"Look, what happens in this apartment, stays in this apartment," I said, laughing as the opening theme song came on for the popular teenage show we were all hooked on.
Brad laughed and started to say something, but Dan shushed him, making me giggle. After earning a dirty look from him, I covered my mouth with my hand.
Brad winked at me and I smiled at him. At times like this, Mason's rejection didn't hurt quite as much.
***
I was still thinking about them the next day as Mom and I spent a quiet holiday alone. Mom fixed a small turkey breast for us, while I grudgingly entered the kitchen to make some of our favorite sides. When dinner was over, I cleaned up the kitchen so Mom could grade the stack of papers she had dragged home for the long weekend. Once the kitchen was done, I sat down at the table with her so I could catch up on schoolwork. We stayed up late, working at the table, not talking much.
The next day, we were both done with our schoolwork and hit the kitchen together after sleeping in.
"Have you talked to your dad lately?" Mom asked as we were fixing leftovers.
"Last week. Why?" I asked, trying to ignore the way my pulse quickened.
"Did he mention Christmas?"
"No. Why?"
"He wanted to know if he could come spend the holidays with us," she said, looking at me critically, well aware of what I was thinking.
"What about Mason?" I asked quietly, slathering mayo on my bread.
"He said Mason has his own plans for the holiday," she said.
My heart dropped and I fought the urge to curl up in a ball like the weakling I had turned into. "Okay," I said, turning to leave the kitchen. I dropped my sandwich in the trash on my way to my room. Blindly, I closed the door behind me before collapsing on my bed.
As a rule, Mom and I did not discuss my puffy eyes the next morning, and I vowed to not shed another tear over Mason. I spent the last two days of break catching up on laundry and packing up the rest of my childhood stuff.
"You know, maybe finishing the year at UCLA wouldn't be a bad thing," Mom said, joining me my last evening at home.
"I already told Amy I'd be sharing her apartment come January. She's counting on me to help split the bills," I said, tossing a couple of my favorite childhood stuffed animals into the box marked "attic." "Besides, I'm already preregistered there and I handed in my withdraw papers to UCLA."
"I just thought, with the whole Mason thing, you might've changed your mind."
"Seriously, Mom, my transferring wasn't based entirely on him. I want to be closer to Dad for a while, and if that means moving halfway across the country, then so be it."
"And what about Mason?" she asked.
"What about him?"
"Well, he's bound to be there, and you're going to bump into him."
"Well, I don't run from my problems like other people I know," I spit out, hating that the same thought had plagued me.
She sucked in a deep breath at my words.
Sighing, I sank down on the edge of my bed. "I'm sorry, Mom. I know he's going to be there, but I have to stop making decisions solely based on him."
"I know, sweetie," she said, kissing the top of my head. "Why don't you leave these and we can go grab a bite to eat. You can finish going through this stuff when you come home for Christmas break."
"Okay," I said, abandoning the quilt I was folding.
***
Carol was already in our dorm when I returned late Sunday evening.
"Hey, you're late. I was beginning to worry."