Opening Day

Chapter 10: Interlude

The drive back home was quiet.

"I don't see why your sister couldn't've driven you home."

It could have been quieter, in Gina's opinion.

"She had a thing, dad." Gina rolled her eyes as she stared out the window of the station wagon.

"Hm."

Everything that had happened was still swirling in her mind. Had she really made out with Max? The idea of it sounded crazy, and yet she was almost sure that's what happened not too long ago. It felt like an out of body experience, like maybe someone else did it, or it was a dream she had once. That's not to say it was bad, or even that she regretted it. Very much the opposite in fact. The only thing gnawing at her insides was how her sister was going to react. She already knew it wasn't going to be good. Max would tell her, because he tells her everything. She felt her stomach knot up.

Gina and her father sat in silence for the rest of the drive home. He didn't ask her about her day and she didn't ask him about his. She could hear him huff and sigh every so often. Forced to put pants and shoes back on to pick up his youngest daughter. An almost fourteen minute drive back and forth. An absolute travesty, an insult to his Friday evening and his very being. Didn't she know he had been sitting? Didn't she even care?

They parked in the driveway and as soon as her father was inside the house he made a beeline for his bedroom to change back into his comfy clothes. Gina scoffed in indignation, abandoned in the driveway. She made her way inside, closed the door behind her and stood in the living room, hesitating, her thoughts tumbling in her head. She knew she must be really shaken because of what she decided to do next. Her world was definitely crumbling down around her, as she prepared herself to take desperate, drastic action.

"Hey...mom?"

Connie was snacking from a bowl of chips, ever so daintily, picking one chip with her long pink and white press-on-nails, and placing it in her mouth. She was watching an old episode of Entertainment Tonight, she had been recording them on VHS ever since technology had allowed her the habit.

"Ginny baby! What're you doing home so early? It's Friday night, you should be out dancing!" She did an excited little shimmy, just to amuse herself.

"No, mom. I..." If Gina could cringe any harder, she would've torn a hole in space and time, "I need...some...advice." She choked out the word "advice" and gagged a little, holding back her utter revulsion.

Connie just stared at her youngest daughter, mouth agape, "Oh my god, it's finally happening..." She whispered, in awe, to herself. "Yes!" She said, possibly a little too loudly, "What can I help you with, baby?"

She quickly made the spot on the couch next to her welcoming, moving some blankets around to look like a protective nest, a safe place for sharing. She brushed the chip crumbs from her cleavage and fussed with her hair. She shook her head and composed herself as Gina sat next to her, tentative and on edge.

"Ok," Connie had been waiting for this moment and she was not going to let it slip through her fingers, "Tell me what's on your mind."

Gina chewed her thumbnail.

"Have you ever liked a boy, that, like, maybe you shouldn't, or whatever?"

"Oh, honey. You just described every single guy I've ever dated. Or just any guy in general!" Connie politely chuckled, not trying to scare her daughter off so soon.

"Yeah?"

"Oh, yeah. I mean sometimes, that's the entire allure."

"See...so, like, that's also what I'm kind of worried about. Like? That maybe I don't even really like him? That maybe it's just 'cause, like..."