“Are you wondering what it’s like not to date a douchebag?” I asked, and we both laughed.
“Something like that.”
My phone buzzed in my back pocket. I glanced down to see a text from Clyde letting me know there was a fight tonight, which meant it was an opportunity for me to make some cash.
“Come on. It’s getting dark. You need to go face your mother and stop hiding.”
She rolled her eyes, but I didn’t miss the smile. “Fine. Thanks for letting me hang out here today.”
“I’ll tell you what. You get Sherman to stop texting me eight hundred times a night and throw in a decongestant for his nasally ass, and you can come out here whenever you want.”
She laughed as she continued to walk beside me.
“You’re an ass, Jett Stone. But I’ll answer his texts if you don’t mind me napping on your hammock every now and then.”
“Deal,” I said, pausing at my bike and waiting for her to get in her car.
“Are you afraid I’m going to stay out here when you aren’t here?” she teased as she opened the door to her car.
“It’s getting dark. You shouldn’t be out here alone.”
She cocked her head to the side and smiled. “Who knew you were such a gentleman?”
“No one. Let’s keep it that way. Get going.” I slipped my helmet on as she climbed into her car.
I motioned for her to pull away as I waited.
“So bossy,” she shouted out her window through her laughter, before pulling down the dirt road.
I followed her until she turned right, and I turned left.
It didn’t matter that we lived on different sides of town.
Turns out shit happened no matter where you lived.
Chapter Eleven
Adelaide
There was a knock on my bedroom door after I’d showered and dropped down at my desk to stare at the essay question again. I closed my laptop.
“Come in,” I said. My mother had house rules. You never walked into a room without being invited in. She said it was all about being proper. Coco made fun of the silly rule and was convinced my mother was some sort of haughty vampire which always made me laugh. The Edingtons respected privacy and it was one rule I didn’t mind.
“Hey,” Mama said, standing in my doorway before she walked in and dropped to sit on my bed. She smoothed my comforter with her hands because she couldn’t help herself. The woman was always tidying up and making everything look perfect.
“Hi.” My stomach twisted. Had Coach Hansen called her? Did she already know I quit cheer? Either way, I’d need to tell her myself.
“So, I wanted you to know that I spoke to Mama T, and we are both very disappointed in Alec’s behavior.” She crossed her arms over her chest and her mouth remained in a straight line. Like the fact that she didn’t approve of my boyfriend sleeping with another girl was something I should be impressed by. Seriously?
“Okaaayyy. Good to know.” I pulled my knees up on my desk chair and wrapped my arms around them.
She nodded. “I do understand why you’re angry. It’s good to make him suffer for a while.”
I closed my eyes and sucked in a long, slow breath. “Suffer for a while? Mama. It’s over. I don’t want to be with Alec anymore. Why is that so hard for you to grasp?”
“Don’t be silly. It’s a bump in the road, sweetheart. You are both going through a lot of change. Getting ready to start college, leaving your high school and your friends. But you and Alec will be together. You’ll support one another like you always have.”
I fought back the lump in my throat. She didn’t get it. “Why don’t you want more for me?”
She gasped and her hand flew to her chest. “What? Why would you ask me that? I want everything for you.”
“Mama, I don’t want to be with a boy who cheats on me. And honestly, I’m not that sad about our breakup, which makes me wonder if I was with him for the right reasons in the first place. Maybe I was with him because you told me to be with him. Because it was expected of me. I don’t know if Alec and I really even know one another. We’ve just been together for so long—and we’re changing. And that’s okay. But I want more. I want someone who only wants me. And I want things for myself that I never stopped to think about before.”
She pushed to her feet and ran a hand over her perfect dark chignon. Not a hair was out of place. “Tell me what you want, Adelaide.”
“I don’t know exactly, but maybe I want to go to a different school. Major in journalism or creative writing.”
She rolled her eyes so dramatically I thought they might stay stuck up on the ceiling. “Oh, please. You’re clearly just having an outburst because Alec made a mistake. Life is messy, my dear. Things happen.”
I covered my face with both hands in frustration. Had she always been this close-minded? Just then my father stood in the doorway and of course he knocked even though the door was open.
“What’s happening in here?” His smile instantly relaxed me. My anger almost dissipated. He had a way of doing that. Daddy was kind and fair. Honest and loyal.
“Well, our daughter is deciding to throw everything she’s worked for away. All because of Alec’s little indiscretion. Now she doesn’t know what she wants to be or where she wants to go to school. You can’t jump ship every time things don’t go your way, Addy.”
I stared at my mother like she had three heads. Was she actually saying this?
“I think Ladybug is seventeen years old and she’s still figuring out life, and that’s okay,” my father said.
“Thanks, Daddy.” I nodded.
“No, Ellis. We are not doing good cop, bad cop. That’s not fair to me. We had a four-year college plan for Addy, and we aren’t throwing it all away because she and Alec hit a bump in the road.”
“Mama. Are you actually hearing what you’re saying? That’s not what this is. I’m not even that upset that Alec cheated on me, because in hindsight, I don’t think we were all that happy. And he didn’t cheat on me once, he cheated on me multiple times. We never had a plan. You had a plan for me. And maybe it’s not one that I actually want. That should matter, right? What I want should matter? This is my life. I should be able to choose where I go to school and who I date and what I want to be when I grow up.”
My father nodded before Mama turned to glare at him.
“Where is this even coming from? You never had a problem with any of this before.” She paced in little circles in front of me. “I’ve already got Clem fighting me every step of the way. Can’t one of you just go with the flow?”