My Accidental NFL Boyfriend

            When he pulls out of the parking lot of my once hell school, I slam my hand into the glove compartment.

            “Caleb, stop the car,” I yell, “this time it isn’t funny!”

            “Am I laughing?” He looks at me from the corner of his eye, judging me.

            “No because if you did you’d be hanging out the window by a toe.”

            “Ohh, so scared.”

            I frown at him and stare out my window. The local waffle house gleams amongst the new buildings of McDonalds, Burger Kings, and Arby’s. The waffle house used to be the key place of worship in my town when it neared 12 am. The place where you could eat as much as you want for the change in your pocket and not get scoffed at, the place where all the silverwear still had chunks of unwashed food on them, and the plates scratched and dull. That was the spot you would go after an intense football game when Caleb was still quarterback.

            “You need to reunite with your mother.”

            “What is a mother? I don’t have a mother.”

            “Carly misses you.”

            “I bet she does,” I growl, “she misses me so much she doesn’t call.”

            “Ok, calling goes both ways…”

            I ignore his comment and lay my face against the cool glass, thinking of all the times my mother was nice to me.

            That was probably up until 9th grade when I decided to ignore her teachings and go for an arts degree, but didn’t tell her until junior year. Yeah, that probably is what made her hate me.

            “Doesn’t matter,” I finally say. I couldn’t argue worth of crap but I didn’t care. I didn’t care what Caleb thought of me. Well, I did. I just told myself I didn’t.

            “It does.”

            I see my mother’s development come into view; the small little brick houses glowing with warmth. The warmth of my mother roasting me over a fire. I grimace at her expression, a knot forming in my stomach. I dreaded this meeting. I had been dreading it ever since I left for college.

            When we pull in her driveway, I see the same gnomes and the same shutters and pretty much the same…Everything. Nothing changed except the flowers in the garden.

            Caleb pulls the keys out of his car, staring at me.

            “Let’s go,” he says.

            I don’t move, don’t look up, and don’t even want to acknowledge the house in front of me.  It wasn’t there. I wasn’t here. This wasn’t happening right now.

            I glance up to see Caleb walking toward my door, opening it for me. He grabs my hand and I numbly let myself be pulled out.

            “Let’s go,” he says, smiling at me gently and interlacing his fingers with mine. I didn’t even notice that he did or I would have pulled them out automatically.

            Before I know it, the doorbell is rung and I’m clutching Caleb with all my might. My knuckles turn white and his hands turn pink with my desperation. We waited. The silence scared me more than seeing my mother. The main door creaks open and her face appears before the screen.

            Her face was similar to mine, except for her blue eyes. Her hair was the same shade of coffee brown, and she had the same awkward wave, except that was when I was younger and now she cut it to her ears. She had crowsfeet from “laughter” and “smiling” but I highly doubted it was from those emotions. Her lips were thinner than mine, and her nose was smaller, and I had always thought she was way prettier than me.

            “Caleb?” she says, staring him down.

            I flinch.

            “Who is with you?”

            “Oh, why it’s your daughter,” Caleb laughs good naturedly at her joke. Except it wasn’t a joke. She had literally disowned me.

            “I don’t have a daughter.” She looks him dead in the eye, “I don’t know who is with you.”

OHMYGOD CAMPING WAS SO FUN. Except I was supposed to babysit and I didn't know so now I'm in trouble..I'm terrified i'm going to be fired.........I HATE DISAPPOINTING PEOPLE! Sorry it's short. I have a lot to do.