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She shrugs, and then finally takes a bite of her toast. Then with a mouth full of food, she replies. “Alright, I’m in.”
17
GISELLE
“Iliterally thought places like this only existed in movies and books,” Steve says to me as we step off the plane and enter the airport of my hometown.
I shrug at him and walk ahead. I want to talk to Steve as little as possible.
He’s quick to catch up to me and hold my hand. As we walk, a few people stop and take pictures of me, but thankfully, none of them are trying to approach. Especially since I don’t have Lonnie or Bryan with me. I don’t think I would be happy knowing that I took them away from their Christmas.
Steve squeezes my hand as we walk, both of us dragging one suitcase behind us. “You gotta talk to me at some point,” he says.
“Iamtalking to you.”
I am also sick to my stomach because I’m worried I’m going to do something that upsets him. It would be so easy for him to use my family against me.
“Yeah, but I don’t think—”
“Steve?!”
We both snap our heads up, and I have to admit that I’m totally confused. How in the hell does somebody at the Quincy airport know whoSteveis? He’s not the one who used to live here.
Steve grins wide when he notices an attractive man walking in our direction with a smile on his face, too. Behind him is a tiny woman, wearing a jacket with the hood on and sunglasses like she doesn’t want to be recognized.
The two men hug as the woman and I stand here awkwardly.
“What the hell are you doing here, man?” the guy asks my boyfriend.
“Spending Christmas with my girl’s family!” Steve says.
His friend looks at me, then his eyes widen. “Giselle Cosgrove?”
“Um, hello,” I say.
“Wow, I can’t believe it actually happened!” he says, holding out his hand. “So good to meet you! Steve talks about you nonstop. You are like, hisdreamgirl. I’m Kenneth.”
I take his hand and shake it. Then I plaster on that fake smile that I’ve gotten so good at lately. “That’s sweet. Nice to meet you, too.”
“What areyoudoing here?” Steve asks Kenneth. The woman behind him is still saying nothing and looks like she would rather be anywhere else. It looks as if she is in a similar situation as me.But what do I know?
“Dude, I told you, I have work here. For now,” Kenneth explains. “But I’m headed home for the holiday, with my friend here, Alexis.”
Alexis nods her head at us and raises a hand in hello, but doesn’t speak.
I wave back at her. “Hello,” I say.
Steve gives her a big smile, then looks back at his friend. “Well, it’s kinda like we’re trading places, then,” he jokes.
“Kenny,” the girl warns.
Kenneth winces. “Well, have fun here. It’s cold as hell, and there’s nothing to do! No offense, Giselle. I grew up here, too.”
“We both left for a reason,” I say. Now that I look closer at him, he does look a little bit familiar. I think he might have graduated from Quincy High the year before I started.
“We have to go catch our flight. It was good seeing you guys. Merry Christmas.”
“Merry Christmas!”
