Chapter 37 #2
“You do embarrass me,” I said through gritted teeth, my ears burning. I had to give it to my parents. It only took them two sentences to get completely under my skin.
“Well, if that’s the most trauma we’ve given you, then I consider it a job well done,” Dad said cheerfully and grabbed my luggage from the curb.
“Will we be seeing you around our house sometime, Grey?” The fact that Mom wasn’t critiquing Dad’s loading skills said a lot about how fascinating she found Grey. “Assuming that our embarrassing tendencies can be overlooked.”
Grey laughed, clearly finding entertainment in my discomfort. “I’ll do my best to drop by this summer. My band is touring, and the schedule isn’t quite finalized yet, so I’m not—”
“Oh, that’s right. You’re in a band.” Mom had the over performative tone someone gave when their memory was very much not being jogged by the conversation. “How is that going, by the way?”
“Great!” I jumped in. “He has some big shows this summer, and there’s a potential record deal.”
It was Grey’s turn to flush. “He makes it sound more impressive than it is. Everything is still very fluid at the moment.”
Car horns blared as impatient parents none-too-gently reminded us that parking for student pickup had a five-minute time limit.
Mom sighed. “Guess we better be going.” She was clearly disappointed she hadn’t gotten to chat more with Grey.
For once, I was thankful for a stranger’s impatience.
“It was nice to meet you, Grey,” Mom said.
My parents loaded into the car, tactfully giving me a few last moments with my boyfriend.
“You better call me this summer.” I poked him playfully to show how serious I was. “I can’t handle you going radio silent on me like Christmas break.” No, I would never let him live those few days down.
Grey chuckled and grabbed my hand, pressing it into a palm against his chest. I could feel his heart beating under my palm, and somehow, mine slowed to match his.
“You’ll hear from me so much that you’ll get sick of me,” he said. “I promise.”
Those last two words vibrated up my arm, and my face warmed again as my desire for him returned in full force. “And yeah, I think it would be nice if you visited this summer. I don’t want the only time I see you to be in a crowded room. Some things we can only do alone.”
Grey’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed hard. “I’ll make sure we get some alone time.” I could tell this, too, was a promise without him having to say as much.
“Honey, I’m really sorry, but this kind young man just threatened to ticket us if we don’t move along,” Mom called from behind me.
I glanced over my shoulder to see a tired-looking campus worker shoot me an apologetic glance before going to the next car.
I looked down and sighed. “Okay,” I said, gathering my strength. My feet might as well have weighed a thousand pounds with as hard as they were to move in that moment. “I’ll miss you.”
Grey’s response was to give me a gentle kiss before stepping back. “I’ll see you soon.”
“Soon,” I repeated and finally tore myself away from him to join my parents in the car.
“Okay, okay!” my dad said to the driver that had laid on their horn the millisecond after I closed my door.
My mom responded under her breath about the other driver obviously not being able to hear him, and just like that, they were back to their old bickering selves as we pulled away.
The temporary spell Grey had placed on the family was broken and forgotten within minutes.
The familiarity of it was comforting, in a way, to hear my parents at each other’s throats.
I ignored them, putting my headphones in my ears.
My phone was ringing before I’d placed the second bud in. It was Grey.
“Hello?” I answered, beyond confused. What could possibly have happened in the last thirty seconds that he needed to call me about?
“Hi, Ethan.” His voice sounded more emotional than it had a few minutes prior. “I just wanted to tell you I love you. And I’ll miss you too. That’s all.”
I laughed at his sweetness. “I love you too,” I said before hanging up.
My dad shot me a raised eyebrow in the rearview mirror, and Mom was practically buzzing in her seat. Neither of them had heard me so much as peep a whisper of love for a past relationship. This was all just as new to them as it was to me.
I went back to ignoring them. We would have time to navigate me being in a relationship.
Right now, I didn’t want to ruin the weightless feeling pouring from my chest and coursing through my limbs.
We turned down a street, and Redmond University faded into the rear window.
My parents resumed bickering after the interruption of my phone call.
Somehow, everything in the car was the same as it had been at the beginning of the year, but everything in my life outside of it had changed profoundly.
I’d never given much thought to love before the past year, but if I’d learned one thing, it was that it snuck up when a person least expected it, and holy hell did it like to wreck life plans.
I was sure that I still had a lot to learn about love.
I mean, with my parents as an example, I wasn’t exactly starting with an award-winning blueprint.
But I had Grey, and we had this summer, then next year, then the rest of our lives to learn it.
And fuck did that feel good.