Page 20 of Choosing Her

“It's nice to meet you,” I said, sticking a hand out for them to shake. Now, generally, when I held a hand out, I expected someone to either shake it or possibly ignore it. So I was completely unprepared when Stacey instead pulled me into a hug. I wasn’t from a hugging family and the only person I regularly hugged, at her insistence, was Poppy, so I wasn’t used to the movement at all.

I just stood there awkwardly, with my arms pinned down from the way she’d gone in, and wondered how long this was going to last.

Crossy’s dad chuckled, clearly seeing my discomfort, and patted his wife's arm. She seemed to take the hint to pull away, and I wondered if this was a frequent occurrence. I guess probably about fifty percent of the people she met would hug her back, so she just went for it with everyone.

“It’s nice to meet you, Saylor," he said. Then he shook my hand, thank goodness. “So you're tutoring Crossy in math, huh? Are you also a senior?"

“I’m a junior, actually,” I said, awkwardly twisting my bracelet around my wrist. I knew what their next question would be: How are you tutoring him in a junior-level class if you're also a junior? It was a question I hated to answer, because it usually either involved me having to make myself sound like a genius or say that my parents pushed me to get ahead in my classes, both of which weren’t my favorite topics of conversation.

“Saylor’s super smart,” Crossy said, jumping in before they could any questions. “She’s ahead in all her science and math classes.”

Well, I couldn’t just leave that fact hanging there, as if I completely agreed with his assessment.

“Only a little,” I said. “And it’s just so that I could get all the credits I needed before I graduate.”

“Well, I’m sure tutoring this one is a handful,” his dad said, jerking his head toward Crossy. The words seemed a little rude until he grinned at Crossy in a way that made it clear that he was just making a joke, and Crossy smiled back.

Right. Because normal families had jokes like that. Just because I didn't, didn't mean they didn't.

“I hope it’s not too much on your plate,” Stacey added.

“Oh, it’s not,” I said automatically, because there was no other way to respond to that politely. I couldn’t exactly say Actually, I was forced into this at my parents’ request and it takes up about ninety percent of the free time I used to have .

“She's a horseback rider,” Crossy told them, because apparently it was embarrass-Saylor-day in his mind. “Really good, too.”

I blushed and muttered, “You haven't even seen me ride, Crossy. You don't know that.”

"I've seen you," he said, then waggled his eyebrows. “You just don't know."

“What do you mean?”

“Since you showed me the upstairs viewing area, sometimes I go up there while I know you have lessons."

That made my heart stop for a second. "But my lessons are usually at the same time as your hockey practice."

"Not all the time," he said. "It varies a lot."

Crossy had been watching my horseback riding lessons. No, that didn't make any sense. There was no way. He must have been lying, just to see my reaction. Maybe he was trying to see how flustered he could make me—spoiler alert: a lot.

“Anyway, we should find my mom. She insisted on seeing you too.” He looked at his dad and said, “Are you guys okay to look around on your own for a bit?”

“Of course, go ahead,” his dad said, patting him on the shoulder. He stuck another hand out to me and said, “It was nice meeting you.”

“You too,” I managed to stammer out, even though my brain was still moving a million miles a second. Crossy. Watching me. Horseback ride. I couldn’t even form the words into one sentence in my mind, that was how much they didn’t go together.

Crossy led me across the quad and into the cafeteria.

Like everywhere on campus right now, there was a lot of people in here, with the din of chatter and cutlery on plates filling the air.

I sipped on my iced coffee as Crossy led me through the room, seemingly headed toward a specific table, only now realizing how hungry I was.

I guess avoiding everyone’s happy families took more of my energy than I thought.

Crossy made his way to a circular table by the windows on the edge of the room, where a woman and a teenage girl were sitting.

They both looked so much like Crossy, with their dark brown hair and eyes, that I actually did a double-take as I walked up.

The teen girl’s eyes narrowed on me as I walked up, not like she was angry but like she recognized me and wanted to know how.

I slowed down, trying to figure out if I had met her.

I didn't think any of Crossy's sisters went to the school and as far I knew, none of them lived in my hometown either.

