From My Love to My Life (MXM) (sequel to From My Enemy to My Love)

Chapter 32

Gareth Scoville

"How is your video game coming?" my mom asked. Kannika's mom was in town for the weekend. Today was her last day. Since Kannika had been busy all weekend, I decided not to go to any parties even though Pete had practically begged me to go with him. I hadn't had dinner with my parents for awhile, so here I was.

My mom had made lemon chicken, mashed potatoes and mixed vegetables. Her food wasn't award winning, but it wasn't bad either. It was just pretty standard mom food.

"Good," I said.

"All that partying on the weekends hasn't set you back?" my dad asked.

"No," I said. "I'm still on track to complete it in the time frame I've allowed."

"I still don't see how that's possible," my dad said. "Doesn't it take years to make a video game?"

"I have been working on it for years," I said. "Just not full time like I'm doing now. I've been working on it since I was a junior in high school."

My dad sighed. "Why make it in space though? Aren't those first person shoot out games more popular?"

"Bret," my mom scolded.

"What?" my dad asked. "I'm just being practical."

"You thought you were being practical when you told him he wouldn't make any money with an art major, but look how well he's done. He even won some awards for his art."

My dad just grunted at that.

"I've worked on a few first person shooter games, some fantasy games, some sport games at my old job. Now it's time for me to try what I want to do," I said. "Sure, I might fail. I might lose all the money I've saved up on this. But how will I know until I try? And if my game does fail, my old job has already told me they would hire me again."

My dad didn't say anything to that. I didn't really expect him to.

"Well, I think it's going to be a great success," my mom said with her usual optimism.

After dinner, we went into the living room to watch Chet's game. We ate peach pie while we watched it. It was store bought. My mom wasn't about to make pie crust from scratch. It was good though. We missed the first bit of the game, but neither team had scored so apparently we hadn't missed much.

"When is Chet's wedding again?" my mom asked.

"January third," I said.

"I still can't believe he's getting married," my dad said. "If you had told me when you guys were still in high school that Chet was going to be getting married first and at such a young age, I never would have believed you. I never really thought he'd get married, honestly. I thought his only interest was in soccer."

"I thought that in high school too," I said.

"How are things going between you and Chet's sister?" my mom asked.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Well, you're dating right?"

"No," I said. "We're just friends."

"Just friends my ass," my dad said.

I sighed.

"You don't have to lie to us," my mom said. "You've been spending a lot of time with her. More than any past girlfriend. And there is a different tone in your voice when you talk about her."

"What tone?"

"There's a tone isn't there, honey?" my mom asked.

"Definitely a tone," my dad said. "You should marry her. Then Chet will officially be part of this family."