Admit It

Chapter 15

After grace, I start loading my plate with food and covering it in cranberry sauce and gravy. Tyler does the same next to me, adding slightly larger amounts of everything. I can see his eyes darting between my parents, anticipating some kind of reaction, but both of them mind their own plates and start eating as well.

A few minutes pass in a comfortable silence once we all dig into our food, and a light chatter starts up once we've all gotten partway through our first plate.

My mom is the one who speaks up first. "So Tyler, what is it that you're in school for?"

"Psychology, but I want to move over into social work," he replies, putting another large fork full of food into his mouth, the last of his first helping.

My dad puts his hand to his mouth as he finishes chewing. "Social work? That's fantastic, difficult work, but good for you. It takes a good kind of person to go into a career like that."

Tyler beams happily, starting to fill his plate again without thinking much of it, and my parents don't react to it at all. "Yeah, my neighbourhood back home has a lot of...activity," he says. "And I just want to be part of the system so I can understand it better."

"You know who I think went into social work? Uncle Dan, we could get in touch with him and see if he has any insight into the job."

I smile at Tyler and he nods excitedly at my dad's suggestion, waiting until he's finished chewing before answering. "That's really kind of you, I'd appreciate it so much, thank you."

My mom turns to me. "Now Jackson, have you started taking the courses you need? You were taking all those math and physics classes, you don't need those for a biology degree."

"Mom, I told you, I don't get to specialize until my third year, for now I have to take those to get into the classes I want," I remind her, finishing my first plate and leaning back to take a breather before getting a second helping, watching Tyler start to fill his plate with his third.

"Well as long as you keep on top of it, you can't be falling behind," my mom reminds me, passing the gravy down to Tyler. "And are you eating enough down there? I think you've gotten thinner, you're not stressing yourself out are you?"

"He's fine, honey," my dad assures her, looking at me with amusement. "Not everyone gets the freshman 15, or the sophomore 15."

"But maybe he should, do you have enough money for groceries?"

"Yes, mom," I reply, rolling my eyes slightly but good-naturedly.

"Tyler, you better be making sure he eats."

Tyler looks at my mom when she says his name, and swallows before nodding. "Of course, we have dinner together almost every night."

"Good, good," she says, happy with his answer, and Tyler seems to be waiting for a comment about his weight, but one doesn't come. He looks at me and seems pleasantly surprised. He raises his hand with a fork and presses the back of his hand against his lips, his cheeks puffing out slightly, then sighs and starts scraping the last of his third helping from his plate.

I feel my face burn a little, turning to my little sister and preoccupying myself with asking her how grade 4 is going, and she tells me all about learning her times tables. By the time she's told me about every one of her friends and each of their favourite animals, I glance over and see Tyler finishing his fourth helping, putting a hand on his belly and taking a breather, the new shirt already getting tight on his frame.

I finish my second helping and push my plate away, comfortably full with some room for dessert. I raise my eyebrows at Tyler, looking at the food on the table, his empty plate, then back to him, and he understands, grunting a little to sit up and fill his plate one more time with a bit of everything, drowning it again in gravy while my parents update me on how my grandparents are doing with their farm.