Thursday November 27th
Post #10
Forgive me if this post is super short, my day was exhausting and I just want to go to bed.
I woke up pretty early this morning to check if my mom needed help with anymore food. As I said in one of my older posts, we don't really celebrate Thanksgiving, we just spend the entire day together. Instead of sitting down to breakfast, we went to a little café shop.
"Angelina and the girls should already be here, where are they?" My mom was impatiently staring out the glass windows for my aunt's black Mercedes to appear.
My dad jumped at the sound of Aunt Angelina's name and mumbled a few swear words under his breath.
"Antonio relax, her cooking isn't nearly as bad as you like think it is."
We were huddled around the steel tables coated in black paint waiting for Angelina, Jessie, and Lena to get there.
The golden brown walls gave the cafe a soft warm vibe as the smell of freshly baked breads filled the bakery. The cafe wasn't as busy as it usually is this Thursday morning but it remained opened as it sat comforted by it's neighboring stores. I had downed half of my Frappuccino by the time Jessie and Lena arrived at the store.
"I'm sorry we took so long to get here, I couldn't get Lena to get out of bed. " My aunt said taking the food my mom ordered for her. "So where are we heading?"
I found it hard to believe I hadn't asked my dad about this trip he planned either. He gave us several options, but we ended up in my mom's white Escalade with my aunt following behind us on our way to an amusement park.
"What happened to that kid you went to the amusement park with?" Adam asked me.
I'd refrained from telling Adam about my annoyance with Steven fearing he'd hop in his car and go beat him up. "We're hanging out again on Sunday." It wasn't exactly an explanation, but it wasn't a lie either.
Stepping out of the car, I gathered my bag and phone as my biker boots crunched on top of the pasty pebbles. The sun beamed brightly in the crystal winter sky as we made our way to the ticket booth. My dad and Adam departed in one direction to test their manhood on the dangerous rides while Jessie and I strode around the park.
"What's up with you?"
You could almost never sneak a lie pass Jessie, but I wasn't in the mood for ranting-that's what this blog is for. "Nothing," I said forcing my best smile.
Not even for a second did she buy it. "Is it that Eric kid, is he bothering you? Did Steven break up with you? I swear to god I am going to murder-"
"Steven and I were never going out." I interrupted. "It was just a date."
Catching the bitter tone in my voice, Jessie stopped in front of a bench and set me down. "Spill it."
I told her about Megan and about the fact that she fairly resembles Barbie irritated me.
"Don't tell me you're jealous of her?" She said. "Sarah, you are beyond beautiful and you're an amazing girl with the perfect personality. And I'm not just saying that because I want your boots, I mean it."
I'm not exactly the jealous type, but seeing Steven with another girl who was (in my eyes) better looking than me made my skin crawl.
"I'm not jealous, I just don't want to be toyed with. He didn't have time to talk to me after our date but he had time to go shopping with his mom's assistant."
"Wait a minute, that whore works for his mom?" I didn't believe it either, which is why when I explained Megan's role as a house sitter to Jessie the words didn't sit right with my tongue.
"Hey at least that Eric kid isn't bothering you, right?"
"Actually he and I are hanging out on Saturday."
Instead of lecturing me like my mom did, she questioned me and everything that we planned to do.
"Relax Jessie, we're only hanging out. He's been super nice to me and he feels bad about the incident with Adam."
"He kissed you didn't he?" She stared at me in disbelief. "You're dating him aren't you? Sarah, I support your decisions one hundred percent but you can't leave me hanging like this. These are the things I have to know if you-"
Before she could start lecturing me I got up and left. "Alright Jessie, this conversation is over."
Nothing major happened at the theme park. Steven called to wish me a happy Thanksgiving and to check on the status of our date on Sunday night. Jessie convinced my mom, my aunt, and I to go on a couple of chaotic rides giving my mom all the more reasons to want to go.
Because all of the food that had been cooked and only needed to be heated, we arrived home around six o' clock. Jessie and her family had gone home to spend Thanksgiving with their dad who'd just returned from his business trip to Arizona. Usually on Thanksgiving my dad and Adam shout at the TV for a few hours but this year my dad decided to change it up. He ran around the house banging pots and a wooden spoon together yelling for us to come to the table.
"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't call the police." My mom said stepping into the hall. She had a towel wrapped around her head and another around her body as she stood their confused.
"This year, we're spending Thanksgiving at the dinner table." My dad stopped with the pots but still managed to scream awfully loud.
"Okay, just give me a second to get dressed and dry my hair."
"Don't put too many clothes on," my dad started to say. "They're going to get ripped off tonight anyway."
Attempting to hide her smile, my mom headed towards her bedroom door. "Oh shut up."
It was my parent's comments like that that made me wish I didn't know what my dad meant by that as I headed to my room as well.
Every Thanksgiving my mom makes us dress in something presentable so she can take pictures and add them to her photo album. Her and I are sticklers for pictures and we never miss an opportunity for a photo shoot.
"Ah, my favorite time of the day with my favorite people in the world." My dad said. We clinked our wine glasses and began diminishing my mom's food. Of course in between bites we talked about things we're thankful for, who has time to write about all of that?
We finished dinner and my parents were on the third glass of wine when our doorbell rang. Running towards an ass whooping is exactly what Eric was doing by standing on my front porch. He was holding a bouquet of fresh pink roses and an envelope with my name printed on the front.
