Behind the Game Face

pre-thanksgiving

"Have a safe flight!" I waved as Gabby entered her ride. She waved back, blowing kisses and yelled back.

"I'll bring back some Texas twinkies!" Laughing, I clapped, giving her a thumbs up before the driver pulled off from the driveway and kept waving until she was out of sight. My smile dropped as soon as I knew I was alone.

Running a hand through my hair, I entered the house again with a huff. I dropped myself onto the living room couch scrolling mindlessly through the TV, not even paying attention to anything in particular.

Midterms were done. Half of campus was gone due to Thanksgiving break and I was here still. We had a week of break with Thanksgiving being this Thursday so I had exactly two days to decide if I wanted to go home for the holiday.

I decided to spend the rest of the day deep cleaning the entire house. I started with the living room. Dusting, wiping and mopping the wooden floors before moving onto the kitchen, cleaning a single dish and rearranging the fridge before clearing out the pantry of expired foods.

I then moved on to the bathrooms, scrubbing and tiring myself until there was quite literally nothing left to clean in the house.

Not even the coat closet needed cleaning anymore.

I collapsed on the living room floor and heard knocking on the door. Groaning, I yelled out that the door was unlocked.

Not really the smartest but this town was half empty and I doubt an intruder would knock politely first.

"Lilah?" A voice called out.

"In here!" I yelled back.

"What are you doing on the floor?" Princeton asked, coming to stand over me. He held a plastic bag and from the smell of it, that was dinner. For who all? I don't know.

"Is that food?"

"Yes."

"For who?"

"Us."

I hopped up, granted, using his leg to help me up before grabbing the food and rushing to the table.

"How'd you know I was here? And why aren't you home yet?" I asked, washing my hands and then gathering utensils.

"Liv came by to pick up Jeremiah and said you were home alone. And because I'm not leaving until tomorrow evening."

"Hm, makes sense."

"Why are you still here?" He asked me.

"Water or juice?" I responded, reaching for the fridge.

"Juice, thank you. So why aren't you home yet?"

"Ice cubes?"

"Please. Lilah."

"Princeton." He gave me a stern look as I placed our cups on the table. I could only shrug in response.

"Going home is like stepping back into the past." I busied myself with plating our food. "Sometimes it's better to just leave the past...in the past."

"When was the last time you went home for the holidays?" He asked me. I didn't answer. He grabbed the utensils from my hand, forcing me to pay attention to him as he finished serving our food. "Stop making me repeat myself." I wasn't used to him being so stern so I sighed as I sat down like a kid being scolded.

"I haven't been home since I moved out for freshman year." I picked up my fork, messing with my food before clearing my throat. "It doesn't matter anyways. I've been hitting this sick buffet just on the outside of town. Evergreen, seriously. The best stuffing you could imagine and plus the owners know me so they give me extra rolls for free."