Truth.

Part IV

It’s 6:15, and after eating, dancing, and pretending to know complete strangers that are apparently my aunts, uncles, and cousins, it’s finally time to go home.

“You ready?” Melissa asks.

“Are you kidding? I never even wanted to be here in the first place!” I say, chuckling.

I signal the guys, telling them that it’s time to go, but they signal back to me telling Melissa and I to go ahead. Just as Lissa and I walk out the door, I hear a voice calling back to me.

“Maddi! Wait up!” I turn around and see Kenneth running towards me.

“What’s up?”

“Can I still drop by your house?” He asks with a huge smile across his face.

“Oh, yeah. Just follow our car.” I answer.

We arrive at the house at around 7:30, and I feel way too tired to do anything else. I go upstairs to my room to change into shorts and a T-shirt, and find a small-ish box on my dresser. I pick it up, and on the lid there’s a note.

“Maddi, here’s a little gift for you. I love you more than I could ever promise, and nothing is ever going to change that. Love, Nick.”

I smile and open the box, and I see this beautiful sterling silver charm bracelet. I examine the charms, and put it on my left wrist. After that, I head downstairs and find Ken sitting on the couch in the main living room.

“Where’s Lissa?” I ask.

“Oh, she went to grab some food..” He says, looking at his phone.

“What the hell? We just came from a family reunion with so much food and she’s still hungry.” I complain.

Kenneth laughs, and pats the cushion next to him, signaling me to sit down beside him, and so I do. I notice that he saw my bracelet. “Uh oh.. “ I thought.

“Wow. That’s an amazing bracelet. Who gave it to you?”

Ah shit.

“Oh. My… boyfriend gave it to me.” I say, trying to make it seem like I didn’t really care about what he was going to say,

“Oh, you have a boyfriend?”

Kill me. Just strike me with lightning. Anything.

“Uhm, yeah. His name is Nicholas.” I say sheepishly.

“Well Nicholas is a very lucky guy.” Ken says, playing with my wrist.

I smile, and nod at him.  We sit there in silence for a minute or two, and most of the time he’s just playing with my hair. Ken likes to play with my hair a lot. He’s been doing that ever since we were little.

“Hey, uh, I should get going. It’s pretty late.” He says, glancing at the clock.

“Oh alright.” I say, getting up and walking towards the door.

“Thanks for having me over. I had an awesome time at the reunion.” He says hugging me.

“No problem. Give me a call sometime, maybe I can show you around.” I respond, sticking my head out the door as I watch him climb into his car.

“I will!” He shouts out from the window.