What I Should Have Done ✓

Chapter 17

Without a goodbye, I pressed the red button on my phone and dropped it on my bed. Just lovely. I hated fighting with Dad and rarely did. This time, though, he had made a mistake: he had insisted again that I go to my mom's for Thanksgiving.

"I specifically told him," I complained to Jessica who was lying on her stomach on her bed re-reading parts of A Handmaid's Tale for her Contemporary Canadian lit midterm. "And he's springing this on me—what? On Friday? Five days before the break?"

I knew this wasn't entirely true. Dad had asked me earlier, but never would I have expected him to override my veto.

"It is almost dinner time, so technically four." She earned herself a stern look. "Are you really going to stay here?"

"I don't have a choice if I'm not going to my mom's."

It was unlike my dad to ignore my explicit wish. Had my mom made him?

"Would it be that bad?"

I shot her a glance that answered her question.

"Okay, what about friends, then? You know I'd invite you in a heartbeat if we weren't staying at Martin's grandparents' place. But other people may take you."

I sighed. "I don't have any other friends, Jessica."

She rolled over onto her side and put a hand to her hip.

"What? Of course you have other friends. Linh? John? Devin? And what about Liam, anyway?"

"Linh is staying on campus, I don't know Devin that well and he is flying home to Seattle, and John would be taking his girlfriend if he's taking anyone. Plus, I can't invite myself to someone's family holiday."

"Not invite yourself, but you can always ask," Jessica insisted. "After all, this is kind of a tiny emergency, no?"

I rolled onto my stomach and dropped my face into the pillow, grunting in frustration.

"And anyway, again, what about Liam? I'm sure his family would love to have you, and he would be ecstatic."

"I know." My voice came muffled through the pillow before I lifted my head slightly. "I'm not ready to officially meet his family in this new role."

"Speaking of this new role...," Jessica began, then closed her mouth, considering her words. "How are things going between you?"

"Fine, why?" I replied automatically.

She arched an eyebrow. "The soccer game the other week?"

Oh. That. "It was nothing, it was stupid." I was hoping the discussion would be over.

"Which is it, nothing or stupid?"

She placed a piece of paper on the current page and shut her book. The discussion had only just begun. Ugh. The thing about a best friend was, they knew you so well that they knew just where to poke.

"It's not worth talking about in detail. Long story short: I was being touchy, he was being jealous. But we resolved it." I think.

"Does he have a reason to be jealous?"

The fingers of my left hand involuntarily flew to my right wrist. Thoughts of the other day, of John's fingertips searing the delicate skin in that spot, pushed their way to the front of my mind. My voice came out slightly hoarse. "I would never hook up with someone else behind his back, you know that."

"That's not what I'm asking. Are you happy with Liam?"

Happy? What was 'happy' anyway? I was content. He didn't make my heart race whenever he was near, but I was comfortable with him. This was real life, not a movie. It was unrealistic to expect this grand, flashy, confetti-raining love story. And no one said he had to be my forever person. Even if he was caring and attentive and responsible and sweet.