"It's a really thick card, so you might want to read it later." He winked.
"Eric what the hell are you doing here? Are you trying to get yourself killed."
"I'm not afraid of your brother, Sarah." He was lying through his clean white teeth. "Okay, I am but I won't let him get in the way of our friendship."
My dad slid over to the open door wondering who'd be dumb enough to bother him on Thanksgiving. Like an idiot, Eric stood there as if he didn't know who's property he was standing on. But remarkably, my dad didn't kill him-he didn't even touch him. In fact he invited him inside to watch football with him and Adam and handed him a glass of wine.
"He's drunk isn't he?" Eric asked sipping from the glass.
It was my mom who acknowledged Eric first and welcomed him in. "Very."
Of course he greeted her and complimented her clothing design and indefinite beauty. They spent what could have possibly been forever talking about my mom's work and what inspires her.
"I'm working on some new designs right now, when they hit the stores you'll be the first to receive one," she joked.
I skyped the night away talking to Alison and Jessie about the enthusiastic noises coming from the living room. At one point, I actually bought my computer downstairs for them to witness the animal-like behavior first hand.
"Are they all wasted?" Alison asked.
"Adam, Eric, and my dad are." I explained. "My mom is just buzzed."
She was on the couch catching up on the last season of Awkward that she's been too busy to watch. I've seen my brother and my dad wasted plenty of times when it came to sports. But it was awkward as hell when Eric was now apart of the excitement.
"How is that Eric kid getting home?" Jessie asked. "Everyone at your house is pretty trashed and you can't drive for shit."
When my mom and I realized we didn't have Eric's contact information and that his phone was nowhere in sight she took matters into her own hands. "I have an idea," she said jumping off the coach. And ten minutes later that "idea" showed up in front of my house.
"There's nothing like football and booze on Thanksgiving," Mr. Summerton stood in my living room witnessing my dad's drunkenness.
"Is that your sexy teacher?" Jessie made no effort to lower her voice or contain her excitement as she heard Mr. Summerton. "Oh my God, I'm coming to your house right now."
It wasn't long before Jessie let herself into my house to flirt with my teacher. "I really need to get that key back," I thought.
"Hey sexy." Jessie said taking a seat next to Mr. Summerton. "Did you miss me?"
"How old are you again?" He didn't seem uncomfortable as she threw her body all over him, but I could see that he wanted her to stop.
"I'll be eighteen in May, but age is just a number, right?"
Returning from the kitchen with a wine cooler for Mr. Summerton my mom caught a glimpse of Jessie and shook her head. "Jessica, don't be a whore."
Ignoring my mom's comment, she straightened up on the sofa. "You can't take him home like that, his parents will think you talked him into drinking and try to press charges or something."
I could see Jesse's point, but Eric was NOT staying at my house.
"You guys have like three guest bedrooms, let him crash here and use his phone to text his mom that he crashed at a friend's house."
We found Eric's phone in his car, and did as Jessie suggested. Mr. Summerton offered to lead Eric to the guest bedroom on the main floor to make sure he got there safely.
"This sucks," Jessie said. "I came here to get with a guy not a garbage bag." My mom made her pick up the trash and empty bottles in the living room for being all over my teacher.
"I know that he's attractive, but he is your cousin's teacher and you're still seventeen." She told Jessie.
Jessie (hopefully) wasn't actually planning to get with Mr. Summerton but the girl loves to flirt and she saw an opportunity.
After convincing my dad that he wasn't on a boat and getting him to bed, my mom and I started cleaning. My mom comes from a family of neat freaks and insisted she couldn't sleep in a filthy house. Mr. Summerton offered to take out the bags of trash and Jessie was scrubbing the dishes.
"Ian you should go home, you should be spending Thanksgiving with your family not cleaning my house."
"My parents live uptown and it's no big deal, honestly." He insisted.
"Don't you have a girlfriend or a wife to go home too?"
He blushed at my mom's comment as he took his time answering. "A girlfriend; but things are pretty rocky between us right now. She spent Thanksgiving with her family in Washington."
"She's the difficult and jealous type, isn't she?" Jessie finished the dishes and took a seat and the long corner sofa near the fire place.
"Damn right."
I didn't how someone dating Mr. Summerton could be jealous of any girl. Mr. Summerton is the ideal package, no questions asked. It was getting late and Mr. Summerton had excused himself to get home. Jessie crashed on my bed and soon my mom had passed out too. This was definitely one of the weirdest Thanksgivings yet but I ended up having a good time. By the way, Eric's card read:
"Dear Sarah, you never fail to make me smile or make me laugh with your (awful) saracastic jokes. You brighten my days whenever I talk to you even when it's just for a minute. I'll admit I was memorized by your beauty, but I see you for so much more that. Even if I never get a chance with you, I still hope for the best for you and I hope that you're happy. You deserve someone special-someone who won't beat up your brother. You deserve someone who's going to protect you and listen to the amazing things you have to say. Overall, you deserve the best and nothing but that. Happy Thanksgiving by the way, enjoy the roses (I know how much you love pink).
Love,
Eric Anderson."
I never would've guessed that Eric Anderson would ever feel that way about me. I was always convinced his thing for me was just a stupid crush but I see now that he clearly thinks more of me than just some girl with my dad's last name.