Chapter 41: Quality Time


    EMMA''s POV :


    I must admit, life was pretty darn goodtely.After homing,n and I were inseparable.I spent all


    my time juggling school work, college applications, hanging out with Tiff and Carrie, and chilling withn


    every chance I got.I was on a roll.


    Sleep became a secondary need.Sure, it was exhausting, but I also felt so alive.So when Thanksgiving


    break rolled around, I was honestly relieved.


    This way I could take a rest from school and work, and focus my time on my family and on


    lan.Especially onn.


    We were nning something big for Thanksgiving this year.


    He wanted toe through with his promise fromst year, he was bringing me to his home in New


    Jersey to spend the holidays with him and his family.


    Of course, it wasn''t easy convincing my parents that their only daughter wanted to spend herst


    thanksgiving before college somewhere else.Mom and dad had so many questions.


    I told them I was spending thanksgiving at themunity garden, as they were hosting an event of


    thanksgiving dinner at a nearby county.


    Themunity garden was actually hosting this event, so it was the perfect cover.


    I told my parents I needed the extramunity service hours and that it was for a good cause.


    Finally, after a lot of begging and bargaining, my parents decided it was okay that I went on this


    thanksgiving dinner trip.  I felt bad for lying to them, but spending thanksgiving withn and his family


    was an offer I couldn''t refuse.


    And hey, maybe next thanksgiving it would ben’s turn to spend it with my family.


    Our n was to leave on Thursday morning and we would be back in Georgia by Sunday night.


    Mom, dad, and I had dinner on Wednesday night to make up for me missing the actual turkey day on


    Thursday.


    It was a nice and lovely dinner.


    Mom and dad discussed dad’s job and that things were getting better.


    Then we talked about my college ns and discussed financial aids or possibly getting a loan.


    So overall, it was a very hopeful talk.


    After dinner, mom came into my room and she saw that I was struggling with packing my overnight


    bag.


    It was my first thanksgiving ever withn’s family and I wanted to make sure I would dress right for the


    asion.


    "Need some help?" she asked.


    "Sure. You can help me decide which one is better?"


    I said as I brought up two simr sweaters but in different colors. One is red and the other is blue.


    "The blue one, definitely. It''ll bring out your eyes,"


    "Blue it is. Thanks, mom,"


    I said and folded the blue sweater into my overnight bag.


    "So, thismunity garden thanksgiving festival thing..." she trailed as she helped fold the scattered


    rejected clothes.


    "Yeah?"


    "This guy friend that you''ve been seeing the whole summer, is he gonna be there?" she asked


    teasingly.


    "Mom!"


    "It''s just a question, Emma. I''m a mother, that’s what I do,"


    "He… might be," I answered cautiously.


    "Okay.You still remember our little talk, right?"


    "Yes, mom, I do.Please don''t repeat yourself,"


    Mom had given the talk right before we started school this year.It was about a year toote, but it didn’t


    matter.


    I pretty much knew everything I needed to know from the inte and my friends.Tiff especially, she


    could be very graphic with details.


    Plus,n was always careful.


    He always used a condom, always without exception.


    "You''re a big girl, you can handle yourself, I know that.I trust you.Especially with how hard you''ve been


    working for college and to save up money, I’m really proud of you Emma,"mom said as she continued


    folding my clothes.


    "Thanks mom,"


    "You deserve to have some fun.But please, just remember to always be safe,"


    "I will, mom, I got this.You don’t have to worry," I said with a reassuring smile.


    "So, since you''re not gonna be home tomorrow, your dad and I decided to go on a little date


    night.We''re gonna watch a movie.It’s been a while since we did that," mom chatted away.


    "That sounds fun.You and dad deserve to have some fun.Just be safe, okay?" I said, mimicking her


    words jokingly.


    "Ha-ha, nice one," sheughed and finished folding all the scattered clothes.


    She put them all in a pile and brought it neatly back to my closet.


    "You sure you don’t want me to drive you to the meeting point tomorrow?"she called out from inside the


    closet.


    "No, my friend’s picking me up," I said as I zipped up my overnight bag.


    Finally, I got everything together.


    "Okay. Well, I''ll be calling you every night to check up on you," mom said and she grabbed my travel


    charger on the desk and handed it to me.


    Right, almost forgot the charger. The most important thing ever.


    "And I''ll be answering your call every night, mother,"


    I smiled and took the charger from her, and I put it inside the front pocket of the bag.


    "That''s all I wanna hear," she pulled me for a quick hug and kissed m_ forehead


    "Good night, sweetheart,"


    "Good night, mom,"


    We left the house very early the next morning.We wanted to get to New Jersey before 7 PM, where


    dinner would start.


    It was kinda sweet.  Finally, after twelve hours of driving filled with carpool karaoke sessions, sipping on


    Slurpee and coffee, and a lot of stupid I spy gamester, we made it to New Jersey.  "Yay! You guys


    are here!"


    Hailey beamed at us as she opened the front door.


    "Come in,e in!" she gave us each a hug before pulling us inside.


    The air was cold outside but the house was warm and bright.


    There was a fire in the firece, jazz music was ying, and the smell of Kristen’s amazing cooking


    filled the air.


    "I''ll bring these upstairs,"n said, referring to our bags.


    "Emma,e here," Hailey pulled me to the kitchen before I could say anything else.


