Chp. 16 "The Call"
“Andy, are you sure you want to do this?”
I gazed down at the tiny, crumpled slip of paper that had the number to contact my biological parents. I sighed heavily, knowing I needed to do this, I needed to do this for me. I looked up at Avery and Max who were standing side by side looking at me, “Yes, I want to…”
Avery sighed, knowing I wanted to but asking the ultimate question, “But are you ready to?”
That was the question that always got me. Was I really ready to do this? I knew I needed to, and I knew I wanted to of course… but was I ready to face reality? Was I ready to meet the people that gave me up to friends in hopes to protect me? Was I ready to meet the people that knew what I was capable of? And if so, were they ready to meet me?
What if they were expecting my call?
Avery took my hand in hers, causing my heavy eyes to look into hers. She smiled softly, “You don’t have to if you’re not ready… you still have two weeks till we graduate to think on it.”
I knew she was right, after school would probably be better… but then again it wouldn’t take me an entire summer to find them. I mean I was their kid, they would want me to meet them right?
Then Max chimed in, “But, finding them could help us a lot in finding the Protection Bureau.”
I looked at him and gave him a mean look, “Yea and possibly get kidnapped by the government?”
He shrugged, “Just saying.”
I peered down at the tiny slip of paper again, wondering why I felt so afraid of doing this. I mean what did I have to be afraid of?
I began typing in the number.
Avery stepped towards me, holding my hand for support as Max watched me intently. He was just as anxious as I was, if not more, and Avery was just flat out nervous. I entered the last number, wondering who was going to answer and how I was going to go about introducing myself.
Or what if they didn’t answer?
I hit the call button and held the phone to my ear, hearing the familiar ring of the phone. My thoughts began to run wild as I waited, feeling as if I was calling God himself. And then I heard a soft female voice answer, “Hello?”
And I hit the end button.
Max groaned, “Seriously?”
“I don’t know… I just… I don’t know what to say?”
He huffed and sighed, “Well how about um, hello!”
I stared down at my phone, wondering if I was courageous enough for this. Why this was such a big deal to me? I groaned, hitting the class button one more time and allowing it to ring, waiting for the female voice to answer once more.
And I wouldn’t hang up this time.
“Hello?”
My heart stopped in my chest as I stuttered, “H-Hello… is this the M-Mason residence?”
I felt stupid talking like this but I didn’t know what else to say as I waited for her voice to respond, “Yes? This is Teal Mason speaking, who is this?”
My breath caught in my throat as I gazed fearfully into Avery’s green blue eyes, pleading for her to help me. I knew she couldn’t though, not with this, “Um… well, this is Andrea Brock. Do you know Ryan and Sandra Brock?”
She was silent for a long time, as if she was searching for the word to say, “Andy?”
My heart melted at that response, how she had called me by my nickname that I was given years ago when I was born. I wanted to cry, laugh, and faint all at the same time, I sobbed slightly, trying to keep my composure, “Y-Yes…”
“Oh I thought you were never going to contact me! There’s so much I wish to tell you sweetie, but it’s too dangerous over the phone… We must meet.”
Her voice was eager and I couldn’t contain my smile anymore, my biological mother was eager to see me. Teal wanted to see me, my mom… my real mom wanted to meet me! I sobbed slightly once more, “Y-Yes… that’s why I’m calling! I have so many questions… I don’t know where to start-“
“Honey do you have a slip of paper?”
I ran over to the couch and the coffee table, grabbing a notebook and a pen and responding, “Yes ma’am…”
“Jot this down, 321 Auburn Lane, Monroe Louisiana, zip code is 71201. When do you get out of school sweetie?”
I hurried to jot down the address like she had told me and I sighed, thinking, “In about two weeks.”
“Ok good, we must get off the phone now, call me in two weeks and let me know when you make it into Louisiana. Until then Andy, be safe and stay hidden. Love you sweetie.”
Then there was a click of the phone and the line was dead, and Avery’s touch pulled me out of my dazed state. She whispered, “You ok? What happened?”
I gazed down at the address and sighed, smiling although I felt a bit confused, “My mom… she wants to see me… this is her address.”
Max looked over my shoulder and spoke, “Louisiana huh? That’s not too far, only about an entire days drive…”
I sat on the couch, Max and Avery sitting on each side of me and Avery grabbed my hand, “What did she say?”
