Chapter 23 Zeke
twenty-three
Zeke
Hey, momma.” I smile, dipping down to kiss her cheek. “How are you feeling today?”
“Better now that you’re here,” she replies. “What’s on the menu for Friendsgiving tonight?”
“I don’t know. I do know Brinley’s been at our place since last night cooking.”
“And none of you boys have offered to help her? I’m sure she could’ve started this morning if she had some help.”
“Mom, you should know Brinley by now. If any of us stepped foot in that kitchen while she was cooking, she’d castrate us.”
“Maybe. But you boys could still offer.”
“I’ll text the guys and make sure they’re giving her a hand.”
“Good. And make sure there are leftovers you can bring me on Thursday.”
I laugh.
“Don’t worry, mom. Brinley always makes extra food just for you.”
“Such a sweet girl.” She yawns. “And she makes some amazing mashed potatoes. Do you remember last year when mashed potatoes were the only thing I could keep down for nearly six months and—”
“Brinley made them every week so I could bring them to you.”
“And she tried to play it off like she just kept making too much, and they’d go to waste if you didn’t bring them to me.”
“I remember.” I grab her hand and give it a light squeeze. “She loves you; they all do. They’d do anything for you.”
“And they’d do anything for you.”
“I know.”
“So don’t be afraid to lean on them.” She forces a smile. “It’s okay to need someone, Zeke. It doesn’t make you weak if you don’t want to go through this alone.”
I sniffle, holding back my tears, and she instantly notices. She pats my hand, almost like she’s telling me we’ll work on it.
“Does she still have a crush on Jaxon?” she asks.
“I don’t know.” I shrug. “I think she’s seeing someone. Declan says she’s been denying it, but she brought him to the Halloween party, and something was definitely going on there.”
“Good for her. I always hoped Jaxon would get his head out of his ass and see that she was goo-goo eyes for him, but maybe this new guy is exactly what Brinley needs.”
“I’ve only met him once, but he seems great. Brinley seems happy.”
“And how does Jaxon feel about it?”
“He’d never admit it, but I think he’s jealous.
I don’t know if it’s because Brinley might be seeing this guy or because their relationship has crumbled since the beginning of October.
They don’t hang out like they used to, and I think seeing Brinley with Alex opened Jax’s eyes to the fact that they might never get back to how they used to be. ”
“Alex? That’s the guy?” I nod. “What’s his full name?”
“Alex.”
“Just Alex? How are his friends supposed to give him a nickname? Are they supposed to call him Al? Like Weird Al? That’s not a fun nickname.”
“That’s what I said!” I exclaim, and suddenly, our smiles don’t seem forced.
She understands me in a way no one else does.
I’m definitely a mama’s boy. I always have been.
And not in one of those weird mother-son relationships where the mom talks about her son like they’re gonna get married, but in the way where we’re so eerily similar, it’s sometimes scary.
She knows me better than I know myself.
I don’t know what I’ll do if I lose that.
“And what about Declan and Ember. You last told me that he was taking her on a date.”
“Yeah, he took her to this art studio and rented out the place just for them. She’s really talented, ma.” I pull out my phone to show her the picture he sent us of the painting.
“She’s definitely got a gift.”
“So, I guess they’re doing good. Cam doesn’t know, which I can tell is hard on both of them, but—”
“And what about you?”
The question surprises me. We never talk about my love life… because there’s never one to talk about.
“What about me?”
“Do you have a special girl in your life?”
“No.” It’s not technically a lie but also not the full truth. But if I told my mom about my current situation, she’d read into it when there’s no reason to. “Why?”
“You just seem happier lately.” She gives me a soft smile.
“Maybe I’m just hopeful that your next set of scans will bring good news.”
“Maybe.” Her voice trails off, but I see the look in her eye. A look I know well. A look that says, ‘We don’t have to talk about it right now, but I’ll get it out of you eventually.’
She always does.
Ididn’t expect to see you today.” Avalon stares at me as I stand in her doorway. “I thought you had Friendsgiving?”
“I do. I just thought you might be hungry.” I hold up a Wendy’s bag in one hand and a frosty in the other. “That maybe we’d have our own little Fucksgiving?”
She laughs, grabs the bag from me, and nods for me to come in.
“Fucksgiving?” Her forehead wrinkles.
“I don’t know; it was the first thing that came to mind. You’ve said it yourself, we aren’t friends, so Friendsgiving wouldn’t work.”
She jumps onto the counter and starts digging through the bag.
“How’d you know what I’d want?” Avalon pulls everything out of the bag.
