I Never Thought

Chapter 2

Chase Adams

I drove home from the Madden's house at ten after having expensive steak and hanging out with Chloe and Christian's folks. I hadn't seen them in a while, so it was refreshing having dinner with them. The lights of the city twinkled in my peripheral vision as I zoomed down Route 9 back to my place. Seeing Chloe and Christian was what I needed to take my mind off that argument I had with Yanique a few hours prior.

We were in the middle of a show at her house when Christian called, reminding me of the IT project we had that I had completely forgotten about. When he told me that his parents were back, I figured that it was a good idea to head there and say hi.

Yanique had been getting worked up whenever I hung with the twins, I hadn't mentioned it to her or anything because I didn't even know how to approach the situation. It would be strange if she was triggered by them because they were like family. I couldn't even think of a reason why she would be against me being around them.

I pulled into the driveway of the small, yellow townhouse I grew up in. The kitchen light was on which meant that my mom was awake and probably getting a midnight snack. I pushed open the front door and the smell of freshly baked, snickerdoodle cookies filled the room. My mom baking at this time of night only meant one thing: she was stressing out over something.

I walked to the kitchen and found her wearing her white apron and her blonde hair up in a bun. She had a bit of flour on her cheeks and her eyes looked bright and alert. She spun around holding a mixing bowl in her arms.

"Should I be worried?" I asked as I hung my jacket up on one of the hooks behind the closet door. Her eyes squinted shut for a brief moment and she looked as if she was in deep thought. When she opened them, she smiled brightly at me.

"Nope! Everything is fine. How was dinner?"

"It was good, they made steak and potatoes."

She pouted and slouched her shoulders. "I'm sorry I couldn't make it. Things were really tough at the daycare today, a child got really sick, and I had to wait with them until their parents came to get them."

"Oh no, I'm sorry to hear that." Of course she stayed back with a sick child, she was such a kind soul.

"Where did Richard and Julia travel to this time?" She asked, trying to hide her judgement in her tone.

"Australia, which I think is really cool," I told her and she smiled wider.

"Oh gosh, I would love to travel to Australia. I wonder how long they're staying home, those poor kids. They can barely get a chance to build a real relationship with their parents."

I nodded and stared off at the beige wall behind her. I wasn't planning on having a conversation with my mom about my best friends' personal lives. I had an angry girlfriend I had to deal with. I said goodnight to her and ran up the stairs to my room.

I kicked my shoes off and plopped onto my bed. Approaching Yanique when she was angry with me was usually like walking into a fire after drenching yourself in gasoline. You know it's going to blaze and possibly make things worse, but you head right in any way and hope for the best.

Maybe I should wait until tomorrow? I thought. But then she's going to be even more upset if I wait too long. At that point, I might as well just get it over with. I continued staring at her name on my screen, procrastinating hitting call. After what felt like twenty minutes, I finally built up the guts.

"Hello?" She answered, a bland tone to her voice.

I sat there holding the phone to my ear. I then realized that I waited all that time before calling her and yet still I didn't think of what I would say when I did.