4. Deadlines
4
Deadlines
WINTER
My parents are petrified. Not a move. Not even a blink. My words echo through the most dreadful of silences, and I pray that someone will say something. My father looks like he’s just seen Medusa. As for my mother, she’s mad, furious even. She hangs up the phone, and her eyes travel back and forth between Haze and me.
“Your what?” my mom blurts.
“You heard me,” I say with a faltering voice.
“A… A boyfriend? When did this happen?” Dad struggles to say the word as though it’s impossible for him to wrap his head around the possibility.
“W-When I was in Florida.” I grab Haze’s hand. The cat is out of the bag, but my stomach remains clenched into a tight knot. I don’t care much for my mother’s opinion, but if there is one person I don’t want to disappoint, it’s my dad.
“What is this imbecile doing sneaking out your window? No, what was he doing in our house to begin with?” my mother spits. Unable to hold back anymore, Kendrick flinches and snickers. “Is something funny?” My mom glares at him.
Kendrick clears his throat, fighting to keep a straight face. “No. Of course not. Will just told me a joke, Aunt Lauren.”
Your existence is a joke.
My mother’s attention comes back to us. “Answers, now!”
I sigh. “Haze left Florida to move here with me. Yesterday, he slept over after Allie and Caleb took us out to celebrate my return. It was extremely late. I… I couldn’t possibly leave him to sleep outside. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I knew you’d be upset. We just need a place to stay until we find an apartment.” I’m hoping I can convince her not to kick us out and force us to live off vending machines and dirty motels. I know Haze would probably try and pay for a luxurious hotel room if that were to happen, but I’m not going to let him waste his money because of my evil mother.
“So, you decided to, what, pretend he hadn’t spent the night?” My mother crosses her arms over her chest.
“Yeah,” I admit, shame thick in my voice.
“Then what? He was going to come knocking on our door like nothing happened?”
“I just wanted him to make a good first impression, and I thought if he just walked into the kitchen in the morning, you would—”
“Whose idea was this?” My mom cuts me off, raising an accusatory finger at Haze. He opens his mouth to speak, but I squeeze his hand so tightly he smacks his mouth shut. If he admits to being the mastermind behind this disaster, we’re done. And I mean done. She’ll never, ever let us stay here until we find a place.
“It was mine,” I lie.
“So… he had nothing to do with it?” She arches an eyebrow, doubtful. “It wasn’t his influence on you?”
“No, of course not. He’s always been a good influence on me.”
Will snorts. “Was that before or after he kidnapped you?”
I’m going to kill him.
Kendrick elbows Will in the stomach so hard, he knocks the breath out of him. I know he’s talking about the time Haze showed up at the penthouse, knocked out Kendrick, and threw me over his shoulder to take me to his hometown so he could protect me in his own messed-up way.
“What did you just say?” my father asks Will.
Thank God they didn’t catch that.
“Nothing,” Will coughs.
Kendrick runs to Will’s rescue. “He was just… talking to himself, Uncle Harry. He’s weird.”
“Yes, I’m weird,” Will agrees, and my mother rolls her eyes. It hasn’t even been one full day yet and she already hates having them around. Twenty bucks says she’s going to change her mind and ship them back to Maria.
Still as furious as can be, she drags a long and deep sigh, probably considering taking that baseball bat from her husband’s hands and finishing the job herself. My father, on the contrary, seems a bit… amused? No one speaks for the longest time. Until my dad offers Haze a grin.
“How’s that for a first impression?”
I let out a breath of relief, the fear in my stomach disintegrating. He’s not mad. That’s a start.
“I’m sorry I almost hit you with a baseball bat—Haze, is it?”
“Yeah. And no worries.” Haze gives him a small smile.
There is no way the first real sentence my father ever said to my boyfriend turned out to be this one.
“Are you mad?” I ask my parents, hopeful.
“No.”
“Yes.”
Both answers come out at the exact time.
My father said no.
And my mother said yes.
They exchange glances.
Awkward.
“Can we stay?” I plead.
“Your mother and I need to have a discussion, pumpkin.”
“There has to be a punishment for what you did,” my mother jumps in. “We didn’t raise you to be a liar.”
I bite my tongue so hard not to tell her, You didn’t raise me. Harry did .
“We’ll be right back,” my dad says, and my mom puts Maika down. We watch them distance themselves from us to get some privacy. I know my dad. He never holds a grudge. And if it were up to him, we’d stay. I have a good idea of what their argument looks like right now: my father is trying to convince my mom to let us stay until we find an apartment while she tries to convince him to kick us out.
“Winter’s got a Prince Charming?” Maika’s voice interrupts my spinning thoughts. I glance down at my little sister, only to see her staring at Haze with sparkly eyes. “Are you going to get married?” she says, in awe of him.
Kendrick and Will burst out laughing simultaneously. I can hear them thinking, Haze Adams? Married ?