I smiled, remembering the way her voice had sounded so eager and frantic at the same time. I shrugged, “Not much but… enough to let me know she wants to meet. She told me it was too dangerous to speak over the phone though, so I’m guessing she will be waiting until we get out of school. She wants us to come and meet her as soon as school lets out and for me to call her when we make it to Louisiana. Avery… she wants to meet me…”
Avery smiled as she kissed my cheek, “Andy, of course she wants to meet you, you’re her daughter.”
“I know but… she sounded so genuine, so excited to be speaking to me…”
Max smiled as he nudged me, “And you were all scared…”
I glared at him, “Shut up Max.”
He laughed as he sighed and gazed down at the address, “So, what now?”
I shrugged, “Nothing, we just wait till school ends and we graduate, then we’ll plan it out.”
Avery sighed, “Longest two weeks of our lives.”
~ ~ ~ ~
After the call to my parents, my real parents, everything had been passing extremely slowly. The days were dragging on, and even though it felt like weeks had passed, only a few days had. I had talked to my real parents who sounded excited to know I had called my real parents, and had started saving money here and there for our trip to Louisiana in a couple of weeks.
But they weren’t coming with me, telling me that this was my journey and my journey alone. They knew I was ready for this, I was ready to meet the people who gave me up to them for protection, but I was just scared. I had never gone alone out of state by myself with friends but… I was a stepping stone I needed to experience on my own.
And today we would all be welcoming Max’s older brother, Gage, home from school after he just graduated, hopefully convincing him to come along.
But Max knew he was up for it already, we were just finalizing it.
Currently Avery and I were sitting in my car in the parking lot waiting for Max to get out of school. Avery’s hand was gripping mine lightly and I had to admit, her and I were falling pretty hard for each other. I didn’t realize how much she actually had an effect on me until her and I were alone and talking. She was something else, and she was so different and she didn’t care about what other people thought about her. We would hold hands in the hallways and sneak a kiss when we were out of sight from everyone, and my heart was on overdrive every time I was with her.
She sighed, “Are you nervous about meeting up with Gage today?”
I shook my head, “No, I know him and he’s pretty cool. He knows a lot about us already, this would just look really good on his resume if this went well.”
Which I was feeling pretty confident about.
She sighed, “Do you think you can come over tonight?”
I looked at her seriously; I hadn’t ever slept over at her house because I had been so sidetracked with everything else. I smiled widely, feeling the nervousness creep into my stomach, “You want me to spend the night with you?”
She nodded, “I would love some company tonight considering no one will be home…”
So we would also be alone… I nodded, trying to seem super cool about this situation, “Sure, I’ll run home after we drop Max off and grab some clothes.”
She squeezed my hand lightly, smiling, “Yay!”
I blushed at her excitement, knowing tonight could turn out super well for us, although I was really nervous.
Then all of a sudden she leaned in, kissing my neck and whispering into my ear softly, “And maybe we can try something new…”
My skin shivered as I turned to her, feeling lust build up inside me. I leaned forward, kissing her lips soft and slow, letting her know I was accepting her possible offer. The way she made me feel was like nothing I’ve ever felt before, it was amazing, and when I was with her I was the happiest girl in the world.
Our lips moved together, allowing my left hand to grip her thigh and my right one to tangle itself in her hair. Her scent wrapped around me as I found myself beginning to get lost in her, and soon our tongues were tangling, causing explosions to go off inside my chest. I kissed her jaw and then moved my lips slowly down her neck, kissing right under her ear and making her release a silent moan. Her grip tightened on me as I whispered, “This is really killing me…”
Then there was a loud knock on my window, causing Avery and I to separate quickly. I looked into the annoyed eyes of Max who was waiting for me to let him in as I unlocked my doors. He got in, speaking sarcastically, “Jeez guys, no shame in the game I guess.”
Avery sighed, “You’re just jealous.”
Max let him hand rest on her shoulder and made yet another sarcastic face and remark, “Oh yes, I’m super jealous considering I have so much other shit on my mind other than dating. Like a pandemic sweeping the country and a fucking government military trying to create Super Soldiers!”
Avery sighed heavily at Max’s drastic comment, “Damn boy.”
I groaned, “Look, shut up, there’s enough stress to go around. We’re going to go to Max’s and talk to Gage, just to finalize that he’s gonna help us out. Then we can worry about the rest.”
I gazed at Max and Avery’s face, seeing worry but also hopefulness as I put my car in gear, allowing them to respond in unison.
“Fine.”
I nodded, repeating them and heading off to Max’s, “Fine.”