Slugger

11: In the old 'Mento

                  

When I was younger, we had this substitute teacher that asked us to describe one of our parents in one word. I chose to describe my dad as weird and the teacher thought I was kidding. But when he picked me up later that afternoon, I'm pretty sure she agreed.

Any time I see my dad, it reminds me of that moment. Especially right now since his pants are bright pink.

"Mac! Ken!" He says, his beard jiggling a little bit. I don't know how he does it but he manages to hug us both and complete this complex and very unnecessary hand shake at the same time. "Welcome to the old 'Mento!"

McKinley eyes him carefully, trying to hide a smile and not really succeeding. "It's nice to be here, Pops. Ken and I were discussing how much we were missing you a few weeks ago,"

We were?

He looks at me for confirmation, his eyes shining and I don't have the heart to tell him that I have no clue what she's talking about, so I just smile and nod like a sheep. It seems to work because he pulls us into a tight and lengthy hug before bustling us over into his car.

"How are you two doing?!" Dad asks after McKinley and I fight for who will be sitting up in front. She wins of course, and I'm stuck seeing the back of her head for the journey. 

"I'm good," She says, sounding far from good. "Work's been busy, there's been a tick infection outbreak and all the animals have them,"

My dad pulls a face in the rear view mirror that McKinley chooses to ignore as she goes on about the trials and tribulations of being in veterinarian school. It takes me a while to remember that I have headphones and really don't need to listen about cat related urinary tract infections.

"It's all worth it though," She rounds off when I'm jamming out by myself. "I'm starting an internship in August for a year, and afterwards I'll finally be able to get an actual job."

There's a long pause, accompanied by my dad deciding to turn up the radio and my attempts of listening to music become futile.

"So, um, Kennedy... how's your life?" He asks, voice strained. Something tells me he doesn't really wanna know about it.

I shrug. "Going good. I got into NYU and –"

He frowns and sucks in an insanely sharp breath. "Isn't that a little...far?"

"I know, right?" I say beaming. "It's between there and Brown but they haven't answered me yet and I'm pretty worried about it but mom says I shouldn't be because you're an alumni," I yawn.

Dad doesn't say anything for a while, stewing on what I've just said and hurting my eyes in his bright pink pants. "You still wanna be a plant person?"

I roll my eyes. "A botanist, dad. And yeah, kind of, I think plants are cool,"

McKinley snorts and turns to me in my back seat. "People who think plants are cool are literally the least cool people on the earth,"

"Go play with your ticks," I retort quickly. She glares, looking me up and down before a sly smile appears on her face.

"Dad, Kennedy has a boyfriend."

Oh shit.

The car swerves a little and a few cars behind us honk loudly. "Kennedy has a what?! You're lying to me, right?"

McKinley and I make eye contact through the mirror and she gives me the smuggest smile ever, acknowledging the fact she has just ruined my weekend. "I'm not lying, I saw them – actually, you remember my friend Anaya, right?"