by Stacy Borel
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 was 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 go
ing 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.
Chapter Eleven
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 up 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.”
She huffed and rolled her eyes. “You’re such a rebel.”
“What? I’m not posting my butt for some weirdos to see.”
“You’re missing my point. Since you walked out of the airport, you’ve had your shoulders squared, your hair is pinned up perfectly, you’re wearing floral for fuck’s sake! Loosen up.”
I sighed. Maybe I was being tense. I didn’t need to see Wrigley with a chip on my shoulder or whatever. And when I talked to him about the small fib I’d told his mom, I didn’t need to come across as some up tight bitch either. If I was relaxed and nonchalant about the whole thing, there would be no reason for him to take it as awful as I’d felt that day.
“Enough about me. Tell me all about the trip, and how many times Wrigley said he missed you.”
“You’re such a girl.”
“Yes, I am, now spill it.”
I spent the rest of the car ride telling her about my weird uncle and how he belches every time he takes a drink of wine. She laughed when I told her my dad took me out fishing, even though it was cold out and fish weren’t biting but I had the biggest catch of the day… him. I had, unfortunately, snagged my dad’s hat as I’d attempted to cast overhead versus to the side like I had been taught. I started to tell her about how I casually didn’t bring up Wrigley to my mom, but then I had told a massive white lie to his mother and my own. She cringed.
“Jesus, Hadley. Why?”
“I don’t even know. But why didn’t he tell me he spoke to his mom about us?” I whined and slouched down in the seat. We were almost to the dorms.
“If I remember right, I knew he had talked to his mom about you. In fact, I’m positive. I’ve been at the house when he was on the phone with his parents and you came up in conversation. Not good. You know that makes him look like a dirty, little secret, right?”
I rubbed my hand down my face. “Yeah, I know. So why didn’t you tell me?”
She looked at me with an ‘are you kidding me face’. “Hadley, I didn’t know this was going to be a thing. If I had, I would have said something. You know I would’ve. Does he know?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Is this going to be a big deal? I mean, is he really close with his parents?”
“Sorta. He was acting a little weird on the phone yesterday and I’m worried he’ll talk to his mom before I will even get a chance to tell him my side. Not that I really have a side.”
Pulling onto campus, it was just like the day my parents had dropped me off but that day felt like it had been light years ago. I couldn’t help but think about how hopeful and excited I had been to be here and had that ‘the world was my oyster’ attitude. I had no idea that God was going to push me in this direction and I was now concerned the Wrigley Brooks, my possible boyfriend, would be angry with me for hiding him.
“Are you going to go see him? I mean, maybe it was nothing.”
“Yeah. I’m going to just head over there after I unpack.”
“Screw unpacking. Want me to drop you off?”
Actually I did. I didn’t want to keep holding off when it’s been on my mind for days now. “Sounds good.”
Aur
ora made a quick turn just before she got to our road and was driving straight to Wrigley’s house.
“Are you going to let him know you’re coming? Does he know you’re home?”
“He knows I landed safely. But I think I’ll just show up. He won’t mind.”
We pulled up. “Good luck, Hon. Text me if you need me to pick you back up.”
I got out. “Thanks.”
I started to walk up the front path when she drove off. Taking a deep breath, I was excited to see him. Any days without the guy you’ve been seeing every day is rough. The anticipation was good. But everything else I was dreading. I sent a small prayer up to heaven that this blew over like it wasn’t a big deal and Wrigley would be his usual fun, laughable self. I knocked on the door.
Austin answered, instead of Wrigley. “Hey, Hadley! What are you doing here?”
I glanced around. “Is Wrigley home?”
He looked at me strangely. “No, he went to the pub down the road with Chris and Livi.”
Livi? What in the world? Settle down, Hadley, she was probably invited by Chris. They were pretty flirtatious the last time they’d been around each other. That had to have been the explanation.
“Oh, okay.” I tried not to sound shocked or disappointed.
“Want me to let him know you came by?”
I shook my head. “Nah, I think I’ll go down there and surprise him. We hadn’t planned to meet up till later, but I’m a little early.”
Austin smiled at me. “Okay. Well, have fun. And tell Wrigley I want my damn fake ID back when he gets home.”
All I could do was nod. Wrigley was at a pub with Chris and Livi. Chris, who was one of the most irresponsible guys on the baseball team, and his dumbest friend to date. And Livi, the chick who I despised, and she hated me nearly as much. But he was there with a fake ID and likely drinking. Okay, breath. Everything would be okay. While Wrigley enjoyed a good time just like any other male college student, he wasn’t stupid. There’s no way I’d show up and he would be drunk and doing things that would hurt me.