33. Listen To The Seventeen–Year–Old Casanova
33
LISTEN TO THE SEVENTEEN–YEAR–OLD CASANOVA
OLIVER
“Dude, will you fucking stop pacing? She’ll be here.”
Eddie and Elliott, two of my older brothers, sit in the uncomfortable airport chairs while I pace back and forth, glancing at the arrivals gate every five seconds.
Mallory flew to Vermont by herself because she wanted some time with me before we had dinner with our families. Her dad is in Vermont with Henry. She’s going to drive down to meet them for his game, then the three of them will drive back up for dinner and spend the night.
Having dinner with Mallory’s brother and father – who is my coach – along with my family is a terrifying concept. Especially since this is the first dinner with her brother as Mallory’s boyfriend. It shouldn’t be, though. This is not the first Ashby–Grace dinner to happen. But it’s the first official one as a couple. So yeah, terrifying. Don’t get me wrong, I know my parents love her, and I have it on good authority that Coach approves of me as her boyfriend, but I'd be lying if I wasn’t worried that something would go wrong at this dinner. Tommy would punch me for jinxing it, but I just have a bad feeling .
My phone buzzes in my pocket, interrupting my thoughts.
Marshmallory
The plane just landed x
Me
I’m at the arrivals gate. Hurry up. I miss you. X
MARSHMALLORY
Stop being so clingy, Ashby x
ME
You love it.
Now seriously, HURRY UP! X
“Has her plane landed yet?” Eddie asks, tapping away on his phone.
“Yep. Just landed. She’ll be here any minute.”
I slide my phone into my back pocket, picking up the bouquet of red roses I picked up before we drove here. I run my hand down my sweatshirt, trying to smooth it out. This is the sweatshirt Mallory loves. No idea why considering it doesn’t have a design on it. It’s just orange. But for whatever reason, she loves it, but it was crumpled at the bottom of my closet so it’s got a few creases in it.
Elliott looks between his phone screen and me, a smirk appearing on his face. “I still find it weird you got her flowers.”
I frown down at the bouquet. “She likes flowers.”
“You’ve never gotten her flowers before.”
“I get her flowers all the time.”
“I’ve never seen you buy her flowers. ”
“That’s because you don’t follow me around 24/7.”
“That’s because I have better things to do with my time.”
“Then stop bugging me with the fact I got her flowers and go do one of those things.”
“Jesus fucking christ, would you two quit it?” Eddie asks, running a hand down his face. “My four–year–old acts more behaved than you.”
I’m about to respond to the fact that Elliott started it, when we hear the sound of people filling out of the arrivals gate.
I’m staring so hard at the door, willing her to appear. And then she does.
Mallory walks through the arrivals gate, looking so goddamn beautiful. Her hair is down in all its naturally–wavy glory. She’s wearing a purple cardigan with some caramel–coloured baggy jeans.
When she spots me, she screams out loud. Dropping her duffel to the floor, she runs up to me and jumps into my arms. Wrapping her legs around my waist, clinging to me like a koala. I wrap my arms around her, careful not to crush the flowers she clearly hasn’t seen.
She cups my neck and presses a searing kiss to my lips. “I” – kiss – “missed” – kiss – “you” – kiss – “so” – kiss – “much.”
“I haven’t been gone that long, Dolcezza mia.”
She moves back a bit to look at me, fake pouting. “You didn’t miss me?”
I remove one hand from her back to show her the flowers I got her. “I missed you the most, Dolcezza mia.”
She jumps down from my body, taking the roses from me, pressing them to her nose. “They’re so beautiful.” She smiles, reaching up to kiss me one more time. “Thank you, I love you. ”
“Okay,” Elliott finally interrupts. We both whip our heads in the direction of my brothers. Elliott’s jaw is so far on the floor it’s practically in hell. Eddie heads for Mallory’s carry on, with a shit–eating grin on his face. “What the fuck is going on?”
Mallory moves her flowers to her other hand, lacing our fingers together with the other.
“What does it look like?” Eddie says, walking ahead. “O–dog over here finally got his head out of his ass. Congrats bro.” He offers Mallory a friendly smile as we start walking to the car park. Elliott follows behind, staring at our joined hands with a bewildered expression.
Mallory leans in a little closer. “O–dog?”
I give her a sheepish expression. “Trust me, baby. You don’t want to know.”
Showing up for your family is a really important thing in the Ashby household. No matter what the event is or how minor, we all show up. All of us. Whether it be a championship game, a decathlon event, or in this case,a school lacrosse game.
In the freezing cold.
Cameron is one of the youngest Ashby boys. He’s on the Starbury west high school lacrosse team, and he’s actually really good. We were told, by him, that this match isn’t an official one, just something they’re doing for fun against starbury north high, and we didn’t need to come. In fact, he all but begged us not to. He’s been begging us for days, but mom insisted. Because Ashby’s show up for each other.
“It’s funny how he whined about not wanting us to come since he told Mom about this game, but when he spotted Mallory in the stands, he suddenly… perked up,” Elliott says, stuffing his hands into his pocket.
Dad smacks him round the head, making Mallory snicker. “Don’t tease your brother when he’s not even here, figiolo.”
The game ended a little while ago. Starbury West won the invitational. I don’t think it goes towards their competitions, but it gets them noticed that’s for sure.
I wrap my arm around Mallory's waist when I hear her shiver. “Are you cold?”
The tip of her nose turns red as she bundles herself into her parka even more. Nodding viciously, she smiles as she huddles closer to me. She stretches her arms out. “Hug please.”
I smile. “Come here, baby.”
She walks into my arms as I pull her close to me, rubbing her back. She breaks away first when Cam comes over. Everyone whoops and cheers for him, causing his cheeks to turn pink. But when his eyes land on Mallory, they turn even pinker.
“Congrats, Cammie!” She says.
“It’s Cam.”
“That’s what I said! You were very, very good. A lacrosse legend.” She beams at my little brother.
“I bet you’re a volleyball legend,” he takes his beanie off his head, running his hand through his hair like Danny Zuko. “Us legends should stick together, you know?”
“Uh, I guess?”
“Did you cut your hair?” He retorts. He looks my girlfriend up and down, winking at her. “Looks good on you.” Then he walks away, mining ‘Call me’ to her as he walks backwards to my dad.
I look over at Mallory and a twin spots of pink tinge her cheeks. She’s about to speak when her phone buzzes in her pocket.
She sighs. “Oh, it’s my mom.”
“You should answer. If you don’t, she’ll just keep calling you.”
“Yeah, okay. Be right back.”
Mallory moves away from us to take her call. As she does, Elliott and Frankie flank my left and right. “I’d keep an eye on your girl, bro. Otherwise you’ll lose her to the seventeen–year–old casanova over there.”
I flip him off.
But seriously. She can’t be alone with Cam. Ever.