Junior Year Box Set

When we were finally done talking to the coaches, I went to the car to go home and found Mom and Dad in it, but no one else. It seemed Brandon and Cassidy had been told to get rides with others in our group. That could only mean my mom wanted to talk to me. I knew this because she told me.

“We need to talk through some things,” Mom informed me as soon as I got in the back seat.

Dad concentrated on driving. He didn’t plan to play referee. I figured Mom had already gotten to him, so I didn’t expect much help out of him anyway. Plus, Dad still had his own issues to work out with her. If I were in his shoes, I would keep my head low, too.

“What did you think of Michigan State?” Mom asked.

This was just the first probe into enemy territory. Mom wanted to see if I would communicate with her at all, so she threw me a softball. If I gave her a one-word answer, Mom would just launch into lecture mode, and over the next few hours in the car I would listen to every sin I’d committed since birth. Even if I participated in the conversation, I might still hear about it.

My third option was the filibuster. I could babble on about Michigan State and how great I thought they were for the rest of the trip. I decided to go that route because I really didn’t want to talk about what my mom wanted to: Tami. I’m not sure when Mom had become such a staunch supporter of my ex-best friend, but there was no denying that she had. I think she always secretly wanted a daughter. I’d hoped Angie would fill that role, but apparently not.

So, I launched into a spiel about the virtues of the Spartans, all of which was basically true. I liked the campus, it was still close enough that my parents could come and see my games, and I was intrigued by their Honors College. They also seemed to be a team on the rise.

Where I lost credibility was when I started talking about Lambda Chi Alpha and how they might be the fraternity for me. I think my dad gave it away by snorting when I mentioned I might like to live in the house. He knew that as soon as I was able to get out of the dorms, I would be in a place of my own in a flash. I had no desire to live with forty other college guys. Heck, I would just about die if my brother roomed with me. How would I handle a bunch of drunken fraternity brothers who wanted to party when I had to either work out or study? While I might join a fraternity for the social aspects, there was no way I would live in the frat house.

“Okay, I get it. You like Michigan State. That wasn’t what I wanted to talk to you about,” Mom said to stop me.

“But I haven’t even talked about the intricacies of their offense and how I think I might contribute,” I said, trying to get back to my filibuster.

“I’d like to hear all about that,” my dad lied.

At least he tried to cover for me.

“I don’t think so,” Mom said, shooting down my attempt to derail her from her intended purpose. “How has it become so bad with you and Tami?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Could it have anything to do with her telling me she wanted to date other guys, and then jumping my best friend?” I asked without thinking.

“David, everyone knows nothing happened!”

“Bullshit,” I mumbled.

“What did you say?” Mom asked.

“I said bullshit! You weren’t there to see what I saw. Even if nothing happened, they ended up in bed naked, and things progressed far enough for a condom to be used.”

From her expression, my mom hadn’t been told that little factoid. I’m sure Tami had spun a tale of how I’d misunderstood what had happened. Granted, I had also left that out, but I had suffered through the whole forced-apology fiasco.

“Why didn’t you tell me about that?” Mom asked.

“Because you no longer want to talk to me, you just want to tell me what to do. I suppose I’m grounded again because Tami and Alan did something and I didn’t approve. I think the real question isn’t what’s wrong between Tami and me, it’s what’s wrong between us.

“I used to feel like I could tell you anything, and you’d help me work through it. It was the family against the world. Now you ground me for any perceived slight, or if I challenge you on anything. If I’m going to be your personal whipping boy, count me out.”

“Is that what you really think?” Mom asked.

I would never answer that question. I actually did something smart and just went quiet. Mom realized there was no point in continuing the conversation. It turned into a long ride home.

◊◊◊

We came home to a full house. Greg and Angie were there with Kyle, Mac, and Nate. I wasn’t surprised to see Uncle John and Aunt Bonnie, but I was surprised when my two grandmas were there, too. It felt good to come home and get swarmed by three babies and my wild child, who forgot there were babies and knocked them down with his tail. Nate needed some loving, but Kyle and Mac told Duke ‘no,’ and he minded them. I needed one of them around to help me control him. Duke seemed to understand that they were babies, and he was very gentle with them, most of the time.