Don't Say Anything

28. Family

He puts the car into drive and takes off away from campus.

We spent the first twenty minutes arguing over what music to listen to. Although I am a fan of Guns 'N Roses and Aerosmith, the majority of my phone consists of Coldplay, Ed Sheeran, and Snow Patrol. Will is convinced that Greenday is the best thing since sliced bread and I can't seem to understand why. Any rock band that's been formed in the past twenty years cannot possibly live up to the standards of the 70s and 80s. We end up compromising with Panic! At The Disco and Fall Out Boy because they're rock enough for Will and actually have clever lyrics.

The rest of the trip we sing along to our favorite songs and talk about nonsense. I steer clear of anything involving his family for fear of wrecking his good mood. I always feel like I'm walking on a tightrope when I talk to him. I can't wait until Ethan is out of the picture so Will's nerves can calm down. Then, maybe he'll open up to me about his life in California. But honestly, I don't know if I want to know. 

"The gray one with the two big bushes on the right," I tell Will as we turn down my street. I have butterflies swarming around in my stomach and I'm not sure if it's because I haven't seen my family in a while, or because I'm introducing them to Will.

My house isn't small, but it's definitely not big, especially for the amount of people that live in it. There are five bedrooms. Now that I'm out of the house; one's a guestroom, one belongs to my parents, Ana and Willow share a room, and the triplets have one room they all sleep in and another they use as a playroom. Will and I are both going to be in the guestroom, but it has a pullout couch that I'll sleep on. I haven't mentioned that to Will yet. I'm praying he doesn't mind being in the same room as me. I don't have a plan B. 

There's less than an inch of snow on the ground, which is more than we had southwest of here, and small snowflakes still fall occasionally from the sky. It's like a thin blanket of white covers everything in sight making it all sparkle in the light. It's postcard perfect.

Will pulls over to the side of the road right in front of the house and kills the ignition. I unbuckle my seat belt and open the door, but Will stay frozen in his seat.

"We don't have to be invited to go into my own house. Come on." I open the door even further, but Will doesn't move. His face looks grave and concentrated. What could he possibly be so upset about? We were just laughing about Professor Moore's abnormally large mustache not two minutes ago. 

"Will, what's wrong?" I look over at the house where he's staring but no one has noticed our arrival yet. If it weren't for the car in the driveway, it could be mistaken as empty.

He snaps out of his trance and runs his hands through his hair. Okay, so he's either angry or stressed. I don't why he would be either.

"They're going to hate me," he whispers almost to himself. Those five little words break my heart. He's got to be used to meeting new people. He's moved across the country and worked his way up in a very competitive business at the age of only twenty-one. But for some reason, he worried about my family not liking him?

"They are not going to hate you."

"Yes they will."

"Why?" I'm honestly curious.

"I can make friends at school because people think my sarcasm is funny when I'm really just telling the truth. I can make friends at work because I intimidate people into being nice to me. I can make friends with my bosses because I'm damn good at my job. I can't make friends with normal everyday people. I don't even know what to say."

It seems like all of his anxiety about this trip has just hit him now. He's so overwhelmed and he has no reason to be. With nine of us in the house, I doubt they'll even give us much attention.