“I-I don’t know, Mai. Maybe one day.” I huff out a nervous laugh. Haze and I never really talked about this before. He once joked about me being his future wife, but that’s all.
“Why not now? Don’t you love her?” she addresses Haze.
“I do. Very much,” Haze says, and I internally squeal. “But we’re still young. We’ve got time.”
Maika nods, satisfied with his answer. “He’s so handsome,” she tells me, battling her eyelashes at Haze.
“Well, thank you. How old are you, cutie?” Haze smiles, kneeling down to her level. She blushes at the nickname.
“I’m five.” She lifts four tiny fingers to show him, and he chuckles, not bothering to correct her. “Do you want to play dolls with me when Mommy and Daddy are not mad anymore?”
“You don’t have to,” Kendrick says.
“No, I don’t mind. I’ll play with you if they let me stay.”
Excited beyond belief, Maika bounces up and down and jolts around, running toward the toys she left out in the backyard.
“You have no idea what you just got yourself into,” Kendrick scoffs. “There is one thing that kid never gets tired of, and it’s playing dolls.”
Haze glances at me, his eyes asking me to confirm or deny Kendrick’s statement.
“I’m sure she won’t remember it tomorrow,” I reassure him.
“You wish. She still bugs me about last Christmas when I told her I’d play. You’re screwed, man,” Kendrick mocks, and Haze half-smiles. I’m still not used to them being somewhat civil toward each other, but I like this evolution.
My breath leaves me when my parents make their way back to us.
“So?” I ask as soon as they reach us.
“You can stay as long as you want,” my dad says.
Relief is all I can feel. “Thanks, Da—”
“But he can’t.” My mother motions to Haze with her chin.
Shit.
“He has a week to find a place. Then, he’s gone. Understood? And meanwhile, he sleeps on the couch in the basement—nonnegotiable.” A smile tugs at the corner of her lips.
“A week? That’s nothing. Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a decent and available apartment on such short notice? We’ll need more time.”
“Maybe you should’ve thought about that before lying to us, Winter.” My mother seems to be enjoying this moment so much, it makes my blood boil.
“Plus, if he doesn’t find a place, you can still stay at home, pumpkin. You don’t need to move out. Only he has to go,” my father says to ease his guilty conscience. I can tell this decision isn’t his. It’s hers. It’s a wonder he convinced her to let me stay.
“It’s fine. If he goes, I go,” I sigh. Haze did not just leave his entire life behind for me to live alone in an unknown city.
“As for you two—” My mother’s eyes travel to Will and my cousin. “—Maria asked me to take in Kendrick for the summer. Nothing was said about his reckless friend who makes a mess in my house. Kendrick, you can stay, but he has to go.” She points to Will. “I’m sure Florida will be glad to have him back.”
Kendrick stiffens up. “But… he can’t go back.”
“If he can’t afford a plane ticket, I’m sure there are cheaper alternatives,” she suggests.
“It’s not that.” Kendrick’s eyes drop.
“What? Did you two make a blood oath to leave Florida together or something?” I tease, but neither Will or Kendrick reply, seemingly uncomfortable. Why are they being so weird?
I’m about to press them for an answer when my mother adds, “Well, in that case, I hope you’ll have enough space in that new apartment of yours for one more, Winter.”
Wait… did I just get forced into hosting Will for the summer?
“And if I were you, I’d start looking now. Like you said, it’s pretty hard to find a decent available apartment this time of year.” She turns on her heels, pulls Maika with her, and heads for the house.
“I’m so sorry, sweetheart,” my dad says and follows her.
The moment they are out of sight, Haze speaks.
“What a lovely woman.”
Against all expectations, I crack up.
“I told you.” I wrap my arms around his neck and lean forward for a kiss. He circles my waist with his tattooed arm, pulling me into him. For one fleeting moment, I forget that everything went to shit. To my disbelief, I’m not worried. If I’ve got him—if I’ve got this , I’ll be fine.
Yes, the situation sucks. But things could be worse. Getting an apartment was always the plan even if, for some unbelievable reason, my mother had allowed us both to live at home until we got a place. We just didn’t expect to be on a deadline.
Kendrick clears his throat, and I pull away from Haze, sending my cousin a look over my shoulder.
“You know when your mom said she hoped you’d have room in your apartment for one more?”
“Yeah?”
Please don’t tell me he’s going to ask me to…
“Make that two.”
Yep. I just got forced into hosting Will and Kendrick for the summer.
“Listen, we’ll pay for our shit and split the rent. But if he can’t stay here, neither can I.”
You have got to be kidding me.
It only takes one second.
Haze looks at me. I look at him.
He knows I don’t have a choice. They’re family. No matter what.
“Fine,” I give in.
Here I am, on a deadline to find a decent and affordable apartment to live in with the most annoying guys this world has ever known and my boyfriend, who happens to have a short temper. I mean… What could go wrong?
Seriously, Winter?
What could go wrong?
Everything.
Everything could go wrong.