“I haven’t been that drunk since that recruiting trip to Northwestern where I did beer bongs and Goldschläger shots. If I remember correctly, I got written on with magic markers that night, too. I guess it had been so long that I needed to cut loose.”
“You getting drunk again tonight?” Wolf asked.
“I might be convinced to have a few,” I said with a smile.
“I’ll go get the first round,” Tim said.
When he left, I turned to Wolf.
“You okay with him and Gina?” I asked.
“Yeah. It was over. Should have been over months ago, but she laid the prom thing on me, so I stuck it out,” he admitted.
Speak of the devil. Gina came walking in with her sister Kara. I got an ear-to-ear smile on my face as Kara rushed forward into my arms. Stacy had no idea how to kiss compared to Kara. Wolf and Gina looked on in awkward silence until Tim came back.
“Get a room, Dawson,” Tim joked.
We broke our kiss, and I looked her in the eye.
“Want to?” I asked.
“Yes, but don’t you have a party to host?” Kara asked, being way too reasonable.
“You guys can handle this,” I said to Wolf and Tim.
“Not happening,” Tim grumped.
“Play with her later,” Wolf added to reinforce that I wasn’t going to get out of my role as greeter.
They both smirked when I turned to see if they were joking or not. Then I thought better of it. I did have some responsibilities tonight.
“Maybe after,” I suggested.
“We’ll see,” Kara said as she led Gina into the party.
◊◊◊
When the majority of the people had arrived, I gave up my greeting duties to sample the food, get another beer, and mingle.
I did catch some exciting news. My social media girl, Lily Harris, had enrolled at UCLA. She’d been involved in the incident that got me sent to my uncle’s farm for the summer after middle school. While Lily was in college, she would continue to work for Frank at the PR firm and help with my social media. It was best that she did because I soon lost patience with the idiots. Lily had a knack for defending me without making me come across as a jerk.
Sun Ling, the girl who had been homeless and lived with us for a while, had gotten a scholarship and was headed to Illinois State in the fall. She wanted to get her degree in Mathematics Education and become a teacher.
Jan Duke, Yuri’s girlfriend, was headed to Southern—a noted party school. Jan confided in me that she was sure she and Yuri wouldn’t survive the separation but had decided she needed to take charge of her life. She’d done a lot of growing up with Yelena’s help. Jan would do just fine.
Lisa Felton, who had been my strongest rival for the title of the biggest slut in our class, had received grant money and would be enrolling at State. She wasn’t sure yet of her field of study but was excited about moving into the dorms in the fall. Lisa shared with me that her brother was still cancer-free, which made me happy. Like Jan, she was becoming an adult who had turned her life around, reputation-wise.
Dare Rossetti and Chrissy Schumann both planned to go to State. She would move into a dorm, and he was going to live at home. I expected Chrissy knew that Dare would be off to MIT or some other nerd school once his mom was comfortable with him going to college. With Chrissy’s help, he would do okay at State. Dare wasn’t a cowering introvert anymore. He was still socially awkward, but I suspected that would never change.
Chrissy planned to work on a degree in International Relations. She wanted to work in the State Department Foreign Service with the hope of being an ambassador, eventually.
Stacy Clute gave me a hard time about making out with her last night. I was glad she didn’t think it was anything more than a little fun. I was happy to hear that she’d been accepted into the School of Visual Arts in New York City, one of the top art schools in the country. She’d had to send them a portfolio of her work to get in. I introduced her to Kara so she would know someone besides Jill Lacier who would be living in the same city. I told Stacy to call Kara if she ever needed anything.
Afterward, I asked Kara to check in with her. The transition from where we lived to New York could be both jarring and daunting.
◊◊◊
Kara and I never hooked up, to my disappointment. I would’ve enjoyed one last playdate.
The best news of the night was that I’d managed to avoid Cora, Pam’s sister.
◊◊◊
Chapter 35 – The Lucky One? Sunday May 14
Today was Mother’s Day, which meant a family outing to Granny’s West for breakfast. My cousin El made sure she sat next to me.
Mary was featuring pecan pancakes, so most of our group picked that. Before our meal came, all the mothers received cute cards. After church, they were all getting a day at the spa.
“Do you still plan on marrying me when you get older?” I asked my cousin.
“You wish,” she shot back with more spunk than I remembered. “Dad said I should wait until I’m thirty to start thinking about stuff like that,” she grumped.
“That’s probably the best plan. That way, you’ll have figured out exactly what you want,” I assured her.
She leaned in close so only I could hear her.
“Are you really going to be James Bond?”
“I’m going to be his son. It’s way cooler. I’ll be Bond, Ian Bond,” I said dramatically.
“Will you have to kiss a lot of girls?” she asked.
“Maybe a couple,” I admitted before pausing and teasing her. “I might have to force myself.”
“You should probably practice. My mom and sister said they would help you,” El said.
“El!” Julie and Aunt Tanya chastised her.
Uncle Jim looked askance at his wife. This wasn’t awkward at all.
“They were just teasing you,” I said to play it off.
Thankfully, Dave dropped some of his pancakes on the floor and let out a yowl. He’d been grumpy all morning, so I jumped up and got him out of his high chair. There’s a saying that ‘no good deed goes unpunished.’ He needed to be changed.
Peggy accompanied me because only the women’s restroom had one of those wall-mounted changing tables that you flipped down when you needed to use it. We discovered what Dave’s problem was. I couldn’t wait until all of them were potty trained.
Once he’d been changed, Peggy looked up at me and gave me a kiss.
“You’re a good dad. I’m glad that you decided to adopt Dave.”
“Is it official yet?” I asked.
“Last I heard, it should happen this coming week.”
“Are you all set with transferring to Pepperdine?” I asked.
“I’ll have to sit out a year. But I’ve been considering not running anymore. Since I’m on my own and a single mom, I qualify for financial aid. With what the charity is paying and what you pay me, I don’t need the athletic scholarship.”
“If you ever need anything, you can ask either my parents or me, and we’ll take care of it,” I assured her.
I wished her parents felt the same way.
“Are your mom and dad still giving you a hard time?” I asked.
“They’re not happy that I’m moving to California. It seems to be something new every time I see them. In your graduation speech, when you said to listen to yourself and not others because they have their own agenda, that really rang true for me,” Peggy shared.
“I’m glad you got something out of it. My uncle gave me the analogy of crabs in a bucket. You don’t have to put a lid on a bucket of crabs because when one tries to climb out, the others pull it down. He told me that you need to surround yourself with like-minded people, not crabs.”
“That makes me even more certain that I need to move. The change will be good for me. I also look forward to living in the pool house with Ashley and Scarlet. We single moms need to compare notes and stick together,” Peggy said.