Olivia (43 page)

“
Put some bread in the toaster,”
she says, “and then go take your mom and dad some
coffee.”

“
Kelly!” My uncle’s voice makes
both of us jump.

“
Matty,” she says with a sigh. “I
didn’t know when you’d be home.”

“
You makin’ us breakfast?” he asks
giving her a hug.

“
Yes, how do you like your
eggs?”

“
Over-easy,” he says, coming over
to me after I start the toaster. He hugs me and picks me up off the
floor. I can hear him sniff. “You smell like sweat and men’s
cologne and–” he says quietly in my ear.

“
Is it that bad?”

“
Smells quite good to me,” he says,
setting me down. “So yeah. It’s that bad. Is this Jon’s shirt?” He
grabs a piece of cantaloupe from a bowl on the island.

“
No,” I say loudly, because I’m
sure my parents heard the question. “Go say hi to Mom and Dad,” I
tell him with a glare, letting him know that they’re home. “And
Jon,” I add as he covers his mouth in surprise.

“
I can’t wait to hear this story,”
he says, leaning in to me quickly on his way into the dining
room.

“
Should I change?” I ask
Kelly.

“
It does smell like Jon,” she
admits as if that’s a bad thing. It’s one of the reasons I don’t
want to take it off, though. “If it was me...”

“
I’m going.” I rush back down to my
room, finding one of my favorite sweaters and pulling it on
quickly. Checking myself in the mirror, I look at myself in
disgust. I wasn’t going to lie to them again. This all happened so
quickly, I never even had time to think.

With Jon’s shirt in hand, I go back up the stairs.
“Kelly, you may not want to go in the dining room right now,” I
tell her, breezing through the kitchen.

“
Liv–” she tries to stop me, but
doesn’t continue.

Matty has taken my seat at the table, in between Jon
and Trey. Mom is talking to Nikki, playing with her hair and making
her laugh.

“
Mom? Dad?” Everyone looks up at
me. I look directly at Jon, trying to communicate with my eyes what
I’m about to do. He looks confused, and then grows even more
uncomfortable as my parents turn their attention to him to see what
I’m looking at.

“
Jon, you may want to go,” I
suggest. He puts his napkin on his still-empty plate and pushes his
chair back, standing up. He walks up to me and takes my hand in
his, squeezing it quickly. I let go, but he doesn’t. I look up at
him, wondering what he’s doing.

He’s just waiting for me to continue, and isn’t
going to make me do this alone.

“
This isn’t Kelly’s fault,” I
start.

“
Should the kids be in here?” Matty
asks.

“
It’s fine. Mom, Dad... Jon and I
came home last night after our date and went downstairs to hang out
until curfew.” I didn’t see any point in telling them about the
extended curfew Kelly’d given. “We fell asleep,” I admit. “That’s
all that happened,” I say, not thinking anything we did in my
bedroom was so shocking and unexpected for two young people in
love. I certainly wasn’t going to give any details, but they knew
we made out often. “But we didn’t wake up until...” I look down for
my watch, realizing I didn’t put it on. Jon holds his wrist up to
me.

“
Twenty minutes ago?” he says,
looking at me for agreement.

“
Yeah. It was about
eight.”

“
Nothing happened,” Jon reaffirms.
“It was a long day of packing, and moving stuff,” he says, “and I
guess we were both a little more worn out than either of us
realized.”

“
This isn’t okay, Livvy,” my dad
says. “Two weeks.”

“
Two weeks, what?”

“
No going out for two weeks,” he
asserts.

“
Yes, sir,” Jon says.

“
Okay,” I respond, feeling that his
punishment is fair.

“
Jon, sit down and have breakfast
with us,” Mom says. We both look at Dad, who doesn’t acknowledge
Mom’s invitation, simply putting his napkin in his lap. My
boyfriend walks back over to his seat, and Matty stands to give me
my chair back. I finally catch sight of my aunt’s face, and she’s
completely pale, confused by what she’s witnessing. My uncle walks
her back into the kitchen, and they both return with plates of food
a few minutes later.

