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Yup. Long mother-effing weekend of terrible torture, here I come.
My sister will never know just how much I sacrificed for her to keep her special day special.
CHAPTER 6
Gabriel
Sisston has a big welcome sign right outside the small town. It’s located off an exit and down a road lined and littered with potholes that Pearl dodges with expertise—expertise that’s probably born out of navigating it for the better part of her life.
“I lived here until I was eighteen,” she says, not looking at me. She swerves to miss another pothole, then stops at a stop sign in the middle of absolutely nowhere. She actually looks in all four directions before she continues on. “It’s not big. Only six hundred people. I graduated with Dean and fourteen other kids, and we were a big class.”
“It looks nice.” The houses and the yards really do have that quaint, small-town feel. Everything is neatly manicured. The yards are cut, people’s houses have porches, and flowers add splashes of color in pots and flower beds.
“There aren’t any sidewalks except on the main street, which has like ten businesses. It’s got the usual restaurant and bar, post office, town office, and gas station combo. The school is brick, and it was a hundred years old two years ago.” Pearl pauses for a breath. I notice how her hands tighten on the wheel just a little. “I never appreciated growing up here until I moved. Not fully, at least. Not until I got to the city. No one knows each other’s name there. The traffic is crazy too, and it’s easy to just get lost. You can’t do that here. At first, I really liked it, but after a few years, it’s nice to take a break and come home for a weekend.”
“Even if your parents hound you to death?”
“They do that when I’m not here too.”
I was trying to be funny, but I notice the way Pearl’s shoulders hunch up. She’s nervous. We must be getting close. My suspicions are confirmed when she pulls down a short driveway off to the side of a medium-sized gray, two-story house. The siding of the house looks new. There’s a porch overhanging the front door, and copious amounts of flowers are spilling out of pots wherever you look. It’s a corner lot, so the yard is quite large.
“This is nice.” I mean it, but Pearl shoots me a dirty look.
“Please don’t mess this up. I know it would probably be funny and serve me right, but my sister would never forgive me, and I doubt my parents would either. We’re in this now. No backing out.”
I nod solemnly, a little wounded that she still doesn’t trust me, but then again, she’s also known me for all of a few hours. I get that a lot is riding on this for her.
The stakes ratchet up a few notches when half a household cracks the red front door and spills out onto the porch and lawn. I can tell right away before I even get my seatbelt off which ones are Pearl’s parents. They’d stand out in a crowd as related to her since they have the same features. Pearl’s parents both have darker hair and darker eyes. I can see that even from where I am. Their facial features are a mix of Pearl’s, or I guess it should be the other way around. Both her parents are still quite trim, and her dad looks fairly athletic, even now. Her mom is quite pretty, and she looks rather astounding with a blue and white polka dot sundress on.
I spot Pearl’s sister right away too. There are five other women out on the lawn, but Susan stands out. She’s beautiful too, with darker hair and the same hazel eyes Pearl has. I notice this because she’s walking towards the car, staring intently at both of us.
The whole world freezes on the front lawn the second I open the car door, and I’m reminded that Pearl didn’t warn anyone she was bringing a plus one.
For a second, it’s like the entire world is holding its breath, then it’s released, and everything explodes into action.
Pearl’s parents come running. I really mean, running, over to us. I slowly edge around the front of the car to stand by Pearl. Her whole posture is rigid, almost like she’s waiting for the sky to open up and send a lightning bolt straight down to fry her for even thinking of lying to her family. I loop an arm casually around her waist and tug her gently to my side. A shiver rips through her, but it’s probably fear since her parents are now just a foot away.
Standing at the edge of the driveway and gaping at us in astonishment, their faces are literally frozen with shock, but it quickly melts away to such immense pleasure, anyone would think they’d just won the lottery or something.
