Love Like Crazy

by Emma Chamberlain

  "Yeah," I frowned.

  "Sorry," she sighed. "My brain only registered the words skip it and I was thinking about my parents."

  "I hope it goes fast," I said.

  "It won't," Laura reminded. "My parents love to hear their own voices."

  "That's gonna be fun. Maybe we won't have to talk then," I snorted.

  "We really won't," Laura said. "The second I open my mouth they checkout."

  "That's dumb and unfortunate," I said.

  "Mhmm," she hummed, comforted by me.

  "I love you," I said.

  I caught her eyes and watched her. No matter what her parents did. They couldn't change that. She had someone that wasn't going to leave her when things went to shit.

  "And that's not going away," I said.

  "I hope not," she smirked.

  "Okay," I started, gathering myself. "Are you ready?"

  "Uh," she checked herself in the mirror and fiddled with her hair. "Sure," she decided. The feminine button up shirt she'd picked out was hung over her chair and she slipped it on. It was white and delicate with little flowers on it, silk or something close..

  "Last chance to hide in the room and pretend not to be home," I suggested.

  "They'd fiiiiind meeee," she sang.

  “Not if we put a secret bookcase up that opened into a room and hid back there like Anne Frank hiding from the Nazi’s,” I joked.

  "Uuuuuhh… Yeah sure. 'Cause we'll totally do that," she teased.

  “I would, if it meant we could be alone,” I laughed.

  Laura watched me a little. I couldn't tell what she was thinking. "I have to do this," she reminded. "If I don't, they will chase me down."

  "I know," I said.

  I sighed and turned towards the door.

  "I guess we should go to meet them," I said.

  "Breakfast with the devils," she rephrased it. Her green bomber jacket hung over her chair and she slid it on before taking my hand.

  "Should I bring some holy water?" I asked.

  We left the room and my stomach sank. It was really going to happen now.

  "Holy water won't help," Laura said.

  "Sad," I mumbled.

  The campus was busy with all the families arriving and meeting up with their kids.

  My parents weren't coming. Since they were both taking time off for the Europe trip, they were both working even more lately. So, Laura's were the only patents we had to contend with today.

  I squeezed her hand as we got closer to the dining hall. Our pace slowed. I didn't remember what they looked like so I let Laura guide me.

  "Did they say where they would be?" I asked.

  "No," she said. "They just said they'd come."

  Just outside the doors to the hall a couple was sitting and they stood when they saw us.

  "Hi," Laura said, walking up and giving a hug to her mother first and then her dad.

  "Laura, how are you?"

  "I'm good," she said. "This is my roommate Charli. Her parents aren't coming today."

  "Yes. Charli," her father said, remembering. "Hope she hasn't been too much trouble for you."

  Laura had been holding my hand but she let go of it now.

  I tried school my face into something that didn’t resemble surprise. He was already going there.

  “No, it’s the opposite. She’s great! I wouldn’t ever want a different roommate to be honest,” I said.

  "Ookay," he said, looking to Laura's mom. They both shared a surprised little laugh.

  "We should eat," Laura said, leading them to follow her inside the hall.

  It was already crowded. Students milled around, getting in the line for food or finding seats. There was a teacher at each big table and all the different grades were assigned a section of tables. I led everyone to the end of the line and stood on my tip-toes to try and see how fast the line was moving. There were a lot of people and no one seemed to be in a hurry.

  I turned around to Laura and put my hand on her lower back. I slid it away, remembering who we were with. It wouldn’t be the last time I made that mistake today. I smiled at her Mom and tried to think.

  “How was the drive?” I asked.

  "Too long," she said. "That's why we haven't been out much to visit."

  Laura stood quietly beside me and didn't speak.

  "Is this how it always is?" Her mom asked.

  "Mhmm," Laura said. "We eat all our meals here. It's all the same as they said it would be."

  "Oh," her father said. "Then what's this day for?"

  "I think it's to make you feel included," Laura said.

