The Good Hair Family Sitcom

S4 E2.2: Dada Deficiency

Jayda's POV

None of the pillows on the couch in Andreas's basement match. They used to all have pairs, but years of interesting ideas by young Andreas and current Cara have lead to them being torn or lost or burnt. I tug my white cardigan around my torso to preserve my body heat in the chill of the under-heated basement, but Andreas's arm helps me out as he slides in next to me, setting the popcorn bowl down on the table. I shift to find my place against his chest, letting his arm encompass me like a ribbon on a present.

"What movie are you thinking?" he asks.

With my head now tucked just beneath his, he presses a kiss to my head, an automatic action for him, and I roll over and pull myself up, aligning our chests, so that my lips can reach his and kiss them, an automatic reaction for me, as though the tenderness of that tiny head kiss isn't near enough. And I do admit, it's nothing compared to this, the open desire, the perfect loss of poise, ignoring of manners and just giving up in a way that says I want you more than a kiss on the head. I want you enough to disrupt our pattern of steadiness and kiss you harder.

"Ew!" comes Cara's reaction as they pass by the two of us making out. "Jayda, I thought you were a vegan! Quit eating his face!"

I didn't actually even realize they were down here in one of the other rooms. Although it's just Andreas's sibling, my face still goes red from slight embarrassment. Andreas, on the other hand, just sits up and whips a pillow at them in annoyance, which makes them scream and laugh as they dash upstairs.

With that dealt with, Andreas takes my jaw in his hand again and continues with what we were doing before the interruption, and after about another minute or so, I finally break away and sit up properly, fixing my cardigan which has fallen off one shoulder.

"So a movie," I say.

"Oh, we're still doing that?" Andreas responds.

That makes me grin, and I reach for a few kernels of popcorn to snack on while using the controller to scroll through the options on Netflix. Naturally, I end up leaning back into Andreas's arms, and as soon as I do, an explosion of pamphlets like confetti drop on top of us, and we both glance back to see Brayden behind the arm of the couch.

"You left these upstairs," he says before leaving as fast as he came.

I pick up the one on my chest and flip it open. It's for a college, Utah State University. The others are all for more schools: University of Utah, Westminster College, Dixie State University, even some as far as Ohio State University. I only started thinking about college today, but he's already collected a million pamphlets—and they're for schools away from me.

My heart pops and drains the helium keeping it afloat, causing it to come plummeting into the ocean faster than light, faster than my uneasy lungs can keep track of. It makes me feel dizzy for a second as the dark blue water beats it farther down. Was I just gullible to assume he wasn't considering going anywhere other than University of Shadyside? Like, I thought he'd stay here. I thought we wouldn't be divided by hours of driving and high gas prices. I thought we'd last.

I don't mean to sound so frail, but when I speak, it sounds like a wounded butterfly. "You're thinking about college too?"

"Yeah," he responds, oblivious to my rapid-water mind. "My TA is telling me I have to start thinking about applications soon so that I can have a chance at getting in."

"Mine too," I mutter. "I don't even know what I want to do."

"I have a few ideas for myself: criminology, political science, entrepreneurship, maybe journalism or film."