When She Was Mine

Part 6- His First Love

I get home before my parents do. Since it was only the first day of classes and my school workload wasn’t unbearable, yet, I decided to make dinner for my parents. I open the pantry and give it a quick scan. My eyes settle on the pasta noodles and I toss the box on the counter. I open the fridge and pop open a jar of alfredo and take out the half a chicken from last night’s dinner.

I turn the CD player on and pop in the EP that Riley had given me.  The music was so catchy. I’m a sucker for bands who play their own instruments. There were some upbeat songs and some soft ballads. I personally adored the ballads. What I love about this group was even the “sad, gloomy” songs still made me feel hopeful. Their message was so uplifting, so different from the content that is on the radio nowadays.

I’m still cooking while my parents come in through the front door. I can see how tired they are from work. All I needed was 5 more minutes and everything would have been perfect and done, but I tried my best. I shout over the music as I walk to turn it off, “Hi, Mom! Hi, Dad! How was work?” Before I could turn off the CD, my mom sad, “Hold on.” I pause and then I hear her say okay, which was my cue to turn the music off.

“Hi, Mom and Dad,” I repeat. My dad comes over to hug and kiss me on the forehead. “Hello, sweetie,” he says and continues, “how was your first day of college?” I just stare at him and he knows the answer. He replies to my silence, “It will be fun, I promise. “ My mom comes and hugs me and kisses me on the cheek. “Do you know that band you were just playing?”

I look at her and say, “No, why?” “I was just wondering. I was giving a house tour to 4 boys today. They were interested in buying a house together. I think they may have been a band. I heard them whispering they wanted to make a certain room in the house a music studio. I usually don’t sell to college students, but they really seem promising and serious about buying a house. Any who, I’m not sure if they were the band you were just playing, but they were playing that CD.”

I almost spit out the water I was drinking, but I gulped it down and shouted, “WHAT?! Mom that’s awesome! You have to find out if that’s the band or not. I have to meet this band.” I said that too eagerly holding the CD case in the air.

My parents started giggling. They know how I get when I find out about a new band I like.

The food was done cooking and I sent my parents to their room to get changed first before dinner was served. I nearly burned my hands when placing the food onto the plates. I was pretty proud of how everything turned out. I even had fresh flower cut from our garden as a center piece. It was definitely Instagram ready, I laughed.

I hear my parents walking down the stairs and I hear them say too loudly, “It smells delicious, Ryland!” I tried to scan their faces to see any trace of sarcasm, but I couldn’t find any. “Thanks Mom and Dad,” I say.

“I have one question, though, Ryland,” my dad asks. “Why did you cook dinner for us when it was ‘your’ first day of school,” he continued. “Can’t a daughter show her appreciation for her amazing,” I retorted.

“Well we are quite amazing, aren’t we,” Mom said sarcastically.

We ate dinner and put the dishes in the dishwasher because we were all too tired to wash everything by hand. I kissed my parents and thanked them for everything right before I left to go upstairs to my room. I blasted the album again and I swear I memorized at least 90% of the lyrics.

I looked at the clock and the red letters displayed 9:02 PM. I looked at my phone to see if Clayton had texted me, but my inbox was empty like it has always been. I was fighting the urge to text him, but I already ruined my first impression and I don’t want to seem too clingy.  My eyes are feeling way too heavy and I fall asleep to the sound of a boy singing about his first love.