After breakfast, I ask if I can take Jon back to his
dorm, but they tell me no. Jon’s quick to tell me he’s fine taking
a cab or a bus. I walk him out the front door, and we both sigh in
relief as we walk down the front stoop.

He starts laughing in disbelief. “Last year’s Jack
Holland would have had me pinned up against a wall,” he says.
“Instead, he allows me to sit at the table and have breakfast with
you. Granted, it was a bit intimidating, but still.”

“
Yeah, and now you get to go home.
I have to go back in for a lecture, I’m sure,” I tell him
begrudgingly.

“
Awww,” he says with mock
sincerity. “You’ll be fine. I’m really proud of you, baby,” he
says, wrapping his arms around me as we hit the street corner.
“That would have been the most uncomfortable meal in the history of
meals if we would have had to continue with the string of horrible
lies I’d been weaving. I wasn’t prepared for this morning,” he
continues to chuckle.

“
I’m glad you think this is funny,”
I say, unable to contain my own laughter. “Is it worth not getting
to see me for two weeks?” I ask him softly, not letting go of him.
I watch his face, waiting for his answer. His eyes look to the sky,
as if he’s remembering our night together.

“
Liv, honey,” my mom calls from the
porch. “Come on. You’re grounded, remember?”

I keep my eyes on Jon until he answers. “Almost. It
was a great night, wasn’t it?”

I kiss him quickly. “The best,” I assure him as we
start to pull away from one another. We both hold on to his dress
shirt, each of us playfully tugging at it as we stare at one
another.

“
Keep it,” he says, letting go. “It
looked so sexy on you.”

“
Thanks,” I say, backing away and
holding the shirt into my stomach.

“
I love you.”

“
I love you,” I return. Jon waves
to my mother before crossing the street, heading toward the bus
stop.

By the time I get to the porch, Kelly and Nikki are
both telling my mother goodbye. My aunt looks worried.

“
Kelly, he doesn’t blame you,” I
tell her, assuming that’s what has altered her mood.

Both she and Mom look at me. Mom smiles warmly. “Go
to your room, Liv. Your Dad needs you.”

I’d known the lecture was coming. I take a deep
breath, put my chin up and go down the stairs, ready for another
uncomfortable talk with my father.

My dad is sitting at one of my work benches on the
studio side of my bedroom, his back to me.

“
I’m ready, Dad.” I see his
shoulders move slightly, but he doesn’t turn around. “Dad?” I walk
up to him, sensing he’s not angry, but something worse.

In his right hand is a picture of me, one that Mom
and Dad had taken shortly after the adoption was finalized. In his
left hand is Teddy. His thumb strokes the corduroy fabric of the
toy’s overalls.

“
I vowed this day that you wouldn’t
date until you were twenty-five,” he says with a laugh. “Emi made
me reconsider. We compromised at twenty-one.”

I put my hand on his shoulder. He sets the photo
down and puts his hand on mine.

“
You’re as good as grown up as
you’re going to get, it would seem. I certainly didn’t think we’d
be having conversations about boyfriends sleeping over while you
were still in high school.”

“
We don’t have to talk about it,” I
suggest. “I know it was a mistake. We didn’t mean for it to happen.
And, Dad, we wouldn’t dream of... you know...” He holds up his hand
to stop me from saying anything more on the subject.

“
I should hope not,” he says. “I
find it disrespectful.”

“
I know.”

“
I’m not that progressive,
Contessa.”

“
I know this, Dad,” I laugh. “I
don’t expect you to be. Especially while I’m still in high
school.”

“
Ever,” he says. “In this house,
never. Not until you’re married.”

“
Okay,” I say, accepting his
rule.

“
Remember when the biggest problem
you had was when Teddy here popped some stitches?” he asks.
“Remember that?”

“
That was a pretty big problem for
me,” I remind him. “I threw fits.”

“
I know,” he says, “but the tears
would be gone in fifteen minutes. Teddy was an easy
fix.”

