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Jesse’s games last year with him too.”
“Yeah, but that was before it was out of the can. Right? That they had dumped you.”
Swallowing over a tight knot in my throat, I willed my body to relax. I couldn’t dwell on what they’d done or even the last time I had talked with them. I’d been healing since coming to Grant West. I intended to keep healing. My parents would not have that power over me anymore. I refused to allow myself to relapse back to the slightly crazed state I’d been over the past summer.
Beth punched her cousin again. “Hannah, you’re being really rude. Watch what you’re talking about.”
“What? I’m just trying to get all the facts straight. Mute Girl here doesn’t say two bits to us all year. She finally opened up and I’m capitalizing. She knows all my embarrassing stories.”
I grinned. “You and Jamie. Fond memories.”
“Shut it.”
Reaching over, I snagged the binoculars from her. “Not that I don’t understand, but like Beth said, I’m a little sensitive with some of this information being talked about like it’s the weather.”
“I’m being a friend.”
“You’re being nosy and you know it. Stop it.”
Hannah stuck her tongue out at her cousin before she slumped back in her chair.
Hip hop music blared in the gymnasium and the crowd stood. Excitement started to build. The players would be coming out. They didn’t do grand entrances, not like some teams, but I knew when they came the place would go crazy. And as the air filled with deafening cries, I was right. Jamie was the first on the court. Not a shocker. Jesse trailed towards the end. His head was bent to the side as he was listening to something a coach was saying. His hand was on Jesse’s shoulder. The two passed where my parents and Jesse’s family was sitting without any acknowledgement of them. I knew that’d been intentional. He never enjoyed when Malcolm went to his games.
Hannah fanned herself with the program. “Holy, Alex. Why are you not sleeping with him again?”
“Sssh!” Beth hushed her, looking around us.
“No one can hear over the screeching.” Hannah shook her head at the crowd. “I think that woman over there pretended to have Jesse’s baby and give it to him.”
“You don’t want your stuff broadcasted so stop broadcasting Alex’s business.”
Her cousin rolled her eyes. “You just don’t want me to talk about your stuff. And you’re scared because I’m happy.”
Beth explained to me, “When she’s happy, she’s chatty. About everyone else except whoever’s screwing her.”
“I’m happy. So sue me.”
I frowned at both of them. I was starting to think I should’ve come alone, but then I tuned them out. They bickered throughout the entire game—when it started, during the halftime, and towards the end. It wasn’t the normal dynamic. I was used to Beth’s silence and Hannah’s anger, but now Hannah was happy, giddy almost, and Beth didn’t like it. As Hannah kept asking me questions about my relationship with Jesse, I was starting to understand her cousin’s reluctance. She was nosy.
As the buzzer ended the game, we’d won by ten points. Jesse had been fouled and earned eight of those himself, but it’d been a close game.
“That was fun. I’m excited for this year.” Hannah was all smiles as we followed the crowd from the stands. When we got through the stairs that opened onto a wider area behind the stands, I started for the players’ door. Hannah called after me, “Hey!”
I turned around. This was the part I hadn’t shared with them. “Hey, uh, I’m going to go and say hi real quick.”
The two gave me similar looks. They were dumbfounded.
Hannah frowned. “You’re going to what?”
Beth was smarter on the uptake. “What are you really doing?”
Well, here we go. “Jesse didn’t ask me to come to the game. He asked me to go to dinner with them.”
Hannah’s mouth dropped while her cousin prodded, “With everybody everybody?”
“His dad. I’m assuming the girlfriend.”
“And your parents?”
“Holy fuck! I can’t believe you’re going to do that. Are you kidding me? Why did you even break up with him?”
I’d been asking myself the same question, but then I remembered the pain in his eyes. I succumbed every time so I only shrugged. They wouldn’t take that as an explanation. “I have to. Jesse and I are family.”
“You two are so confusing.” Hannah spun around in a tight circle before she stalked off.
“Forget her.” Beth moved closer so we weren’t crushed by the crowd.
“Is she leaving you?”
She shrugged. “Dorm’s two blocks from here. I’ll be fine.”
“Well.” This hadn’t gone how I expected it. “Come with me. Maybe Jesse got more people to go to dinner.”
“Sure.”
I grinned as Beth fell in step with me. With her suddenly chatty cousin gone, she seemed to have returned to her quiet ways. This was the friend I was comfortable around. And as we turned the last corner and went down the back hallway and headed towards the waiting area, I was glad she’d come. I hadn’t admitted to myself all week, but seeing my parents again was threatening to send me into another cycle of pain and misery.
When we stepped through the last door, I was surprised to see Tiffany and Kara beside my parents. They were in dressed with high heels. The hair and make-up was done so both looked stunning. A girl stood in the far corner, dressed similarly to them. I glanced down at myself. Jeans and a tank top. Jesse hadn’t said where dinner was going to be, but I should’ve known. This was Malcolm Hunt. He only went to the most expensive restaurants.
My gratitude for Beth’s presence went up another notch. She had dressed the same as me.
“Alexandra!” Malcolm threw his arms out and swept across the room to me. He embraced me in a tight hug and squeezed. “It’s so good to see you again. It’s been years.”
When he let me go, I nodded. “Yep. The day after Ethan’s funeral.”
“That’s right. His funeral.”
“You weren’t there.”
“Oh.” His welcoming smile fell. And he took a step back. “That’s right. I was…” His eyes widened as he remembered. It’d been the next morning when his girlfriend found her car had been keyed. She went to Malcolm, who stormed into Jesse’s bedroom. We’d still been sleeping. “Well.” He twisted and glanced at the new girlfriend, who stood with my parents. “Well then. It has been a while.”
I nodded. That’d gone exactly how I expected.
“What are you doing here?”
I glanced over, surprised at the hostility in Tiffany’s tone as she addressed her cousin. I spoke for her, “I asked her to come.”
“Why?”
Blinking at the scathing look she gave me, my eyes then narrowed and my chin tightened. “Because I wanted to.”
“Jesse said you were coming for dinner.” Malcolm’s smile resurfaced. His eyes twinkled as he nodded. “That’s wonderful. Have you two continued…your…um…you know?” He moved closer and lowered his voice so my parents wouldn’t hear.
“They found out before Christmas,” Jesse spoke for me. Unlike his father, he was tense and trying to drill holes into his father from across the room. He was dressed in a Grant West blazer over jeans. Freshly showered and tired from the game, his cheekbones were more striking than normal. He gave off an air of danger. It sizzled among everyone and they grew silent, watchful as Jesse jerked forward a step. His hand was clenched around his bag.
“Oh. Well.” Malcolm laughed at himself. “Cat’s out of the bag, hmm?”