  Her dad laughed. "Very strange."

  "We've been shopping around. Other schools. Just to make sure," her mom said. "This one is the closest. Which is why we chose it in the first place. And we haven't had to check-in much. Which means you're doing well."

  "It's fine," Laura said.

  Her parents chose some things to snack on. Laura picked a breakfast sandwich and a sweet potato side.

  "I wish we'd known it was this easy," her father said.

  "What?" Laura asked.

  "All we had to do was eliminate boys from the equation and all of a sudden you're a saint."

  Laura stared at him and I couldn't tell if she was upset or confused.

  "He just means we haven't been getting calls from the principal here about you skipping your classes but we both know it could also have been your friend."

  Laura didn't speak. "I don't want to talk about it," she said.

  "You never do," her mom laughed. "But it's good. This is good. No more wild child. No more missing child. No more surprise pregnancies."

  Laura turned and looked at her and then at me.

  "People here don't know about any of that," Laura whispered to her mom. "Sorry Charli," she said, pushing past me to find a seat.

  "Well, why not? Good to see you've found some shame," her mom expressed. "All it took was a change of scenery."

  Laura put her food down and sat. I could tell it was hard for her to hold her tongue. "I'm only a problem because I'm a girl."

  "Nonsense," her mother smiled.

  "Brian slept with so many girls. You guys never cared. And you certainly didn’t check up on them to find out if they’d had kids."

  "That's different," her mom said. "That's how men are."

  "No. It's a bullshit double standard," Laura said, annoyed.

  At this point, Laura's parents noticed something or someone and they began to talk to each other and ignore us completely.

  I sat there in shocked silence, barely able to absorb anything that had been said in the last few minutes. The secrecy made sense now. I knew there had been a good reason. I couldn’t help myself, I reached under the table and put my hand on her thigh. Her parents were turned toward the teacher at the head of the table anyway. There was no way they could see or even cared to at this point.

  There was nothing to say. I couldn’t just start asking questions. I was glad for that. Processing this was going to take more than a minute. I rubbed lazy circles on the side of her thigh in an attempt to comfort us both. Emotion was rolling off of Laura. She had fought back but they didn’t even listen. She looked gutted and pissed.

  “Sorry,” I whispered.

  Her eyes looked up to mine guiltily. "They made me do something," she whispered. "I don't even know if I wanted to have it."

  My mind raced. We needed to convince them that this school was the best place for Laura. We could talk about the revelation later. I played with my scrambled eggs and picked up my toast to take a bite. This was insane. Pregnant?

  “Laura’s been doing great in her classes. Oh, and my parents came down for my soccer game and met her. They love Laura. They even offered to pay for her to go to Europe for our family trip,” I said.

  I hadn’t told Laura that yet since the subject of summer wasn’t one we brought up but I figured she’d just have some reason to shoot it down in the first place. I wanted to say it to her par
ents just to see what they’d say anyway.

  "Europe?" Her mother said, suddenly interested. "That'd be amazing, honey. You should go."

  "What," Laura said, taken aback by both of us. "Um. I mean. Sure," she said to me. "If they let me I'd love to."

  "If we let you?" Her dad teased. "She does what she wants," he said to me.

  "Yeah," Laura said. "I'd love to go. Tell your parents I'd love to."

  I shook with excitement. There was a grin on my face and I could hardly control it.

  "I'll call Mom later. She'll be happy. There are some really great historical tours that my dad booked already.”

  Laura's parents laughed.

  I wanted to take her hand but I couldn't. Really, I wanted to jump up and down to celebrate but that might be suspicious. I laughed and disguised it as a cough.

  "Will you be attending the entire Parent's Day program? Most people don't. Honestly, some of it is just boring talks about the curriculum and guided tours," I said.

  "Yeah, we were actually thinking about making our exit right after this. Do you want us to take you girls out to lunch?"

  "Uh, no. We're fine," Laura said.

  "You sure?" Her mom asked.

  "Yeah," Laura said.

