NED
Once Chad escaped the parade line, the whole gang was back on the road, heading to the Hines household. Ned chest was tight, but he needed the pinch to know this was all really happening and he was covered in chills. He was squeezing Sam's hand a bit too hard as his heart pounded bruises on the inside of his chest. Looking out the window, Ned noticed Jason and his brother catching back up.
Originally, the plan was for Sam to grab The Gregor and run... it was a gutsy move to assume Sam would try to save the gnome after that fight... but Ned knew Sam as well as Sam knew him. He just had faith.
"Our parents are back," Sam said, squeezing Ned's hand back.
Eventually, they arrived on a desolate street like any other. All the neighborhoods in their town were beginning to blur together. Chad parked and they all started piling out. Ned put one foot on the ground and a mob rushed him, breaking him apart from Sam.
"You bastard man!" Nisha shouted as her and Addison rushed for him. Ned backed into the car with a thud and shimmied off the side as the parents arrived too, peppering them with more and more questions.
The footballers noticed the cheerleaders and they immediately picked a fight. "Mind your own business," Rex said.
"The Gregor is our business!" Addison insisted. "Get a life!"
"Get a better mascot!"
Nisha snapped, "Eat glass!"
The fight was louder than it was important, devolving into stuff about the bad blood than anything actually going on in the moment. Sam's parents were on him, listing everything he's done wrong all night and how he needed to be more mature and how they needed to get this night behind them. "I now understand why my father had a stroke at forty," Sam's dad said.
As soon as Ned's parents saw John, they were aghast, realizing he must've had something to do with this too. John started a fight with them too about keeping secrets and defending Ned. John shouted, "This is ridiculous! Ned didn't do anything wrong! Stop making him feel bad because you did something shitty in high school!"
Their mother gawked.
Margaret stomped to the Hayes, lamenting over being abandoned again and again. "THREE TIMES!" By far, Margaret was the loudest. "YOU FORGOT ABOUT ME THREE TIMES!"
"Maggie, please," Sam's mother begged, "We can't do this right now."
"Four times! You're trying to ignore me again. I'm your kid too and you have to look at me too. You have to deal with me too."
This seemed to be news to them, and she let them know how upset this made her. Her parents still found a way to blame Ned for it, but Margaret wasn't falling for it anymore. "Ever think maybe you should take responsibility!"
They made faces like they rather she slapped them.
Ned was going to get whiplash from looking back and forth and getting his attention snatched up every half a second. It was an unbearably overwhelming pile on, and Ned had enough. He raised his free hand, still clutching The Gregor close to his chest as Nisha tried pulling him by his legs.
"ENOUGH!" Ned shouted, but he still didn't have the floor. He shouted again, louder this time with his full chest. "ENOUGH! I'm talking now! Enough!"
Climbing up onto the curb, Ned addressed the crowd, despite trembling and flushing and feeling like this could all fall apart. He just straightened his shoulders. "I have to do this. I have to see the end of this, okay? It's right there!" He pointed to the house behind.
"The house is right there!" Ned laughed out of disbelief. Even he couldn't quite believe it. "Everything I've worked for is right there." He looked at his parents. "I get it. You guys don't understand me. You probably think this is crazy, but I need you to just support me, okay? I need you to just understand that this matters to me and accept it."
"I know you need this," Ned told the cheerleaders. "I'm not gonna apologize for taking him because if I was sorry, I'd give him back by now. I'll do anything to make this up to you and if there's no way..." Ned shook his head. "Please hate me forever. I deserve it."
Ned turned to Sam's mom. "You might not believe me when I say that I love Sam... but I don't need you to believe me." He glanced Sam, half smiling. "As long as Sam understands me."
"I love you too," Sam replied.
"Ned..." Ned's mom took a step away from the crowd. She shook her head, obviously not recognizing him anymore. "You're right. I don't understand you. I don't understand any of this... but if you have to, you have to. And you'll explain it to me when you're done? You'll finally come home when you're done?"
"I will."
"Well," Indie said, motioning him away. "Go then."
Ned nodded. He looked to Sam and offered his hand. "I'm not going without you."
Sam moved out of the crowd and reached for Ned's hand, pulling himself to Ned's side. They walked up the sidewalk to the small one-story house. The garden was well kept. Little Christmas lights were hung, flickering in and out. Ned had to keep reminding himself to breathe.
They arrived at the front door, but Ned's arm felt too heavy to lift.
He asked, "What if no one's home?"
"There's a car in the driveway," Sam said.
"Some families have multiple cars."
"I can hear the TV."
