The One and Only [COMPLETED]

Chapter 3

              Aunt Karen made a dinner of potato soup, salad, and breadsticks. And for dessert, she made her famous strawberry shortcake.

            Stuffed from the meal, no one moved from their place at the table – not even Andrew. Instead, we chatted about unnecessary things, like, for example, school. Aunt Karen repeatedly asked John and I about how our classes were and if we had a “special someone” that we liked. Of course only John answered this question with a yes. I, on the other hand, have never even had my first kiss. Let alone a boyfriend. I didn’t say any of this though; it’d be too embarrassing; I simply answered with a no. So, going with John’s answer, Aunt Karen asked him about Lindsey.

            “She’s cool,” was John’s response. “Nothing special.”

            This pissed me off so much, but I fought to keep myself calm, not wanting to be yelled at by mom again. I wanted to yell at him for talking about Lindsey like this, but I didn’t. Instead, I sat patiently and listened to the rest of the conversation.

            “If she’s nothing special,” Aunt Karen said with a sly grin. “Then why are you blushing?”

            I looked at John’s face to see if this was the truth, and it was. He was blushing only slightly, but you could still tell his cheeks were pink. Maybe, just maybe, he cares about Lindsey after all.

            “I’m not blushing,” John responded, smiling a little while he looked at his empty plate.

            “Oh, okay,” Aunt Karen said sarcastically, “I’ll pretend to believe that.”

            “What about you Andrew,” my dad said, “got a girlfriend?”

            Andrew narrowed his eyes slightly, removing his ear buds that he wore all of the time. “Why is that any of your business?”

            “Oh, um…” my dad looked extremely uncomfortable as he shifted in his seat.

            “Andrew,” Aunt Karen’s face was full of warning.

            “What?” Andrew protested. “I don’t have the right to keep my life to myself?” He was standing now.

            Aunt Karen put her hand on his arm. “Hon, sit back down.”

            “Why? So I can listen to you tell them about my parents, too?” He looked at our shocked faces, and decided to stick his ear buds back in.  “I’m out of here,” he ran up the steps, and a few moments later, a door slammed.

            Aunt Karen wiped her hand over her forehead in a stressed manner. And then, like the sun, her bright smile dropped and turned into a sad moon, a cry. Her tears shimmered as they caught the light, falling from her face to the table.

            My mom put her hand on Aunt Karen’s shoulder reassuringly. “Hailey, John. I think you two should go upstairs now. Okay?”

            I nodded, already rising from my seat. “Come on John,” I said as he began to follow me up the spiraling staircase and to the long hallway on the next level. I went to my room and lightly closed the door, turning on the light. For a while I listened to Aunt Karen’s sobs from my bed, my mom and dad’s voice soft in her ears. But then the commotion died down and I decided to call one of my best friends, Jacey, also known as Jai.

            “Hey,” Jai said when she answered. “How is it in the Carolinas?”

            “Oh my gosh,” I said, “You wouldn’t believe how horrible it is up here. I love my aunt and everything, but there’s this guy—“

            “Ooh, a guy!” She squealed. “Is he cute? Does he have pretty eyes? Oh, what about his hair? Does he have nice hair? What about his muscles? Does he have nice abs or none at all? Have you even seen him shirtless? What about his smile? Please tell me he has a nice smile.”

            “Jai, chill out. He’s no one special, he’s just here. I guess you could say he’s sort of cute, but I would never date him. And no, I have never seen him shirtless before. I don’t really plan on it either. Anyway, he’s always in such a bad mood, which lets you know that I have never seen him smile. Just a few hours ago, he totally lost it at dinner when my parents asked if he had a girlfriend.”

            “No way,” a small gasp escaped her.

            “Yes way. Plus, he was so rude to me when I accidentally chose to stay in his room. He was all, ‘no, you can’t stay here’ and I totally told him off.”

            “Go Hailey!” she laughed. “He sounds like a real charmer. So have you talked to Mason yet?”

            “What do you think? I mean, even if I did call him, which I didn’t, I doubt he would answer. He thinks I’m a capital L loser.”

            “Oh please,” she made a disapproving sound. “He thinks you’re totally hot. Just like that guy you live with now.”

            I was taken aback. “Ugh! Andrew does not like me, okay? And I don’t like him either. We’re not even friends. You know, the only time I talked to him was when I was calling him a jerk.”

            Jai was laughing on the other end. “Seriously Hailey, you’re hilarious. His name is Andrew?”

            “Yeah,” I replied.

            “You know what they say about guys named Andrew.”

            “No, what do they say?” Jai is a very superstitious teenager. She’s always telling me and Isabel, my other friend, to be careful of every single thing we do, because with pleasure comes a curse. According to her anyway.

            “They say that your life is destined to have pain if you’re named Andrew. But you can always find a happy ending if you really want one. It’s sort of like a cheesy Disney movie.”

            “Well, I don’t think this Andrew has any pain. He’s just stubborn and obnoxious.”

            “You never know,” Jai said in a sing-song voice.

            “Oh, I think I know.”