    "Hey, everyone, look who''s here!" she announced to the whole room as we stepped inside the kitchen.


    "Emma! You made it!"


    Kristen was busy pouring gravy into a bowl, but she dropped everything to give me a hug.


    "Thanks for having me. I''m so excited for dinner," I said as I hugged her back.


    "So, this is Emma," a guy with dirty blonde hair and brown eyes greeted me.


    He looked like he was aroundn’s age.


    "Hi, I''m AJ. I''ve heard so much about you,"


    "Hi, nice to meet you," I shook his hand politely.


    "AJ is one ofn’s oldest friends.He’s lonely on his own, so he likes to spend thanksgiving with


    us,"Hailey added and they shared augh.


    "Is there anything I can help you with?" I said to Kirsten as I noticed how busy she was.


    "No, no.You''re our guest.Just sit still, dear,"she shook her head firmly.


    "This is mom''s turf.She’s not gonna let you touch anything,"Hailey said.


    "Hey, ma, how are you?"n entered the room and went straight to hug his mom.


    It was sweet to see how good he was with his mom.


    So sweet, it was almost sexy.


    "I’m doing good.Turkey''s almost ready,"


    Kirsten replied and turned to Hailey, "Don’t just stand there sweetie, go set the table for our guests will


    you?"


    n’s a guest and I’m not?"


    Hailey rolled her eyes at her big brother before turning to her heels.


    "AJ! Bro, d you can make it,"n ignored Hailey and went straight for AJ.


    "Yeah, man.My parents are spending thanksgiving on a cruise, somewhere in Barbados.Your mom and


    Hailey invited me, hope that’s cool,"


    "Absolutely.Hey, you''ve met my girl?"n asked as he put an arm around me.


    I loved that we could be ourselves here. He could introduce me to people as his girl and it wouldn''t be


    weird.


    "Emma, yeah.We met,"


    AJ nodded at me and said, "You got a good one right here, Emma.Hold on to him,"


    "Shut up,"


    "Hey AJ, I can use a hand here,"


    Hailey called out from the dining room.


    "Be right there,"


    AJ replied and made his way over to Hailey.


    He also helped Kristen took out the big, heavy turkey from the oven.


    It looked amazing and smelled divine.It was pretty much the poster child for thanksgiving turkeys.


    I was smiling to myself as I saw how goodn was with his mom.They were such a lovely family.My


    eyes then darted to the dining room where Hailey and AJ were.


    They were busy setting the table for everyone, so I thought I could give them a hand.


    I walked towards the dining room as Hailey and AJ had their backs on me.


    They didn’t notice I wasing in, as they wereughing and smiling at each other.


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    And suddenly, AJ took Hailey’s hand and he brought it to his lips.


    He kissed her hand gently before softly letting it down.


    Hailey was blushing and her eyes fluttered as she stared at AJ.


    Wait a minute...are they a thing?


    "Emma!"


    Hailey gasped as she noticed I was a few feet away from them.


    Hailey and AJ immediately pulled away like mas hitting each other.


    "I''ll, uh, go see if Kristen needs help with the turkey,"


    AJ coughed and shuffled away awkwardly.


    "Uh...hey...didn’t mean to bother you...I was just wondering if you guys needed help with anything," I


    said to Hailey.


    "Oh, we got it. All done," sheughed nervously and motioned for the chair,


    "Just sit here and chill.Talk to me.How was Georgia?"


    Hailey was always chatty, but this was different.She was being nervously chatty.


    "Georgia was good.You know, just busy with school.Senior year,"


    "Right," she nodded in agreement


    "Hey, you never told me, what was major again?"


    "Uh..." I stammered,


    "I’m still undecided,"


    "Still? I thought you''d have to dere a major by now? You''re a senior right?"


    Oh shit. Ipletely messed that up! I shouldn''t have said that, it just slipped up.


    "I mean...I was undecided, but I''ve dered a major and it’s..."


    Oh shit. I don’t have an answer to this.


    If I have, I wouldn''t have applied to all these colleges undered.


    "Um...I mean..."


    I was racking my brain for an answer, but somehow I couldn''t think of anything.


    Just say something, anything! Any major, just lie!


    "What is it?" Hailey narrowed her eyes at me and I got worse.


    I was blinking rapidly and no words wereing out of my mouth.


    Normally I wouldn''t be this dumb, but I was so caught off guard.


    "I''m...um..."


    I looked from side to side for some help.


    I was wishing thatn would walk in here right now to save me.


    But there was no one or nothing between Hailey and me.


    She was waiting for an exnation.


    "Emma? What is it?" she said again.


    "I don''t have a major..." I breathed finally.


    "What do you mean you don’t have a major?"


    "I don''t have one because I’m not in college yet,"


    "But you''re a senior...oh!"


    her eyes shot wide and her hands went to cover her gaping mouth as she said, "You''re in high school?"


    "Please, sshh," I put my hand to her mouth to keep her voice down.


    "Butn’s...a high school teacher..." she was blinking like crazy as she spoke in a whisper.


    "Yeah..."


    "Please tell me at least you guys are not in the same school,"


    "Define...same,"


    "Holy shit!" she gaped again, covering her mouth with both hands.


    "Please, Hailey, don’t tell anyone or say anything.Please, I’m begging you,"


    "Holy freaking shit!"