I went the entire Sunday without hearing from Beau.
I even texted him to see if he was alright, but he never answered. So I just decided it would be better if I gave him some space for the day.
Even though I was worried about him, I didn't want to seem overbearing. It was a weird situation.
Monday morning I went to the gym, back to the apartment to eat and shower, and then to my classes for the day. All of which were boring or made me want to cry.
I guess it was good to have balance.
I walked out of my United States history class when my eyes stopped on someone.
There he was.
Wearing a t-shirt, sweatpants, and glasses. I didn't even know that he had glasses.
I started walking faster so that I could catch up to him.
"Hey." I touched his shoulder.
Beau turned around. "Hey, you."
"How have you been? I almost felt like I was being ghosted." I began
"Sorry about that. I was hungover and then my dad was in town for a business meeting. We had lunch yesterday, he was on my ass about shit, I drove him to the airport." he briefly explained.
"Thanks for everything on Saturday night. I probably should've texted, but you know. I was just in autopilot mode." Beau added.
I nodded my head. "No problem."
"I have Integrative Neuro in fifteen minutes, but do you wanna go to Sunshine's tonight? Think of it as my thank you." Beau suggested.
Their chocolate cream pie sounded so good right now.
I gave him a small smile. "I would love to, but I have to go to my parents' house for a photoshoot. Archer is in town."
Beau grinned. "Ask him if he remembers me."
"Can we go to Sunshine's tomorrow?" I asked him.
"Yeah." he agreed. "Does eight work? I know it's kind of late, but I have conditioning and practice until seven."
"That works." I agreed.
"Cool." he just looked at me. "I'll see you later then. I gotta get to class. Bye, Natty."
I chuckled. "Bye, Maz."
I walked to my apartment, did my hair and makeup, and put on the navy blue dress that my mom picked out.
Everyone was dressed in blue and white. What better color was there to wear when your dad was running as a Democrat?
I grabbed my heels and started the thirtyish minute drive home.
There were two extra cars in the driveway. I assumed that they were photographers. or videographers.
"Is that Neely?" my older brother's voice called out.
He walked out of the dining room wearing a navy suit with a white tie. Archer was my dashing and athletic older brother. He was tall with curly sandy brown hair and brown eyes.
When it came to foundation shades, Ashton and I were warm honey, Tate was classic tan, and then there was Archer who was easily beige (unless it was summertime or baseball season).
We were quite a diverse set of siblings.
"Is that my future Yale law student brother?" I held out my arms and he hugged me
Then he started roughhousing.
"Hey! Hey! Hey!" my mom clapped her hands. "Wrestle after we take pictures."
"Nat, that dress looks amazing on you. You and Tate are matching colors." she complimented me.
The boys had on navy suits, but my dad had on this geometric tie that made him stand out. Tate and I both had on navy dresses - well hers had white flowers all over it. Then my mom was wearing a white dress.
We cleaned up nicely.
Our family took pictures in the formal living room, outside, and a few candid shots. We even got to take pictures with our two Australian Shepherds named Babe and Ruth.
We did family interviews talking about our day, saying how proud we were of him, and all of that fun stuff.
It took damn near four hours in total.
We ended the night with pizza from our favorite place. We hung out on the patio while we ate then after a while my parents went out.
My siblings and I watched an episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine while we caught up.
"I think I'll just drive back to campus in the morning," I said to my siblings as we sat on the patio. "When do you go back to DC, Arch?"
"Tomorrow afternoon, but don't worry I'll be back in a couple of weeks for Thanksgiving," he assured us
Tate yawned. "I'm gonna go take a shower. I have play practice in the morning. Arch, are you going to be here for my play? You have to! I'm Ariel in the Little Mermaid."
Tatum was an actress, dancer, she even ran track when she felt like it. She did it all.
"I'll be there, Tay. I wouldn't miss it for the world," he assured her. "I'll come to tuck you in a bit or are you too old for that now?"
She shook her head. "We can go over my lines. Night, A-NAT."
A-NAT was our sibling group chat name it stood for Archer, Natalie, Ashton, and Tatum. It was our thing. I joked that I carried our sibling group, because hello? Nat was one of my nicknames.
"Night, Tate." we all chimed.
I looked over at Archer. "Do you know a Beau Aydin?"
"Everyone who plays college baseball knows of fucking Beau Aydin. We did hang out together when Georgetown went to Nationals a year back." Archer responded.
I frowned. "What is that supposed to mean? The everyone knows him part."
"Beau is at the top of everyone's draft predictions. I wanna be like him. Arch could've been like him, but he wants to be a lawyer." Ashton said lawyer in a funny voice.
I chuckled. "Hush before he beats your ass"
Archer took a sip of his wine. "There's more to life than sports, Ash. But yes, Beau is a beast on the field. He's definitely going to the MLB. Why?"
"He's her new little boy toy." Ashton spoke.
I hit my little brother's arm. "Shut up!"
"There's nothing big brothers hate more than hearing about their little sisters and boys." Archer fake gagged.
"He just wanted to know if you remembered him. He remembers you. He had good things to say about you too, Arch." I informed him.
"Hmm." he hummed. "Beau was cool."
I had no idea that he was that big. Maybe I should pay attention when my family watches baseball.
"Did you know that his dad is this big-time doctor in Texas?" Archer informed me.
I stood up. "I did. I'm going to bed. We'll talk more in the morning."
I went upstairs to my room. I showered and then got into my bed with my laptop. I found Beau's dad.
His name was Fabian.
He didn't have a Facebook or anything, but his picture was all over the website of the hospital he worked. He had some similarities to Beau which was to be expected.
Fabian was his father.
I tried to look up 'Beau Aydin, Lauren', but nothing came up. I searched for about five minutes before I started to feel bad. I wanted to know, but I wanted to know from him.
Beau and I sat at our usual booth at Sunshine's Diner. I got my tenders and he got his melt. As always, we got a chocolate cream pie to split.
"Are you ready for the Halloween party this weekend, Sandy?" Beau questioned me.
I nodded my head. "I got my outfit all together. We're going to look good."
"Oh, my brother does remember you." I remembered. "My little brother thinks that you're some kind of baseball God."
Beau chuckled. "Ashton, right? Does he play?"
"That's his name. He does and his number one goal is to go to the MLB. He wants to go to Vanderbilt, but that might change, you know." I sighed.
"What?" he stole one of my fries.
"If my dad wins. I feel like Vanderbilt would be very conservative." II responded.
Beau nodded his head. "I mean it so-so, it depends who you surround yourself with. It probably would be an adjustment since he grew up in California."
"I read up on your dad's policies. He's pretty cool. He has my vote." Beau mentioned. "You don't have that heart thing, do you?"
My Dad had Long QT (a heart syndrome) and a lot of people said he was unfit to be President because of it. Of course, it wasn't true.
I shook my head. "It missed all of my siblings. We get checkups every six months.'
'Well, that's good." he went back to eating his food. "I promise I won't get drunk this weekend."
Oh yes, drunk Beau.
"About that," I began. "When I picked you up, you kept calling me Lauren. Who is that?"
Beau's eyes got big, he stopped chewing, and he sat up straight.
"Natalia, there's a lot of things you can ask me and I would give you the answer. But please, never ask about that again." he spoke sternly.
He never called me by my first name.
Noted.