Call It What You Want To

Chapter 21: Taya

I'm not really a drinker, just because of how high performance I have to be for powerlifting, but when my dad quietly slid his first glass of wine over to me at the Olive Garden we stopped at on our way home from the meet, I gladly accepted it. I earned this.

I had earned my spot at the High School Powerlifting Nationals taking place in just a couple months in Atlanta, and I've been riding the high since we left the meet a little bit ago. Mom was already talking about the pros and cons of flying versus driving, while my dad relived my victorious moments today. Kyler, right next to me in our booth, was entertaining every crazy thing that came out of my dad's mouth and made it so clearly obvious that we were a couple now, leaning her head on my shoulder and pulling me closer to her side whenever she could. A warm, tingly feeling in my chest happened every time she "made a move". We were just one week away from being able to be us around everyone.

I knew this wasn't gonna be easy for her, but I endlessly appreciated the effort she was making for me, for us.

I pushed my glass towards Kyler but she shook her head before tapping the back of her Dexcom. "You wanna push it twice in one day?" she chuckled before I nodded.

"Yeah, fair."

"Hey keep it on the D-L," my dad whispered across the table. "I'd like to not get banned from Olive Garden!"

"Eating three baskets of breadsticks by yourself is criminal enough," my mom scoffed before shoulder checking my dad with a little smirk. It was nice to get to see them mess with each other again, how they'd act before Mila and before all the fighting started.
The thought of Mila made me ask what time we were gonna pick her up. I was surprised to hear that she'd be staying with my uncles for a second night. "Jack and Cole love her, she's behaving, and as much as I love your little sister to the moon and back, sometimes your mama needs a break," my mom said with a tight smile. I could tell she felt bad saying it as she twisted her hands in front of her chest. It was the same habit I had picked up.

"Mom, it's fine. I get it, it's hard. You're doing fine! One kid to two is hard" I reassured her, having absolutely no parenting experience, but I had heard a line similar to that on a TV show before.

"Thank you, sweetheart," she smiled, taking hold of the hand I had laid across the table.

My phone buzzed on the table and I went for it as the screen lit up with the new lock screen I had set of the picture my mom had taken of Kyler and I at the meet a few hours ago. We were completely tangled into each other as my arms wrapped around her neck, my medal and national qualifier paperwork hanging out of the back pocket of my sweatpants. The notification was another group chat text from the team that had pictures and videos from today's meet. I flipped my phone back over and decided to check them out later as I snuggled back into Kyler's side, her hand finding its way over to my opposite hip.

"Alright, keep it PG you two. We're in public," my mom teased with a smirk.

Dramatically, and to totally play it up, I brought my hand up to cup Ky's face and planted a fat kiss on it, over-the-top 'mwah!' sound effects and everything. The idea of getting to be fully publicly affectionate in just one week had me all giddy inside.

On the ride home, I asked Kyler about her mom, admitting that I'd watched a couple of the videos on her family's channel after she told me about it. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you before. I-I didn't want you to be mad," I ashamedly admitted.

"It's okay, I figured you would. There's the natural curious nature. I knew all about you and your family, and you knew almost nothing about mine, and the internet had it all right there. I'm not mad, I promise." Kyler stuck her pinkie out as if to seal her sentence. I smiled, twisting my pinkie around hers before I leaned my head back over to her shoulder. "So what do you think of them? Just from what you've seen?" Kyler smirked.