"So? My parents leave the TV on in case of robbers. It's almost Christmas Eve. They could be visiting family."
"Ned, it is Christmas Eve."
"Oh, right."
Sam squeezed his hand. "Do you want to knock together?"
"Yeah." Ned nodded and Sam lifted his fist, waiting for Ned to do the same. Taking another deep breath, Ned mirrored his boyfriend and together, they knocked on the door. The TV inside paused, and Ned's heart slammed into the middle of his chest. He held onto Sam for dear life, or his legs were going to give out.
The door opened and Ned immediately stood straight up.
"Hello?" An older woman said. She was pocket sized with spindles of white curls among the gray all over the place. She had soft eyes, framed by wrinkles, and she wore a really comfortable looking bathrobe covered in candy canes. Something in her air said she had memorized lines from children's books and knew how to make excellent cookies.
When she realized two people were standing there, she picked up the glasses hanging from her neck and put them on. "Oh? Hello? Can I help you?" She tilted her head to spot the sizable crowd in her front lawn. "Is everything alright?"
"Um, yes," Ned spoke up, but he had to clear his throat. "Sorry to bother you. Everything is okay. Uh, I'm Ned and this is Sam."
"Hi." Sam waved.
"Hello," the woman said. "Um, we haven't met, have we?"
"Oh, no ma'am."
She nodded, still not understanding and Ned couldn't blame her. She said, "Well I'm Jeanie. What can I do for you?"
"Is uh Greg home?" Ned asked.
Her eyebrows raised. "Greg? I'm sorry. Uh, he's not home." She smiled a bit sadly and Ned sunk a little too. He looked at Sam and back at her, unsure how to feel or what to do.
"Okay, well..." Ned held up The Gregor for her and before he could explain, she gasped and pressed her hands to her chest as if her might explode.
"Oh, my goodness, is that really?" She held her hands out to touch it but wasn't sure if she could. "Is that my little gnome?" Ned handed it to her immediately and her eyes sparkled from the tears and the lights. "I can't believe he's still in one piece. A little chipped, but still kickin' it." A laugh fluttered past the tears as she continued to shake her head. "How? Where?"
She shook her head. "I just can't believe it."
Closing her eyes, she held it close. She let out a relieved breath as if she had been holding it for a really long time.
"Um, can we ask for the story behind the sunglasses?" Ned asked.
She laughed. "That was Greg and his brother, Michael. They get along just fine now but when they were younger, they fought constantly. As a way to get back at Michael for some silly fight, Greg stole his sunglasses and superglued them to my lawn gnome. He put the gnome at the very front of the yard so Michael would see it as soon as he got home."
"Really?" Ned laughed.
All this mystery and it was something so simple? And yet, Ned couldn't stop smiling, even when his cheeks were beginning to ache. Sparks were whizzing off Ned's edges as he kept looking over at Sam, asking with his eyes, "Can you believe it? Can you? "
Honestly, Ned could listen to Jeanie talk for hours. "But how did it end up being what it is? Why did Greg take it to school?"
"Oh, he never liked the Chipmunk mascot..." Jeanie tilted her head. "No, it was more than that. He said The Gregor was lucky and if you want something, the more supporters you have in your corner is better, right? Like you're stacking your odds. You feel more encouragement that way. Did you feel it help you?"
Ned slipped his hand back into Sam's. "Yes."
"Then, it still seems to be working."
She looked down at The Gregor again and then, back up at Ned. "Greg is in Seattle right now. He couldn't make it home for Christmas this year because of his job and I..." She got a little choked up and Ned couldn't help himself. He rested his hand on her shoulder and tried to comfort her. She put her hands on his back. "I miss him very much and it's been an especially hard year. You don't know what this means to me."
"I just wanted to bring it home. Consider it a Christmas present."
"I can't wait to call Greg. He's not going to believe it either. How did you even find him?"
Ned smiled. "It's actually a funny story..."
#
NISHA
Standing back, Nisha watched the woman Ned spoke to go from smiling to crying to laughing and crying again. She held onto The Gregor like it was something precious and Nisha lost the will to fight. She rested her head on Addison's shoulder as the night sunk into her skin.
The footballers from Ned's school seemed satisfied too. The leader waved goodbye to Ned's friends, promising to see them all after the winter break. "Merry Christmas everybody," he wished them and they all got back into their car and left.
Nisha said, "You know, I wonder how much lawn gnomes cost."
Addison hummed in thought. "I don't know, but it can't be much."
"I already own super glue."
Picking her head up, Nisha smiled at her girlfriend. "Let's go."
