Chapter 20 #2
“Mom!” I whirled on her with a horror that I was sure lit up my entire face, but she wasn’t looking at me. She was too busy ogling the boy over my shoulder. “Oh my gosh, leave him—”
“I did wonder how you’d react if I asked Gemma.” Jaden’s smile was stiff, going from his nonchalant self to nervous in a nanosecond, and his eyes bounced between my parents quickly. “I figured…well, I figured I wouldn’t ask, but just go with her in a group.”
“Going in a group isn’t as fun.” Mom waved her hand flippantly, scaring the idea away. “We, well—we already bought a tie last weekend that would match Gemma’s dress perfectly. It’s got your name on it.”
I grabbed her arm and dug my fingers into her coat sleeve, startling her enough that her gaze locked onto mine. “Stop,” I begged.
The drunk excitement flashed like a light flickering, letting darkness creep in for a split second.
Even though it was a blip of blackness in Mom’s eyes, my stomach flipped at the sight of it.
I dropped her arm like it burned, ducking my head like I was going to be scolded then and there.
Of course, I wouldn’t be. Not in front of so many prying eyes.
“I’d love to take her to the dance,” Jaden said then, sealing my fate for me. It was like I was inside of a box, hearing voices outside of it, unable to engage in discussion with them. Keep your head down, my old mantra echoed, creeping in. And keep your mouth shut.
And in my silence, my date was finalized.
We came down off the bleachers, and Jaden said goodnight before Mom turned on me.
“Now, Gemma,” she began in an eerie tone, one I’d never heard her use before. “Care to explain why you were reprimanding me back there?”
I curled my fingers into a tight fist, the pressure in my knuckles building as my skin pulled taut. I focused on that sensation, trying not to notice how my stomach cramped up with something like dread. “I didn’t mean to.”
“Didn’t mean to,” she echoed, looking off in a different direction. “I would say you grabbing my arm was pretty intentional.”
Dad smoothed a hand down her back. “Let’s save this for later, Naomi.”
“Maybe she needs the embarrassment of being scolded by her mother in front of all her classmates,” Mom snapped back, folding her arms over her chest. “Tell me, Gemma. Was that accidental?”
“I just wanted you to stop,” I murmured, glaring down at the grass. “I didn’t mean to be disrespectful. Please…please don’t be mad.”
“Stop what?”
“Prying.” The word slipped free like a breeze slipping through an open door, and I cringed at the coldness of it, quickly locking down. “I mean, I was just embarrassed. My mom getting me a date for homecoming. In front of everyone.”
Mom reached out, and for some reason, I flinched like I expected her to hit me.
Instead, she reached around and brought my braid over my shoulder, brushing it against my neck.
The touch was gentle, contrasting with her attitude from a second ago.
“You heard him. He wouldn’t have asked you if I hadn’t intervened. ”
Tell her that you didn’t ask her to, my thoughts rooted, encouraging the door to open up. Tell her that you didn’t want her to. Tell her! Stand up for yourself! Grow a backbone!
But I physically couldn’t. The anger from a moment ago had been enough of a gut punch that I couldn’t imagine saying one more word that could’ve evoked more. And besides, it wasn’t a battle I should pick tonight. There was a line I shouldn’t cross.
I lifted my chin and faced my mother. “You’re right,” I said with a soft breath out my nose, swallowing the words and the sick feeling that stirred in my chest. “And it’s a mom’s job to embarrass their kid sometimes, right?”
It was the perfect thing to say. The creases by her brow smoothed over almost instantly, and Mom rubbed my shoulder with affection now, pleased by the submission she’d backed her daughter into. “Right.”
We waited for Landon’s coach to finish their post-game huddle, like we always did.
With his shoulder pads hanging from his fingers, he stood a few feet away from us, trying to keep his football stench as far as possible.
He listened as Mom and Dad advised him of plays he could’ve performed better, following their routine, and he nodded along obediently.
Once we got to the end of our song and dance, Landon lifted his head. “I’m going to crash at Reed’s tonight,” he said, flexing his free hand in a way that almost looked nervous. “If that’s okay, I mean.”
“Oh, more than okay,” Dad said quickly, nodding. “Reed’s a good kid. Tell him we miss seeing him on the field.”
“I will, I will.” Landon nodded his chin at me. “Don’t go through my room while I’m gone.”
Little did he know… “I won’t,” I promised.
The car ride to the house was quiet, and not even Mom or Dad spoke the whole time.
I leaned my head against the glass of the window and shut my eyes, relishing in the coldness of the glass, trying to slow my breathing.
For the whole drive, I didn’t open my eyes.
I listened to the finance podcast Dad had playing over the speakers.
I didn’t open my eyes when we pulled into the driveway, and I didn’t open them when Dad shut the car off. With my hands in my lap and my breaths even, I held perfectly still. “Oh, she’s fast asleep,” Dad said, in the way one might when they notice a cat napping.
“It is late for her,” Mom replied, and I could hear the seat move as she turned around. Her voice sounded nearer. “Gemma, sweetie. Gemma? We’re home.”
Pretending to be asleep was easier than I thought it’d be, but pretending to wake up was tough. I made a show of blinking my eyes and drawing in a deep breath, blinking between Mom and Dad blurrily. “Already?”
Was that believable?
“You must be so tired,” Mom said, unbuckling her seatbelt. “Maybe that’s why you were a bit snappish earlier.”
“Maybe,” I agreed, even though the word settled oddly on my tongue. However, she gave me the opening I’d been waiting for. “I think I’m going to sleep in a little bit tomorrow. With everything that happened yesterday… I’ve just been feeling more tired than usual.”
Bingo. Their sympathetic expressions were the exact ones I’d hoped for. Planned for. In a way, I guess I could’ve said I was grateful to Wes for picking such a fight. He cleared a perfect path for my Friday night plans.
Because little did anyone know that I wasn’t staying home tonight.
It was eleven when I emerged from my bedroom, still dressed in my day clothes, my hair loose from its braid. It was wavy down my back, and I tiptoed to the bathroom, making a beeline for my escape route.
This time, my heart wasn’t racing nearly as fast as it’d been before.
The adrenaline was there, the excitement, but there was no doubt this time.
Not after Mom deciding my homecoming date.
Not after everything that’d been accumulating to this moment.
I was going to live my life for me, and I wasn’t going to regret it.
Slipping out of the bathroom window, I hurried through the backyard and down the street, spotting the car promised to be waiting for me in the exact spot it was supposed to be.
I couldn’t ignore how happy I felt now with how far we’d come in a month’s time.
How far I’d come.
And I couldn’t wait to see where it would go from here.