Julian thought it was pretty cool that I gave up my car, and he agreed to help me keep it a secret from our parents. My mom and dad would not be okay with the kind act of giving away a thirty thousand dollar payday, so I told a huge lie and said I didn’t win. Luckily, they’re so busy with the restaurant that they haven’t found out the truth. I don’t think they’ll go looking for it, either. They recently started going to couples counseling and seeing a financial advisor, so hopefully they will be getting their problems sorted out soon.
I take one last look in the mirror to confirm that I look pretty good tonight. The other day at school Abby said I looked cute in green, so I immediately went to the mall and bought a dark green button up shirt which I’m wearing with my black jeans. I look sharp. Hopefully she notices.
I’ve visited her house a few times, usually just to pick her and her sisters up for dinner at Caputo’s or to hang out and watch TV with her while her grandmother does this thing of peeking in on us randomly while trying to make it look like she’s not peeking in on us. Her sisters are nice to me but Abby says they’re just putting on a show because they like me. She swears they are little monsters when I’m not around. Abuela is nice too, and she’s always giving me this sweet look of approval. My parents never give me that look. So I can get used to it at Abby’s house.
I turn down her road and almost miss her house because I don’t see her Jeep in the driveway at first. It’s blocked in by a black car. I guess it’s a friend or something. But when I walk up to her front door I realize the horrible mistake I’ve made.
It’s not a friend.
It’s her parents.
“Well, hello there.” A tall man with dark brown skin and graying black hair answers the door. He looks me from head to toe and then grins. “You must be the boyfriend?”
“I, uh—”Did Abby say I’m her boyfriend? I want to be, don’t get me wrong, but we haven’t officially become official or anything. I don’t know if I should confirm this or deny it. Is this some kind of Father Trick designed for me to fail?
Abby appears behind him. “Pleasetell me you’re not scaring him away, Dad.”
He steps backward and frowns. “Aw, come on! My oldest daughter has a boyfriend now. It’s a rite of passage. I’m supposed to be mean!”
Abby rolls her eyes. “Mark, just ignore him.”
I know better than to ignore a girl’s dad. I extend my hand. “It’s nice to meet you, Sir.”
After surviving the parental introductions, I walk Abby to my car and open the door for her. “You’re such a gentleman,” she says, giving me a cute grin. “But my parents aren’t watching us through the window or anything.”
“I don’t care if anyone is watching,” I say, reaching up and sweeping a few strands of hair across her forehead. “You’re my girl and I’ll always open the door for you.”
With the sun setting in the distance, it’s hard to tell if she’s blushing or if it’s just the sun making her face glow. I grin as I walk over to my side of the car.
“So where are we going?” she asks as I drive out of her neighborhood.
“It’s a secret.” I give her a wry smile. “You look beautiful, by the way.”
This time I know for sure that she’s blushing when she smiles and looks out the window.
“So I’m guessing when you had to get off the phone earlier, it was because your parents got home?”
“Yep,” she says, looking back at me with wide eyes. “It was unexpected. They weren’t supposed to come home until Thanksgiving, but they got a last minute flight for cheap and decided to come see my new car.”
We’ve only talked a little bit about how her parents have been in Mexico, so I don’t know many details about it. “Now I feel bad for taking you out. Should we go back?”
She shakes her head. “They’re cool. They mostly just want to rest and hang out. They’re staying all week because my mom’s sister had a week off work so she went down to Mexico to help out while my parents are home.”
“That’s good.”
“It’s only been a few months since I’ve seen them but my parents look so different. My dad’s hair is going gray and—” She stops suddenly, looking back out the window. “Sorry, that’s boring.”
“No it isn’t,” I say, sneaking a glance at her while I’m driving. “I like hearing about your life.”
“It’s just dumb family stuff,” she says.
“So? I want to hear it. I want to know everything that’s on your mind.”
I can feel her looking at me. I glance over and she’s smiling up at me. I wish I could lean over and kiss her. Or run my hand through her hair. Or pull her close to me. But I’m currently driving so that’ll have to wait until we get to the ice skating rink. The owner is friends with my dad and he’s letting me have access to the rink all night. If all goes according to my plan, it’ll be pretty romantic.
We talk about her family and how she and her siblings are living apart from their parents for the foreseeable future. It’s easy to see that Abby loves her sisters, and it’s also easy to see that she’s exhausted of taking care of them. Hopefully hanging out with me is a welcome distraction. I know I sure enjoy the time we spend together. When I’m with Abby, I don’t stress about my parent’s problems. I don’t think about Julian and his immature antics. I’m just happy. Every single second I spend around Abby, I’m happy.
“That app has buried itself into my soul,” I say with a snort of laughter. “Every time you do something cute I get this weird urge to take out my phone and give you a kudos.”
