"Come on you can't be alone on Thanksgiving." Julia says, "And even if you are, what're you going to eat. Pizza places around here don't deliver on Thanksgiving."
"I was thinking about stopping by and seeing my mom, see if her opinion of me has changed." I respond and she stops in her tracks.
"It better have, if it hasn't, well, you can come live with me." she offers and I nod,
"Yeah, thanks." I say as I open my locker and grab all my stuff.
"So, how're things with you and Grayson?" she asks and I shrug.
"We still hang out and talk, occasionally kiss, but I don't know what we are." I answer, "He hasn't asked me out yet."
"Maybe because you said you that you guys had to go slow." she points out and I shake my head.
"No, because if it was that we wouldn't have made out three times afterwards." I reply and she shrugs,
"Whatever, guys are idiots. If he doesn't ask you out soon, go for Ethan." she jokes, laughing really hard. It wasn't that funny, in my opinion. "Just kidding, he'll come to his senses soon."
"Hopefully." I answer and slam my locker shut, locking it. "Now, let's leave because we are out of this place for four days."
—
"Hey, what're you doing today?" Grayson asks over the phone as I grab my keys and lock the door, rushing to the car.
"Uh, well, I'm going to see my mom and see if her opinion about having a backstabbing bitch of a daughter has changed and then I'm going to find out which pizza places are open tomorrow because I'm not cooking Thanksgiving dinner for myself to end up eating it front of the tv watching Grey's Anatomy."
"You should come over! My family has been dying to meet you officially." he responds, "They've known since the beginning."
"Yeah, I guessed." I say, "I dunno, I feel like I'm intruding if I come. It's a family holiday."
"You're not, they'll understand." he says, "You want me to come with you to see your mom?"
"If you want to." I answer.
"I'll come, but you should pick me up." he says, and I turn down his street.
"Be ready in a minute." I hang up, pulling into his driveway. He quickly walks out and gets in.
"Hey."
"Hey, you sure you want to come?" I ask and he nods.
"If she does say anything that is worse than what's she's already said, you'll need someone there." he nods and I smile gently, quickly driving to the rehab facility. When we get there, I sit in the car for a few minutes and he sits in the silence.
"Well," I take the keys out of the ignition, "Let's go."
We slowly walk into the facility, when we go in, the overly fancy lobby is brought into view and it smells like a nursing home. "Smith to room 509, smith to room 509." the man over the intercom says as I approach the front desk.
"Who are you looking for?"
"Anne Waters, I'm her daughter." I respond and the girl types away on her computer, tapping her pen on the counter obnoxiously.
"She's in room 517, but she's in a mood today, you may not want to see her." she warns and I shake my head,
"Probably not gonna be worse than what she's already said to me." I murmur under my breath, "Thank you." I walk back over to Grayson who is standing there awkwardly, looking around to make it look like he's waiting for someone to come down the huge staircase so no one talks to him. "Room 517." I say and he nods. "She's in a mood."
"Do you want to come back?"
"No, if I don't do this now, I never will." I take a deep breath, wiping my palms on my black leggings and we head to her room. When we get there, I knock on the already open door and she turns her attention to me.
"Madison...I thought I told you not to visit." she says as I walk in, Grayson protectively by my side,
"Well, I figured since tomorrow is Thanksgiving I'd come say hi." I say quietly.
"Did you bring alcohol?" she asks and I scoff, shaking my head. "Just the boy, he seems a little out of your league."
"How would you know, you've been drunk half my life." I respond, and she stands up,
"I'm your mother, show me some respect."
"Like you showed me some when you called me a backstabbing bitch of a daughter?" I ask, and she grabs the cup of her pills and pours them in her mouth quickly, washing them down with water.
"Yeah, well, who checks their mom into rehab against her wishes?" she asks, "What's your name?"
"I'm Grayson," he holds out his hand to shake hers and she just looks at it then back at his face, he clears his throat, "It's um, nice to meet you."
"I'm a mom, I know when someone's lying." she says, "So you two are dating, fucking, or are you going to betray him like you did me?"
"You know what, mom, when you're almost done here, tell me." I say, "I'll need to start looking for a place of my own."
"Sure, you don't have a job to support you! Everything in life has been given to you, you don't know how to work." she says and I roll my eyes,
"Happy Thanksgiving, mom." I walk out of the room and continue walking till I get to the outside of the building, leaning against it.
"You okay?" he asks and I shake my head,
"I thought that maybe, just maybe, we'd get along and she'd apologize and we'd have an actual mother-daughter moment." my voice cracks, "I gotta stop thinking it'll turn out perfect, every time I get disappointed."
"Mads..." he begins and I shake my head,
"Let's just get back." I walk, and he pulls me back into his protective arms. "Regretting your decision to come?"
"No, not at all." he says and I nod, my teeth chattering a bit against each other. "Here." he slides off his hoodie and gives it to me. I smile, putting it on me,
"Thanks."
"Besides, it looks better on you than it does on me."