I cross my arms across my chest and tilt my head at her. “Avalon, you get the same thing everywhere.”
“I do not!” she argues.
“Last week, we ordered post-sex food three times. Each time, you got a double cheeseburger, chicken nuggets with barbeque sauce, a large fry, and a chocolate shake.”
She pulls a fry out of the container and pops it into her mouth, studying me carefully.
“I don’t get that when I go to Chick-fil-A.” Now she crosses her arms, sitting up taller like she’s challenging me.
“If they had cheeseburgers, you would. You get a chicken sandwich in place of the burger. Everything else stays the same, even the nuggets.”
Her shoulders soften.
“Why do you know that?”
“I pay attention.” I grab my food and jump onto the opposite end of the counter. I can still feel her eyes on me as I take a big bite of my burger. “What?”
My mouth is still full, but she doesn’t seem to mind because she just smiles at me.
“You’re not at all who I thought you were.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I swallow.
“You’re a good guy, Zeke.”
“Thanks?”
I can’t tell if that’s a compliment; why would she think I wasn’t a good guy?
“Sorry. I just haven’t known a lot of good guys.”
“Maybe you would’ve if you let them in like you did me.”
“Maybe.”
“Sorry, that was the opposite of something a good guy would say. I get why you don’t; I do. It’s hard to let people in after constantly being let down.”
She doesn’t respond; instead, she plunges a nugget into her barbeque sauce and tosses it into her mouth. As she chews, she pops off the lid from her Frosty, and I lean forward, scooping some of it out with a few of my fries.
“Hey!” She swats me away. “Why didn’t you get yourself one if you wanted to dip your fries in a Frosty?”
“I did get myself one. I finished it on the way here.”
“That sounds like a you problem.”
“I didn’t have to bring you anything. I could’ve had both Frosty’s for myself. And technically, I never said it was for you.”
“But you were the one who said I always get the same thing. And on the list was a chocolate shake,” Avalon points to her cup, “which this basically is, cabrón.”
“I’m sorry, what did you just call me?”
“A fucker.” She laughs. “Sorry, I got caught up in my argument.”
“That was hot.”
She rolls her eyes.
“No, seriously. I didn’t know you spoke Spanish. I remember you calling your grandma Abuela, but I just—”
“I don’t speak Spanish.” She argues, and I raise an eyebrow. “Not often, anyway. I usually only use it with my mom, and even then, it’s a bit broken. I understand it better than I speak it.”
“Have you spoken Spanish your entire life?”
“No,” she replies. “I didn’t really start to learn until after my mom’s accident.
My dad didn’t care to learn it, so my mom stopped using it.
My grandparents didn’t live here when I was little.
They lived back in Colombia, not because they had to, but because that was their home.
My mom tried to convince them to move out here for years, especially once I was born, but they didn’t like my dad. ”
“That’s fair,” I add. “We came to the conclusion that your dad’s a dick, so.”
She hits my thigh with the heel of her foot, telling me to shut up.
“Anyway, after my mom’s accident, they didn’t want to be so far away.
She was their only child, so her nearly dying really put everything into perspective for them.
They quickly became my main support system, which led to my Abuela teaching me Spanish.
I’d only speak Spanish at home because she wanted me to get it into my system.
But she died not long after that, and since my mom wasn’t really coherent those days, a lot of my Spanish faded.
I tried hard to keep it up in middle school, but it didn’t feel the same. ”
“But you still speak Spanish when you talk to your mom?”
“Yeah. Again, it’s not perfect, and I switch back and forth between Spanish and English, but it’s also a great feeling when words come back that I didn’t even realize I knew. Sometimes my mom will say something, and it’ll trigger something my Abuela taught me, and it’s like my vocabulary expands.”
I take another bite of my burger, trying to hide my small smile.
“What?” I should’ve known she’d catch it. She’s good at that.
“Nothing. I just, I don’t think I’ve seen you this happy. Sure, I’ve seen your post-sex glow, but there’s a light in your eyes when you talk about your Abuela.”
“Yeah, well, when I think about her, I feel like a kid again. Like anything is possible, and the world isn’t out to get me.” She sighs. “Then I’m back in reality and it sucks.”
“Well,” I jump off the counter, “I have the perfect cure for that.”
I close the gap between us, standing in front of where she sits on the counter. I grab her legs, wrapping them around my body and pulling her off the counter.
“Zeke!” She laughs. “What about my food?”
“Trust me, you’ll work up quite the appetite.”
“My Frosty’s gonna melt.”
I grab the cup off the counter and carry her toward her bedroom.
I wink at her, “Then I guess we’re bringing it with us.”