Finding Us

Chapter Thirteen

Thanksgiving break was coming up, but Chris hadn't been home since he left for college. Lacey was spending this weekend with her sister, so he took the opportunity to go home. He took his work for his project with him. He only had two weeks left of it and then he'd turn it in and never have to worry about the sorority girls again. He never thought he'd think this, but he was glad for the opportunity. Without it, he'd of never been able to put a name to the face of the mysterious girl...the girl he was slowly falling in love with. He wondered if two months was too short a time to know if he really loved someone. But, he'd read books where the characters fall in love in just weeks, or even at first sight. Those books had to be real, right?

He shook the thought away as he grabbed his bags out of the trunk. When he walked in, his mom ran from the kitchen to greet him.

"My babyyyy." She kissed his forehead

"Hi momma." She grabbed his bags and carried them up the stairs to his room

He walked into the kitchen, where he smelled a cherry pie cooking in the oven. His mom was always baking, but today his dad had the apron on, "Hey son."

"You're the baker now?" Chris teased

"It's pretty stress relieving, you should try it." His dad popped a piece of dough into his mouth

"I already have, remember? I was moms cooking mate all throughout high school." He chuckled

"Yes, you've seemed to escape that now, huh?" His dad teased

"You know it."

"You know what?" His mother walked in and checked the pie in the oven

Of both of his parents, he resembled his mother the most. He had her chestnut brown hair and her high set cheekbones. They shared the same eye color too. The gray blue fit them just right.

"Nothing." He and his dad stifled back a laugh and their mother looked at them suspiciously, which made them laugh even more

"Oh, I've got to go check the steaks." Brae took of the apron and stepped outside, Chris followed

"You're using the grill still?"

"What's wrong with that?"

"It's cold out here." Chris chuckled

"Oh son, it's never too cold to use the grill." Brae lifted the lid and smoke flew in front of their faces

Once it faded , he began flipping the steaks, "Does she make you happy?"

Chris blushed, "She makes me really happy, dad. I know you've seen me heartbroken and I know you're leery, but I wouldn't jump in if I knew It wasn't real."

"I see the way you look at her...the way she looks at you. It wasn't hard to miss during your meet. It's the same way I look at your mother and vise versa. I was your age the first time I'd gotten my heart broke. Unlike you, I was closed off to love for years and years. It took me three more short relationships to find your mother, but I knew when it was right."

They sat down and ate dinner and spent the night watching movies until his mom fell asleep. His dad took her up to bed, which left him in the living room alone. He took out his project. All the interviews, all the videos of the field work. He played Gretchen's interview on his laptop, it wasn't hard to see the ways she flirted with him. He wasn't interested in her in the least and he didn't want anything to do with her after she'd cut Lacey down with her words. He had to make a film based on his findings and he fit the last interview into the slide. He only had one last part to shoot and he'd be done. On Monday, he would get the lighter side of the sorority to prove his point that they weren't all everyone cracked them up to be. He wasn't sure that he fully believed it, but he knew there were good hearted girls in sororities like Lacey that existed, and they deserved to have their voice heard. He put his laptop away and fell asleep with movies still playing....