My real home.
Kevin: Maybe the next time she drags you to church you can pray for some kind of divine intervention and you won’t have to go.
Me: I would have taken an apocalyptic ending over today.
Kevin: That bad?
Me: She talked about her SEX LIFE. Her. Sex. Life. With my father.
Kevin: I’m not laughing, I swear.
Me: Ugh! Fuck you! I’m going to search for a new friend when I get home.
Kevin: Ha! Yeah right.
Kevin: Okay, I may regret it, but curiosity is killing me. What tortuous old lady tales did she tell you? Does she have a swing? Tell me she has a sex swing.
Ana: I hate you.
Kevin: Spoilsport.
Ana: Okay, fine. I’ll send you pictures of her in her lingerie. I’m sure you’ll see some old lady boob.
Kevin: I’d go blind. Fine. You win.
Ana: I always do.
Kevin: When do you get in?
Me: I changed my flight and I’m now leaving right after Christmas rather than staying the whole break. I said I wanted to spend New Year’s with friends.
Kevin: That’s awesome.
Me: So, I leave in two days and got the earliest flight out of here. I should be home before dinner.
Kevin: I can’t wait to see you. Miss you, A.
Me: Miss you too.
Kevin: Merry Christmas Eve.
Me: Merry Christmas Eve.
Kevin: You come home today!
Me: Praise Jesus, Halleluiah.
Kevin: Did Shayla brainwash you with all that church?
Me: Ha. Ha. She wishes. Save my poor Catholic soul.
Kevin: Heathen. I bet she prayed for you every night. May the devil depart her body.
Me: Ha. Ha.
Me: Don’t ever repeat it, but she wasn’t that bad. I still hate her for taking my mom’s place in my dad’s life. But I guess this time, she wasn’t bad.
Kevin: Mum’s the word.
Kevin: You okay?
Me: Yeah. Just ready to get home.
Kevin: Anyone in particular picking you up from the airport?
Me: My mom.
Kevin: How about I come get you? Save her the trip.
Me: You don’t have to.
Kevin: I want to.
Me: Okay. Thanks. I’ll let her know.
Me: I’m going to tackle-hug the shit out of you.
Kevin: I’ll be sure to brace myself.
Me: Change of plans, I’m coming home today!
Sean: Hey Babe! That’s great. What time will you get in?
Me: I should be home before dinner.
Sean: Cool. Maybe we can get together before school starts back up. You know how it goes. Super busy with family over the holidays. But I’ll make time for my girl.
Me: Thank you. And I would love to see you.
Sean: Miss you.
Me: Miss you too.
Chapter Fourteen
Kevin
The beginning of the year seemed to fly by. Ana and I had hung out the night she got back from Tennessee, but since then it had been sporadic. On New Year’s Eve, my family had traveled to Columbus to spend it with my aunt and her family. It was fun, but the whole night I’d missed Ana.
The tension that had spiked before Christmas break with Sean had simmered down. He came over before school started to talk it over and hang out. We’d handled our problems like men and duked it out on the PlayStation. By the end of the night, we’d snuck a couple of beers from the fridge and downed them while we ate pizza.
Since then, everything had gone back to normal. Thank God, since the soccer season had started back up and we needed to focus on being a team.
“Nice shot, Harding,” Sean shouted from the goal. “I felt bad for the other three you missed so I let that one go in.”
“You couldn’t have stopped that if I told you what I was doing before I did it. And those other three were just warm up for that ass whooping I just gave you.”
“Too bad you need a warm up. I’m hot right off the press. Just ask Ana.”
I let the comment roll off my back because in our conversation earlier he’d let me know that things were moving slow with Ana. There wasn’t much “hot” going on when they were together. I ran backward toward center field and flipped him off. “Fuck you, Hearst.”
“You wish. When’s the last time you got laid anyways, Harding? You desperate enough to let a man do that job for you?”
“If I was, I wouldn’t be coming to your little sissy ass.”
“That’s enough, boys,” our coach interrupted from the sidelines. “We going to play soccer or bitch at each other?”
Sean wasn’t wrong, however. It had been a while since I’d gotten laid, or gotten any action at all. It was April and the last time I’d hooked up had been in March. It had been the first game of the season, and she was from the opposing team’s school. I’d figured I wouldn’t have had to see her again.
It hadn’t gone well. It hadn’t even started well. I let it happen because she came on strong and I was depressed watching my teammates couple up. I hadn’t seen Ana all week and there she was at the game, giving all her attention to Sean. Which was what she was supposed to do since he was her boyfriend. It hadn’t stopped me from being jealous.