“What are you going to get next?” Samantha asks.
“The infinity symbol for Julien and me,” Renee declares.
I lower my gaze, knowing all the disturbing things Julien has said about the picture of me. Samantha tells her about it, but Renee brushes it off, claiming,boys will be boys. It leaves a bitter taste in my mouth, but if they’re happy, why should I project and harm their relationship?
“You’re meeting Conner’s parents after school, aren’t you?” Zarya asks me.
“Uh… yeah.”
“Are you nervous?” Renee asks. “I remember meeting Julien’s parents for the first time. I hid in his room the entire time. Whenever I wanted a drink, I made him get it while I stayed there. If I needed to go to the toilet, I made him come with me and stand outside their door.” She laughs. “Funnily enough, there wasn’t a lock on the door because of Julien’s baby brother, so him standing there helped a lot, or else a toddler would have walked in on me peeing.”
“Oh, my gosh!” Samantha barks.
I smile, listening to all their horror stories. Conner has a younger brother and a sister. Will there be no locks on their bathroom doors? What if I really need to go to the toilet? Do I hold it in and hope for the best? The thought of pooping in their toilet makes my organs turn to jelly. I shouldn’t eat at their place if I need to go. Then, what if they have one bathroom, and they’re waiting for me to leave, and then there’s no air freshener, so the next person who comes in would know I used their bathroom?
On second thought, I should cancel. I obviously didn’t think this through, and now everything Renee and Zarya are saying is drilling into my head. What if I make a fool of myself?Say something insensitive or don’t shake Conner’s dad’s hand properly, thus sending me into exile.
Samantha taps my shoulder. I jump out of my dark and brooding thoughts and turn to her smiling face. “You will be fine,” she says.
I smile, feeling less on edge because of her.
Conner waits by his car.I sit inside, put my bag on the ground, and clutch my phone. We pull out of the car park, and my heart is beating loudly… much louder than “Puppet” by Thousand Foot Krutch playing on his playlist.
“Oh, Noya, can you make sure you have December thirteenth off, please?” Conner says over the song.
“Why?”
Conner leans forward, turning the song down a notch. “I’ve planned a date for us.”
“What date?” I persist.
He smiles mysteriously. “Now, baby, why would I tell you that? You will have to wait.”
I glare at him, which he notices while looking out the window, because his smile broadens into a grin.
“Okay, I will give you a hint. You need to pack a suitcase.”
“Oh… suitcase…” I grimace.
We will go somewhere, but where? It will be overnight if he wants me to pack a suitcase. I’m not particularly good at figuring these sorts of things out, and the clue isn’t a very good one about what we are doing. I now know that whatever we’re doing will involve staying overnight somewhere.
Now I’m nervous.
His hand touches my thigh. He squeezes reassuringly and says, “Is that keeping your mind off meeting my parents now?”
“Sorry?”
“You were in thought almost all day,” Conner explains. “There was one moment when we were playingDungeons and Dragons,but other than that, you were in your head.”
“Oh…” I bite my lip and then admit, “I’m scared to meet them and do something embarrassing.”
“Don’t worry about it. My mum and dad will be too busy with Charlotte. You will see them briefly, and we can go to my room and chill.”
“Then it would look like I’m hiding from them,” I murmur.
Conner breathes a laugh and says, “We will hide from them because we will be kissing the entire time.”
I nudge his arm, the heat crawling down my neck. “I’m not going in the room, then.”