  "Okay, Honey. We'll give you your space right after this breakfast. From what we've heard you're doing a lot better here than you were at Green Valley. That's really all we asked for, from them."

  Laura ate her sandwich and shrugged. I just kept smiling and let them think what they wanted. It was a relief that they'd be gone soon.

  "I think I'm done. Can I take anyone's tray for them?" I asked, getting up.

  I'd barely touched anything on my plate except the orange slices.

  "Not yet, thanks," Laura smirked up at me. "I'm actually starving."

  "Good," her mother said. "It's healthy to eat."

  "Okay, I'll be back," I said.

  I walked my tray over to the conveyor that took them back to the kitchen and placed it on the moving belt.

  When I turned around I nearly ran right into Lindsey.

  "Yikes!" I cried.

  We hadn’t talked much since all the mayhem that happened. A few awkward convos about how it was a long time ago and she’d been holding on but she didn’t know why. She and Abby were still broken up. I didn’t know how to deal with her or what to think about anything.

  She smirked and put an arm around my shoulder, turning us both to look back at the table I'd come from.

  "Meeting the in-laws, eh?"

  "Uh yeah, but listen, don't say anything like that to her parents. They don't know.”

  "Oh, they're homophobes. So that's why they sent her here. Dumb move," Lindsey said.

  "No, that's not it," I replied.

  "Then what?" She asked.

  "That's not my story to tell," I hedged.

  "Ohhhhh, so it was boys then. That's what got her into trouble. Damn, and they probably thought it was safe to send her to an all girl's school," Lindsey laughed.

  "Yeah, well, good thing they don't know or she would get shipped off and I'd never see her again," I said.

  Lindsey's eyebrow shot up and I watched her expression change.

  "What?" I asked.

  "Nothing, I was just thinking that it must be hard to hide. You shouldn't have to," she said.

  "Yeah, but it's best for now. It means she gets to go to Europe with my family," I explained.

  "What?!"

  "My parents offered to pay for her since I was going to stay behind without her," I said.

  "Wow, you're really…" she started.

  "What?" I asked.

  "Just seems a little too complicated and dramatic," she said.

  "Yeah, whatever… wait till you're probably going to lose the person you love and then we can talk," I replied.

  "To late," she said.

  "Huh?" I wondered.

  "Oh, nothing. You should get back," she answered.

  I shook my head and stepped away from her.

  "You're going to tell me what you meant by that later," I said.

  "Uh huh, see ya," Lindsey said. I really didn’t know what was happening with her.

  I rushed back to the table and sat down, rubbing my hands together to warm them up.

  "Sorry that took so long. I ran into my friend Lindsey," I said.

  "It's fine dear," Laura's mom said. "Tell us more about your parents."

  "Oh, sure! My mom is a psychiatrist that mostly does research and my dad is a plastic surgeon. They're super busy. That's why they couldn't come. Plus, they're taking time off for the trip," I said.

  "That's an interesting mix," Laura's dad said.

  "What about you guys?" I asked.

  "Well, we're not doctors," my mom laughed.

  "Mom's district HR for a Well Bank and dad heads an account, sports advertising," Laura said.

  "It's pretty boring, " her father said. "A lot of meetings."

  "I'm sure it's not boring," I replied.

  "Then you've never done it," Laura's mom joked.

  "That's very fair," I laughed.

  The sooner this was over, the sooner we could celebrate. My feet jiggled under the table but I couldn't stop.

  "How's Brian," Laura asked.

  "He's alright," her dad said. "Not much has changed but he asks about you. And he's still mad at us for enrolling you here."

  There was much talk among the other parents.

  "I'm not happy about how this all happened but I'm comfortable here now," Laura said. "Going back to my old school would just mess everything up again."

  "That's what we thought too," her mom said.

  "It's a good school. I've always liked being here," I added.

  Laura's mother looked at her for a second before turning away.

  "It's an expensive school," her dad said.

