Books, Boys, and Basketball: Senior Year

THE DYNAMIC

I'm rethinking moving in with Drew when I end up getting into an argument with my mom who tries taking my car away because I came home after her ridiculous curfew of eight o' clock. Byron steps in like he's my dad or somebody, trying to tell me what to do, and we get into it.

I'm told to either fall in line or else, and it's at that moment I decide Drew is the lesser of two evils. At least he won't have all these ridiculous rules and restrictions.

So, I pack all my stuff, hide my bags in my closet, and when my mom and Byron leave for a date one night, Drew and some of his friends come over to help me move my things.

Less than an hour later I'm standing in the middle of my room at Drew and Scott's wondering what the hell I'm doing. I'm the only female living with two males. One who doesn't want me here, and another who doesn't know if he's coming or going from my life.

Yeah... this is going to be interesting...

When my mom gets home that night, she calls everyone under the sun, including the police, who tell her there's nothing they can do since I'm technically an adult now. She calls all of my friends trying to find me, but no one will tell her where I am. She even calls my dad, who cusses her out for uprooting me in the first place, and then he starts blowing me up.

When I call him back to let him know I'm fine he encourages me to call my mom so she can stop worrying, but its Byron who picks up the phone to tell me they're at the hospital. It turns out all the excitement over my covert departure pushed her into early labor and my new sibling are finally here in the flesh. I could hear one of the babies making grunting noises through the phone while I'm talking to Drew's dad.

He demands I come see my mom in person to put her mind at ease and to bring Drew so we can meet our new siblings. Drew and I both agree to go down to the hospital, even though we don't want to.

We take our time getting to the hospital because neither one us wants to do this. Its written all over our faces when we walk into my mom's room in the maternity ward.

We're introduced to our new siblings, Tara and Travis. A boy and a girl. And we take turns holding each of the babies that symbolize everything that's wrong between us.

I glance over at Drew who's holding Tara, watching him with her. He's gentle, affectionate, and protective of her, which makes me think about what he might be like with our own kids. Even though I don't like or want any kids right now.

"We want you and Drew to be their God Parents," Byron informs us.

He has a lot of nerve to ask this much of us when we've barely accepted the fact that our parents are together.

Drew and I exchange surprised glances. "I don't know what to say," Drew nervously tenses up. "I would love to be their God Parent, but if you think it's all good between us let me be the first to tell you it's not."

"I know son," his dad nods. "Maybe when you're done being mad at me, we can have that talk."

"So, never then?"

Sighing and softening his expression his dad tells him. "No matter what's going on between us, I love you Drew."

"Don't talk to me about love," Drew scoffs. "What about my mom's love for you? The love that has her crying her eyes out every night over you."

"I didn't set out to hurt her. I didn't even know I was unhappy until something just sort of clicked between Kristina and I."

"We fought our feelings for months," my mom adds. Every time she talks to Drew, I cringe a little inside because I know how he feels about her. "But the heart wants what it wants. Then we found out we were pregnant, and we didn't want to pretend anymore. We weren't doing your mom or Bill any good staying where we weren't happy. Your mom and dad were arguing every day."