“
Daddy? I don’t have a problem with
this punishment, if that’s what you think. I’m not going to throw
any fits. I don’t think your rules are unreasonable, believe it or
not.”

“
It’s not
your
problem I’m worried about.
I
have a problem with this.”

“
With what?”

“
All of it.”

“
Jon?”

“
Just... where you two are with
your lives...”

“
Dad, I can’t solve that problem.
He’s not going away in fifteen minutes. And contrary to what you
may think, I don’t think our situation needs to be fixed. I think
it’s pretty good as it is.”

“
I’m sure you do.”

“
You used to like him.”

“
I did, Liv. And I guess I still
do. I’m angry that he’s taken my little girl, but I know he’s a
good kid, deep down. I try not to question him. I just wish things
hadn’t gotten so serious between the two of you. It’s just going to
complicate things.”

“
Like what?”

“
Everything. Every decision you
make in the immediate future... you’re no longer doing things for
you, you’re doing things for you and him.”

“
Dad, that’s not true.” He reaches
into his jacket pocket and produces an envelope, handing it to
me.

Yale Admissions. My hands start to shake.

“
Where’d this come
from?”

“
It was in the mailbox when I
checked it this morning. I guess it came yesterday.”

I pause before opening it, sighing heavily as I do.
Dad stops me, grasping my wrist loosely. “Please, Liv. Leave him
out of this decision.” I look at him curiously, and continue
opening the letter. Quickly, I pull out the contents and scan the
first sentence of the top page.

Dear Ms. Holland:

Congratulations on your admission to Yale
College...

“
I got in,” I tell him somberly,
but a smile spreads across my face naturally.
I
got into Yale.
He stands up and hugs me tightly.

“
Contessa, I am so proud of you.”
His grin is bigger than I’ve seen it in a long time, and that makes
me sad. I don’t want to disappoint him, but I’m not going to go to
Yale. I
can’t
.

“
Did you pull strings,
Dad?”

“
Absolutely not,” he tells me. “You
did this on your own, Livvy.”

Genuine excitement rushes over me, and I let it. “I
got in!”

“
Are you happy about this? I can’t
tell,” he says, looking surprised.

“
Happy?” I temper my response. I’m
happy, but I don’t want to get his hopes up. “I mean, I have
options, so...”

“
Options?”

“
Yale, Parsons and Columbia.” I
remember back to last night’s conversation with Jon about Columbia.
I was one-hundred-percent certain that I wanted to go to college
with him before our date. Regardless of the fight we had, it only
nudged that percentage down to, like,
ninety-eight-percent.

“
Wait, what?” he asks as if he
didn’t hear me. “You’re going to consider it?”

“
Sure.” I nod to reiterate my
point.
There’s a two-percent
chance.

Quickly, he comes over to me and hugs me again, this
time lifting me up off the ground. He hasn’t hugged me like this in
so long. “I’m so proud of you, Livvy.” It sounds as if he’s choked
up. I hug him tighter.

“
What’s all the commotion?” Mom
asks, coming into my room with Trey and Matty in tow.

“
Our baby got into Yale, Poppet,”
he says with a sigh of relief.

“
You did?” Mom asks. The excitement
comes back, seeing the anticipation in her eyes. My feelings, my
face, they betray the eventual choice I have to make. I didn’t
think I’d care one way or another with Yale... but I’m happy I got
in, too. “Honey, that’s great!” She joins our hug.

“
You’re going away to school?” my
little brother asks. My mom and dad let go of me, waiting for my
answer.

I look at them both, thinking my answer is obvious,
but I guess they still need to hear it. I kneel down on the floor
to talk to Trey. “Yeah, buddy, I’ll be moving out, no matter where
I go. I’ll come see you all the time. Maybe every weekend, who
knows?” I hold out my arms for a hug, waiting for him to join
me.

“
Can I have her room, Daddy?” he
asks. I pick up a pillow off the floor and throw it at him as he
starts to laugh.