Chasing You

39

LACEY

I hate this.

I don't even know why I agreed to come to my parents. Oh wait, that's right because of Braden. Braden who convinced me to come here and fix things with his brown eyes and his injured shoulder. I should be with him right now. He just got surgery and here I am worried about my small ass problems. He would probably have tackled me if I said that out loud.

I haven't moved from my car. The car is off and my purse is in my lap but I haven't moved. It's weird being back, I haven't been here since August and my mom and I did not leave things off in a great way.

I should just go back to UNC. Braden, Carter, and all of the boys are still there. I can always go home with Braden or Carter. This was a stupid idea. It doesn't even feel like home here anyways. I grab my keys again and turn my car back on. I put the car in drive. A loud knock makes me jump and slam my foot on the break. I lurch forward and look towards the window. My dad is laughing at me while I groan in frustration.

So close to escaping.

I put my car back in park and turn it off again. It's time to put my big girl underwear on and face my mom. My Dad steps back as I open my car door. I grab my purse but leave my suitcase in the car for an easy getaway.

Which I am pretty sure will be happening soon. I should text Carter and ask when everyone is leaving. Carter stayed to help out Braden since his mom and Tyler had to go back home before he does. Asher and the rest of the boys have games until December 21st and even then they have to come back for their game on December 30th.

"You are going to give yourself whiplash, Honey," my Dad jokes. I offer him a shy smile as he holds his arms out to give me a hug. I step into his arms and he gives me a tight squeeze. I can't help but feel bad for punishing my dad.

"Hi Dad," I say into his chest. He gives me one last squeeze before letting me go. He holds me by my shoulders.

"How have you been? How's school?" he asks.

"Good, I have just been super busy recently. You know- with everything," I say awkwardly. I don't know how to go about all this. I talked to my Dad on occasion but we haven't really talked since everything happened. He called me when we were in the waiting room of the ER waiting for Braden. I didn't even want to pick up but I did.

"What do you want?" I snap into the phone. Julie looks at me with furrowed eyebrows. I mouth 'my mom' to her and she nods her head in understanding. I am already stressed out about Braden and now my Mom is calling me. She is probably calling to gloat about Braden getting injured and me no longer getting any money from him. Which wasn't even the case in the first place.

My Mom sighs over the phone, "Lacey, I saw what happened with Braden."

I pause, she's sorry? Since when does she care about Braden or actually anything other than the sorority which I don't even have to offer to her anymore.

"You're sorry? We haven't talked in a month and now you call me because you are sorry for Braden? You didn't even care about him and said that my friends are the reason for everything," I whisper into the phone. Sanders looks at me concerned while Carter gets up from sitting beside Asher to sit next to me.

"You okay?" she whispers. I wave a hand at her because I am stronger than who I was before. I can stand up to my Mom. She doesn't deserve to step all over me and talk bad about my friends.

"I am sorry for everything actually. Everything I said was uncalled for and..." she pauses. "I was wrong for thinking that dropping the sorority wasn't in your best interests. I also was unaware of how poorly they treated you and maybe if we communicated better I would have known."