Page 95 of The Midseason Fakeout

And I can’t wait.

Nothing will ever tear us apart. Ever.

26

BAILEY

My stomach churnsas we wait for my mother. Darrin and me…and Aidan.

He insisted.

He pulls me onto his lap, and I melt into him. He opened up to me last night, telling me how he’s always felt like an outsider. How he has abandonment issues from his birth mother giving him up for adoption. I held him while he told me everything. It was like an exorcism of his past trauma, and while I was still reeling and raw, he asked me mine.

We’ve been up nearly all night. My eyes are dry and tired. I’ve shed every tear I’ve had in me.

When Darrin woke, we both hugged him. I understand now that he doesn’t want me to suffer the same fate as him, but there’s one difference between what Darrin went through and what I am: I have someone else to confide in.

Aidan’s still here, even with the threat of my mother.

“She’s not going to make you go to Carnegie,” he keeps telling me, but worry settles deep in my bones. It was obvious yesterday that Aidan wouldn’t be able to handle a long-distance relationship. Not with his abandonment issues. I feel for him in a way I never thought I’d have to.

The doorbell rings, and I clam up. Truthfully, I don’t know exactly why she’s coming here. To tell me about Carnegie? To take me away now? We don’t know what we’re dealing with, and that makes the worry that much worse.

“I’ll get it,” Darrin says.

Aidan nudges me, and he’s right. I have to show her that I’m not scared. “No, I will.”

I stand up, squeezing Darrin’s hand. “Remember, this isn’t your fight. You can go upstairs.”

He shrugs noncommittally, and I honestly don’t know if he will be my friend or foe when my mom walks in and starts talking.

The doorbell rings again, and I make myself walk forward. After tugging the door open, my mother turns, her gaze sliding from my head to my feet until she frowns. “What interesting attire.”

I smile, trying not to let her jab get to me. “Thanks. I wore it yesterday, too.”

Her stare darkens to a glower. “I see this campus is having such a great impact on you. Like I thought.”

Before she can get another word out, I reach up and hug her, squeezing her shoulders. Memories come flooding back, and they’re not all bad. They truly aren’t. I love my mother. “I’ve missed you.”

“Oh.”

“I’m glad you came by.” I move out of the way and gesture down the hallway. “Aidan’s here to say hi, and Darrin, obviously.”

She clears her throat. “I was hoping to speak to just my children,” she says, voice haughty as she steps into the hallway.

“Well, he’s here.” I move her forward. I’m practically on her heels the whole way. It feels like a walk of doom, but I have to stand up to my mother at some point in my life. It might as well be now when I’m surrounded by people who care.

When she enters the kitchen, Aidan jumps up from a seated position and holds his hand out. “Mrs. Covington, great to see you again.”

“Aidan, hello.”

Her fake smile is plastered on her face, and it glitters with inauthenticity. After she shakes his hand firmly, Darrin wraps her in a hug. She studies the small kitchen with a frown until Darrin backs away and Aidan offers her the chair he was sitting in.

She sits, her gaze still darting everywhere. “I thought this would’ve been bigger.”

Well, it’s definitely small compared to our house back home if that’s what she’s comparing it to, but it’s also massively bigger than Aidan’s dorm room. “It’s the perfect size,” I tell her. “Darrin and I don’t need much space. It’s only the two of us. Can I get you something to drink? Water?” I quickly offer because I realize we don’t actually have anything else. Plus, that’s a trick I picked up from her: know how to work your guests.

“Water is fine.”

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