Addison took her hand and they started for their car. Turning around, Nisha called to Ned's friends. "You tell that idiot Ned Flowers that I better never see him again or else!"
"You got it!" The girl of their group gave a thumbs up.
"Drive safe!" another one called out as he waved.
#
GRIFFIN
Griffin watched the cheerleaders go in fascination. They were going back and forth, trading ideas and plans to make a new Gregor. The taller blonde one said something that made the short girl laugh and when she wasn't paying attention, she got kissed.
The tall one looked triumphant until the other pressed a kiss to her lips right back. Then, they were both shy and giddy before driving off. Must be nice.
Ned's mom broke Griffin out of his daze. She looked at Lena and Indie. "Why don't you kids go ahead and go home? Ned will call you tomorrow."
Lena nodded. "Does that mean Ned's not grounded?"
She smiled. "He'll call you tomorrow."
"Okay."
Awkwardly, Lena grabbed Jason's arm and they fell back. Indie looked at Griffin and let out a long sigh. "I guess, this is the end of the night."
"I guess so," Griffin said. He could tell there was more to that statement, but Griffin had to go first. He had to get this off his chest before he lost the nerve. "Indie..." He was suddenly nervous. "I have to tell you that I actually enjoyed tonight and if you don't think I'm the worst person that has ever existed, I want to see you again."
"I don't think you're the worst," Indie said, smiling at Griffin like they just saw something they liked.
"Then, if possible, I'd like to see you again today, tomorrow, and possibly the day after that."
"Griffin, what are you saying?"
"I'm saying..." Griffin was about to say it and then, he remembered he wasn't good with words. So, he put his hand on Indie's shoulder and pressed a soft kiss to Indie's lips. Nothing but the softest, gentlest touch. It wasn't a kiss just to kiss Indie. It was something Griffin was trying to say without words. A feeling. Griffin was feeling a lot of feelings tonight and it was all pouring out of him.
Leaning away, Griffin stayed close and held his breath, waiting for Indie's reaction. Indie shook their head, smiling, which was a good sign. Indie said, "You just broke rule number three."
Rolling his eyes, Griffin gave Indie a withering look. "Are you joking?"
"I am not, Griffin Thomas, but I do think you achieve some much needed character development tonight." Indie took Griffin's hand and lifted it, palm facing up. "And for that, I think you earned this..."
From Indie's small purse, they revealed Griffin's cellphone and placed it on Griffin's palm like it was a pedestal. Griffin gasped, immediately checking to see if there was any life left. The screen flickered on, and Griffin found quite a few missed calls from his parents and finally, a text from his mom that read:
"You're probably mad. And you have a right to be angry. We've had bad ideas your dad and me, but this one takes the cake. I miss you. I love you. Please call me back. We're never ever doing this again."
Griffin smiled and closed his eyes, overwhelmed with the relief his parents were missing him at all. There was a text from his dad too. They missed him and he realized all the hurt he had been feeling was the way he missed them too and he regretted telling them to leave him home.
But then, it hit him. He gawked at Indie's smug face and their bright and shiny audacity. He raised his voice, throwing his arms out. "You're telling me you had this the whole time?! That it wasn't in Barbie's car?! You could've given it to me from the very start?!"
Indie just continued to smile and put their arm around Griffin's shoulders. Leading Griffin back to Jason's car, they said, "You can either choose to be mad at me, or you can come spend Christmas with me, Lena, and our family? How's that sound?"
Grimacing, Griffin just sighed. "Fine."
"Wonderful."
"Are we going to talk about the fact you kissed me back?"
"Who knows!" Indie hopped and skipped to the front seat of the car. Lena patted Griffin's back as she climbed into the back and Griffin stood there and shook his head. He smiled at them all, waiting for him to come join them. He glanced back at Ned and Sam apologizing for his outburst.
If Griffin could try to do this night differently...
He'd still stand Ned up.
Just to make sure he'd have the best worst night of his life again.
AUTHOR'S NOTE
The Gregor is back home! And everyone is beginning to go home too. We've got a few last reveals and confessions. Let me know what you think! And there's only one more chapter left 😭 I can't believe this is the last update.
Can you believe Indie had Griffin's phone this whole time?! And it looks like the cheerleaders are just going to remake The Gregor??? Do you think they'll get away with it? Will it have the same power? And Ned had met Greg's mom! Are you surprised that Greg isn't home?
If you like this book, check out my other two! 30 DAY TRIAL PERIOD is another romcom and THE IRRESISTIBLE MICKEY HOLLY is romance with a twist of weird like this book! If you don't believe me when I tell you they're super good, just take my mom's word for it ;)