  I cleared my throat and looked at Laura. They were tough and strangely disconnected from their own daughter.

  "How long is your drive back?" I asked.

  "Fifty minutes if we go straight home. We'll probably stop along the water since the weather's nice. We promised your brother we'd stop at the mall to get him a shirt."

  "That'll be nice," I said.

  Making conversation with them only made it more apparent that they didn't give a crap.

  Laura seemed to be slowing down with her food. The conversation between her parents didn’t interest her. Instead of talking or engaging she picked at her food and looked around.

  "You good?" I whispered.

  Laura nodded and gave me a soft smile.

  "Well, if they would leave already…" I muttered.

  I cleared my throat and stood up.

  "Whenever you guys are ready we can totally walk you out," I tried.

  "Well. We should speak with a few people first," Laura's mom said. My words were enough to get them up and moving. "You girls take your time."

  "Okay, we'll hold down the fort," I promised.

  They wandered off in the direction of the table full of admin and I turned in my chair to look at Laura.

  "Seriously, how awesome is it that you're coming with us this summer?!" I was almost energetic enough to bounce without thinking about it.

  "I dunno," she laughed, overwhelmed. "I'm just glad they're leaving."

  "You do want to go, right?" I asked.

  "What? Of course," she laughed and pushed my shoulder playfully. "Not sure I'll know a thing we're doing but it sounds exciting. Is it weird that I'm more happy I get to be with you?"

  "No because I feel the same way. I wasn't looking forward to it. I think that's why they said I should bring you," I said.

  "Your parents?"

  "Yeah, they're no dummies," I laughed.

  She still didn't seem to have caught up to what was happening. Her parents threw her. It was unsettling to wonder at their motivations for how they treated her. It wasn't fair.

  "I wish I could kiss you," I lamented.

  "Aww… That's real
ly sweet," she said nervously. "I'm sorry this is so weird. I know you're not used to it."

  "It's fine. I promise. Don't worry about me. I'm just glad they surprised us," I said.

  "I think you might've solved a problem for them," Laura said.

  "What to do with you?" I asked.

  "Yeah," she laughed.

  "I know what I want to do with you," I teased.

  She laughed again but I could tell she was emotional. Instead of responding she leaned her body into mine and rest her head on my shoulder.

  "You're pretty cute, you know," I said.

  "No," she said, calmly. I felt her hand lovingly stroke my arm.

  "I'll keep telling you," I replied.

  The parents were facing away from us so I leaned over and kissed her temple. Even that little bit of touch helped me calm down a bit.

  "I'd go crazy if I couldn't touch you for a whole day," I said.

  "I miss you," she whispered sadly.

  "I wish they would just wrap this up," I sighed.

  "They're pretending to be normal," she said. "That sort of thing can take some time."

  "Who wants to be normal? High aspirations. Why can't they just be good parents?" I scoffed.

  "Maybe they don't want to be parents," she said.

  "Seems like it. When you're 18 they can't do anything about what you do though," I said.

  "Doesn't change how any of this has made me feel, " Laura said. "I lost my friends and my family. That's not really something you can get over. It affects you."

  "Awful," I said.

  Laura's fingers slipped in between mine.

  "But I found something great," she whispered.

  "Hmm, yep,” I said.

  I smiled and held her hand, happy in the moment despite the shadow of her parents cast over us.

  "No pressure or anything," she joked. Her sly breath tickled my ear.

  "I'm good under pressure," I joked.

  We sat there, happy to be alone, until they came back from the obligatory chatting to the headmistress and deans.

  Letting go of her hand was sad. The symbol of it and the fear of being discovered made me ill. It was necessary. I wouldn't lose her because they were bigots.

  We got up and walked with them out to the front of the school. Their car wasn't far and that's where we left them, or rather they left us.

  They hugged goodbye but there were no emotions. Just vague warnings to stay on the straight and narrow.

  Growing up with them had taken the rug out from under Laura. It was no wonder she had no good opinions of herself. Her world was a little more clear to me now.