But how else would she have known me? She wasn't with him at New Year's Eve, was she?

“Mom, Aspen,” Crossy said, putting his hands on each of my shoulders.

I tensed, not because I didn’t like the touch but because I was worried who in the room might notice it and report it back to Naomi.

It wasn’t that I thought she had spies out everywhere, waiting for me to trip up or anything.

I just figured it would be good gossip for them.

Gossip that could ruin my already strenuous relationship with my sister and any sort of acquaintanceship Crossy and I had going right now.

“This is Saylor. Saylor, this is my mom and my sister, Aspen.”

Aspen’s eyes widened as she took me in, and she glanced at Crossy and mouthed something.

When I glanced at him as well, his face was flush, and he was shaking his head at her quickly, like he was telling her to shut up.

Classic siblings. But I wasn't sure what it was about me that could have triggered that reaction.

"Nice to meet you," I said, focusing on his mom, because I wasn't sure what kind of silent conversation was going on between Aspen and Crossy beside me.

"You too," she said. “Why don’t you sit down?”

I eyed the chair in front of me, wondering how rude I would seem if I said no.

Not that she didn’t seem nice or anything, but I didn’t really want to lock myself into a long conversation.

But she was watching me expectantly, so I pulled out the chair and sat, noticing dimly that Crossy did the same beside me. “You're tutoring Crossy in math?"

I was already anticipating having the exact same conversation as I had with his dad, and I immediately wanted to get out of here.

Why didn’t I just hide in my room, where Crossy wouldn’t have been able to find me?

That had to be better than this. I guess she must have noticed my trepidation because then she went, “Anyway, are your parents here? I'd love to meet them.”

Little did she know that was the worst question she possibly could have asked me.

“No,” I mumbled, then took a sip of my iced coffee to cover it up. I wondered if she noticed the name on the side was Crossy’s instead of mine. Though, she probably called him Caleb , much like my whole family called me Rebecca.

“Oh, did they go to town for food, instead?” She laughed lightly. “I admit, I wanted to see what my son eats every day, since he complains about the food here enough.”

“No,” I said slowly, although I probably realized I probably should have just said yes, agreed to it so I wouldn't have to deal with the pitying looks that always came when I mentioned my parents. But I was committed, so I said, “Actually, they're in Europe right now, so they couldn't come.”

“Oh.” She looked a little surprised but rushed past it quickly, thankfully without asking any questions. “Well, that's too bad.”

I shrugged and ran a hand across the back of my neck.

“You know how it is. They'll come to the next one, I'm sure.” I thought I was playing it off pretty well, but her sympathetic expression told me I was definitely failing.

I decided to go for my usual tactic to get the attention off me: deflection.

“So, you have another daughter, don't you? Crossy said he has two sisters on each side.”

She smiled and took a sip of her coffee. “Yes, Alivia. She was so looking forward to coming today but sadly wasn’t feeling well this morning.

“”Oh, that's too bad," I said. “But I guess we're all here without some of our family, right?”

I tried to laugh it off, but the joke came out forced and awkward, and she just looked at me.

"Do they not get to come to a lot of your family events?"

"I'm sorry?"

"Your parents. They're not here today, but do they miss a lot?"

This was so not a conversation that I wanted to be having with a person I had just met, and especially not Crossy's mother. I glanced at Crossy, who was still silently sitting beside me, but he just shrugged, clearly not sure how to get me out of this conversation. Or maybe he knew from experience that his mom wouldn’t let it go, so it was easier to just go along with it. I could definitely believe that.

“They come when they can,” I said slowly. I cleared my throat, realizing that didn’t sound much better. “I mean, they travel a lot, so…” I trailed off because every excuse I gave just made it sound worse.

“Well…” she said softly. She pushed her plate toward me, which only had one thing left on it: an uneaten sugar cookie.

They were the best ones the cafeteria made, but they were hardly ever available.

Even when they did make them for us students, they disappeared fast. I eyed her hesitantly as I reached out but she just nodded, clearly wanting me to take it.

“I know I can’t be a replacement, but if you need one, I can be your mom for today. ”