. I didn’t know why I was so upset when it was only a fight. Couples fought all the time and they were fine after a few hours. Gage just needed a little bit to cool down; that’s all.
I didn’t know how long it was until I stopped crying. My eyes were bloodshot and swollen, my cheeks stained with tears and a bit of my makeup. I knew I looked like a complete mess. Mace helped me to my bed and sat beside me as I hiccupped.
“Babe, what happened?” Her voice was soft.
“Gage and I had a huge fight,” I said, my voice coming out all hoarse and dry.
“A fight? About what?”
“After the football game, Gage pulled me aside and accused me of still liking Ethan and having something going on with him.” I tried to remember exactly what Gage said to me, but it was like a fog had been placed over my mind. I was so emotional I couldn’t really remember anything at the moment.
“What did you tell him?”
“I-I said I didn’t have to answer him because he should know already. I felt so hurt by his words that I just starting yelling back at him.”
“Oh, babe, that wasn’t a smart decision.”
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