Not Your Average Nerd

Chapter Six

6

Days seemed to fly by quicker than I realized. One minute I was unpacking my things in my old room, and the next I find myself folding clothes back into my luggage. My time in Oregon was, well, actually enjoyable. It wasn’t nearly as shitty as I imagined it would be. Not once did I run into Royce, James, Rachel or any of the other asses that made high school a living nightmare. I ran into Jessica at the grocery store while checking out on Monday morning and again with my sister on Wednesday afternoon, but that was it. Not once did she call me one of the many creative names she and Royce came up with years ago. It was actually like she was trying to avoid the subject of high school at all costs. Jessica Roman, a new-redone nice person? I never guessed it was possible.

It was good to see the family. I never realized how much I loved them until I found myself actually upset to pack my bags to go back to San Antonio. Wow, if only I enjoyed Astoria this much when I still lived here.

I finished packing up a majority of the things I had brought and even some new items I purchased. Tudor sat on my bed, watching me walk around the room to collect my things. Stupid dog, I thought. He stuck his nose inside of my luggage case and began to sniff as if he were looking for something. I walked over to the bed and bent down to stare at him.

“Do you want to go back to Texas?” I asked him, using a ridiculous tone. Wow, speaking to this stupid mutt like a mother speaking to her baby. I really was in need of getting back to Texas. It seemed that Oregon was beginning to get to me and I wasn’t sure if I really did like it.

Tudor stuck his nose back inside of the luggage and made a groan noise. His ears stuck up as he sneezed. I pushed him out of the way, lifted the top from my case, and found clear dog snot on nearly everything. Disgusted, I pointed my finger and shouted, “GET THE HELL OUT.” Without hesitating, Tudor hopped off of the bed and sprinted out of the room, leaving long grey dog hairs on my quilt. “I take back my offer.” I muttered, brushing the hairs off of the bed. My apartment is perfectly fine without a dog. Why take one back and mess up the norm?

Mamă, who I didn’t even know was standing in my room, cleared her throat, causing me to jump. For being a plump woman she sure knew how to move quickly and quietly. I grabbed my chest and sucked in a large breath of air.

“You scared me.” I fixed the top to my luggage and zipped it back up.

“You’ll get over it.” Mamă said with a half-grin on her face. Yeah. I was going to miss her. She walked over to my bed and took a seat beside my luggage case. This wasn’t her about to get emotional, right? I wasn’t good with emotion. I stood stiff as a board, watching and waiting for her to do something. Finally, she sighed.

“Are you okay?” I asked, lugging the case off of the bed. I winced at the weight of the bag. It was much lighter when I had arrived. Maybe I was a bigger spender than I thought I was? That or some sort of packrat.

“Of course I am,” Mamă shrugged her shoulders and smiled. So much for the emotion…? “I came to tell you that your brother and the kids won’t be able to make it tonight, like he said they were.” One thing that I knew mamă hated more than cats: sudden changes in plans. I could see the anger she was trying her hardest to hide in her face. Her eyes closed as she pushed her hair behind her ears. “Adrian said he was sorry and that he would try to come another time, probably in the next month.” She stood to her feet and took a deep breath. I really hoped my mother wasn’t going to explode right there in front of me. The thought of picking little steaming pieces of angry Romanian woman off of me seemed gross.

“I understand.” I said, letting my shoulders shrug. It really wasn’t that big of a deal to me. Mother looked like she wanted to destroy a town while I really didn’t care. Yeah, I wanted to see Adrian and his family, but I could wait. I was excited and even a little bit nervous to meet my niece and nephew. The thought of my brother, the one who used to sneeze in my cornflakes for fun, having a family seemed mind blowing. My mother was proud that he was already had a family and a job at his age. She made sure that I knew how disappointing she found it that I was already 24, living alone, still in school, boyfriend-less, and still sleeping with a nightlight on. I honestly didn’t give a crap.