✅ My Sister's Problem

49. Adulting

"What happened?" Nadine got right down to business when we met. That didn't surprise me. She hadn't wanted to meet at our house for quite some time; since she'd broken up with Hugo, in fact. I hadn't really noticed it until I learned more about the kind of relationship they'd had, but now it was obvious every time we arranged to meet up. So we met at the corner of Guzma Avenue, and those were her first words as we skated together across the park.

"A lot's happened. You mean..."

"I came home and my mum was waiting for me. Said you'd told her everything and she's really disappointed in me. And I had to just play along and apologise, try and figure out what she's talking about. What did you tell her? She was pretty mad, but I didn't get any of it."

"Sorry," I shook my head. "I was planning for today, thinking about good presents, and where to get everything, and what would work for you and him based on what I know about him. I know this is important for you, right?"

She nodded, and I knew I was just passing time. Trying to put off the moment where I'd have to tell her everything. It didn't make any sense, so I did my best to overcome those instincts.

"Anyway, Mum came to talk to me. She said your parents called her, and they were worried. She wanted to know if I heard anything. Like you're hanging out with some guy who's too old for you and he should be ashamed of himself, that kind of thing. She was really worried, and I figured your parents would be mad whatever I said. That's the thing, they were already thinking the worst/ I tried to tell them something they would understand. Maybe try to get them to understand."

"Okay, so what did you tell them?" I could tell she was annoyed, and I would have been too. This was stuff that nobody else should have been involved in, and I had to tell her the truth.

"Your parents found something in your room. Before your first date with Jim, you bought those..." and that was as far as I got, finding a sudden burst of embarrassment. Why? I wasn't a baby, we knew in an academic sense what they were and what they were for, but it still seemed kind of alien for a girl my age to have thought about them.

"Condoms?" she supplied the word. "They found... Crap, I'd completely forgotten I bought them. They must have been mad."

"Right. So I told Mum you didn't know if your boyfriend was going to expect anything. And he didn't, so you probably kept them in your pocket just in case and then threw them in a drawer or something. But she wanted to know who this boyfriend was, because you hadn't said anything and your folks already guessed he might be older. They knew too much, and if I lied they would have known as soon as they talked to you. It's not like we could keep a lie straight. I think maybe your parents are the people who would be most supportive of what you got going on. Thinking about what it really is, and not what your friends have seen. None of them will understand, and if they ask around the other parents they know, they'll get bits and pieces that all your friends guessed, and that's going to be no end of trouble. For Jim more than you."

"I guess. So you think the truth's better?"

I'd told Mum when she asked me. When I was sure that Nadine's parents would learn too much by talking to all her other friends' parents. When I knew that she couldn't keep Jim a secret any longer.

I'd asked Mum to promise that she wouldn't just tell the Newmans everything; that she would work out how much they needed to know to avoid hurting Nadine. And I'd told her the basics. That Nadiine had signed up on adult dating sites, lying about her age. I said she'd made an account with no photos, which wasn't quite true, but it was close enough that I doubted Mum would see a problem with it. And I said that she'd met an older guy who was shocked when he met her. They'd never had an adult relationship; when they met all he'd been able to see was how much she resembled the daughter he missed so much. He'd thought he should break off contact because of the age difference, but he already knew that they shared hobbies and tastes in music and movies. It wasn't a real relationship, but they agreed that it would be okay to hang out. They shared interests, after all. And he could ease his grief by doing the things he should have done with his own little girl.