Don't Forget Me

Chapter 23

"Mom, again? Are you serious?" I ask the moment I step through my front door later that afternoon. I'm going to become that girl whose house and clothes just always smell like spaghetti and meatballs. We've literally eaten it three days this week.

"I know, I know, I know, but it has to be perfect because Monsignor just called and guess how many tickets have been sold for the dinner?" she asks as I round the corner into the kitchen.

"I don't know. How many?" I ask.

"Guess!" She clasps her hands in front of her chest.

"Two hundred?"

"More!" Now she's bouncing up and down on her toes.

"Three hundred?"

"Mo—"

"Oh my gosh, Mom, just tell me!"

"Six hundred tickets!" she screams. "Can you believe it? I went and invited a few other local churches and it really paid off! It's going to be the biggest one yet! We can't even fit that many at once in the hall, so we're going to have to do it in two shifts. Which means I have a favor to ask. I know you were supposed to help in the kitchen, but we really need more servers than anything. What do you think about asking some of your friends to do it with you, maybe Oliver, too?" she asks expectantly.

I don't know if Oliver will ever text me again after how I left things when he dropped me off. I don't even know if I want him to text me... but I have other friends I could ask.

"Uh, sure. Okay. I'll probably ask Lisa next time I see her." I smile to myself, imagining her in the mandatory black pants and white button-down, serving the public, carrying a tray full of plates and pouring glasses of red wine. It could actually be really fun.

"Great, and I already recruited Hannah and Grace. I called their moms this morning," Mom says, and I deflate a little.

"Oh, uhh..." I try to imagine them hanging out with Lisa, but I can't.

"What? Did something happen between you three?" she asks.

"I don't know. Not really, I guess. It just... feels like I'm growing apart from them," I tell her, leaning against the counter. She turns the burner o under her sauce and comes to stand beside me.

"How so?" she asks.

I can't very well tell her about Truck Night, because she thinks I went out to see a movie with them, but it really isn't just that night.

"Things just don't feel like they used to. They're just... different. We're different. We used to just be able to hang out at each other's houses and eat snacks and watch movies and stay up late, and that was enough. But now... well, they just like to spend their time in ways that I don't, really. And they don't seem to care what I want or how I feel," I tell her.

"Maybe it's just part of this adjustment period, you know?"

"Maybe. But it feels like it was already happening before. I just wonder when it started, and how. I wonder about a lot of things, still," I admit. I've tried so hard not to want to know any more, but it's
impossible. I wonder what it was I used to feel with Oliver. I wonder what happened between my mom and me. And I wonder why all of a sudden, it feels very much like Lisa, the person I thought was a clean slate, might be hiding something from me too. What was that at the meat shop today? She had something important to tell me and then she just completely shut down.

"Sweetheart, remember, whatever you're wondering is in the past. Just be thankful for a second chance with them. Move forward," she says, as if that's all there is to it. I feel a dash of annoyance at her. I don't want to, but I can't help it. Whatever happened between the two of us might have been my fault, but why is she assuming this thing with Hannah and Grace is too? Like I'm the only one who needs to do things differently.