After All

Chapter Six

            "Ugh, you're so lucky that your family lives far away and isn't coming up," Cassie moaned a few days later. We draped ourselves over couches in the common area adjacent to the lobby of the dorm, waiting for Cassie's parents to show up. It was Family Weekend and hundreds of parents and siblings were descending on the campus for a variety of activities. My parents offered to come up, but the flight from Florida wasn't exactly cheap. Plus, they both had work and Luke was in a basketball tournament. Since they'd already seen the school when they dropped me off, I told them it was ridiculous to fly all the way up for less than forty-eight hours. I'd be home for Thanksgiving in just a few weeks.

I picked at some invisible lint on my jeans. "I thought that at first, which is why I told them not to come up," I glanced around as the space filled with students and parents hugging, laughing, and smiling. "But now it seems like I'm the only one without visitors this weekend."

"Well wipe that frown right off your face, Lily. You can hang out with my parents and me this weekend. I'm the youngest of five, remember? They won't even notice the extra person tagging along."

"Thanks, lady. I might take you up on that. At the very least, I don't want to be sitting at the football game all alone."

Cassie's mom and dad weren't scheduled to get there for another hour, but we were so nervous about messing up our once-in-a-lifetime spotless room, we self-banished ourselves from the space. Sipping on Diet Cokes and snacking on bags of potato chips, we observed our classmates greet their families and nervously show them around. It was strange to see a person's old life take up space in this new one. Most of our after-class activities were not for the eyes of children, nor older adults, and the sight of notoriously drunk, scantily dressed girls now wearing conservative clothes and hugging their moms, made me giggle.

As I scanned the crowds, my eyes were drawn to the front doors. Dressed in jeans and a long-sleeved, black, button-down, Ryan strolled in. An older man and woman flanked his sides with two teenage girls trailing behind.

Ryan's face lit up when he saw me, and I almost choked on my chips when he started leading his family in my direction. Frantically brushing crumbs off my lap, I stood up and attempted to make myself as presentable as possible.

"Meeting the parents already, are we?" Cassie teased under her breath as they got closer.

I gave her a death stare. "You shush." I hissed. "This is something friends do. I'm gonna see your parents later."

"That is so not the same," she shook her head, laughing.

Rolling my eyes for affect, I ignored her. Since Ryan and I had come back from our adventure off campus, Cassie insisted we were headed for relationship-hood. The more I denied it, the more she pushed. So I'd taken to giving her the cold shoulder until she dropped it.

"Hey, Sunshine Girl," Ryan walked over, his normally casual demeanor had a nervous edge to it. There was an unusual tightness to his smile. If introducing your family to your friends was so stressful to everyone, I was relieved I didn't have to subject myself to the same torture.

"Hey, Ryan," I responded warmly, wiping my hands one last time on my jeans. "This must be your family."

"Yup, these are my parents and sisters, Rebecca and Michelle."

Ryan's dad extended his hand out to me and I met him halfway. His grip was strong but gentle, just like Ryan's. "Do we call you Sunshine Girl as well?" Mr. Parker teased.