what are you going to say to
hippie chick? aren’t you supposed to be like her boyfriend very soon dunno
damn, ur more of a player than me
familial advice: mom edition
Gael didn’t go out and talk to Sammy, despite Mason’s persistence. In fact, he was still in his room when his mom got home just past five. After a minute, she knocked on his door.
He sat up. “Yeah?”
“Can I come in?” she asked.
He sighed. “Sure.”
She walked into the room, glanced at the movie, which was almost done, but she must have figured he wasn’t that into it because she smiled and leaned against his closet. Her eyes weren’t puffy today. Good for you, Gael thought bitterly.
“I never got to hear about your Halloween,” she said, as she absentmindedly folded a T-shirt that was thrown across his computer chair.
“It was fine,” he said with a dismissive shrug.
She set the T-shirt down and crossed her arms. “You’re awfully quiet. And you were last night, too. Is something wrong?”
Gael stared at her. He wanted, so badly, to yell. To tell her that, yes, sometimes it felt like everything was wrong, like their whole family was ruined, that he could never really have faith in love again. He wanted to tell her, finally and honestly, just how much the divorce was breaking his heart. He wanted to ask why in the world she’d decided to leave his dad.
But he couldn’t. He’d made a promise.
She smiled mischievously. “So Dad tells me you were meeting some mysterious stranger who goes to UNC. Is she nice? What does she study? I want to hear all about her.”
“I don’t really want to talk about it,” he said.
And he didn’t. But especially not with her.
“Oh, come on,” she said. “You gave me all the fun details when you were first dating Anika.”
It was true, he had. Because she’d seemed so sad and broken up from the split, and because the two of them had always been pretty close, and because it seemed like in that first month, all he could do to try and make her happy was to talk to her constantly, to tell her every little bit about his life, to be her distraction.
He’d felt so bad for his mom. But now he knew the split was all her doing.
“I don’t really want to talk about dating with you, Mom,” he said.
She threw her hands in the air and smiled sheepishly. “I know, I know, I’m your boring old mom.”
But he shook his head. He sat up in the bed, grabbed the remote, and paused the movie.
He took a deep breath.
“I know that you’re the one who ended things with Dad,” he said finally.
Her jaw dropped. “How did you—”
“Dad told me. It’s not his fault,” he rushed to add. “I forced his hand. I thought he was cheating and he had no choice but to tell me the truth.”
She put her hand to her mouth, then dropped it again. “Oh, Gael,” she said. “Oh, sweetheart, I’m so so sorry.”
“Don’t,” he said bitterly.
“Just let me explain—”
“I don’t want to hear anything you have to say,” he said. “Dad already said enough.” And he rolled over to face the wall until he heard the door close and his mom’s steps down the hall.
scenes from a chapel hill high school hallway
The next morning, Gael walked briskly through the high school parking lot and toward the building’s double doors. He wanted to catch Mason at least a few minutes before class started. He was eager to tell him about confronting his mom, and he didn’t really think emoticons would do the convo justice. But Gael was later than usual, which meant that he had only a couple of minutes at most to talk to Mason, and the thought of waiting until chemistry seemed unbearable.
The halls were already swelling with students. In the main hallway, Danny caught his eye and waved, but Gael just gave him a quick nod and kept walking. Mason knew his parents better than anyone else from his friend group. Gael was hoping Mason would find a way to somehow make it all okay.
But as he pushed through clacking lockers and giggling freshmen, getting closer to Mason’s locker, Gael saw Anika standing with Mason down the hall. Gael stopped short, causing a brawny football player to run into him, cursing.
“Sorry, dude,” Gael said over his shoulder and then trained his eyes on his friends.
Anika’s hands were balled up at her sides. “That’s not what I meant!”
Mason stood stock-still, looking utterly and completely lost. “But why else wouldn’t you want to hang tonight? We had it all planned out. I even got reservations.”
Gael remembered what Mason had texted last night. Was Anika really that mad that Mason had assumed they’d hang out that night? Sure, she was independent, but it seemed ridiculous, even for her.
“I just said I changed my mind, okay? I’m allowed to change my mind.”
“I know, but I don’t see why,” Mason pleaded.
Anika shook her head and stepped back. “You know, maybe this isn’t working, okay?” And she flipped around and stomped straight toward where Gael stood frozen, watching it all play out.