Page 12 of Puck with Karma
“Rye,” Hannah calls to our friend. “You think this guy is good looking?”
The response comes way fast. “I do.”
“Well,” Hannah leans back, looking like she is unable to process all this new information. “I would’ve never guessed that our little Riley was into the dirty boys.”
I have to bite my tongue before I confess that I am into all the dirty boys myself.
“It’s more surprising thatyou’renot into them, Hannah,” Riley gives it back to her. “With your reputation and all…”
“Excuse me for enjoying company of the male variety.” Hannah sounds defensive but amused. She knows that Riley doesn’t mean anything bad by what she said. We tease each other all the time, and this is no different.
I don’t say anything, just let them tease each other back and forth. Meanwhile, I get up from my chair and start putting things away. I didn’t have to bring much with me since the apartment came fully furnished and has all the necessities. But I did do a load of dishes, just for my own peace of mind, even though it all looked clean. And now it’s cleaner.
“What time do you have to go in tomorrow, Abby?” Hannah calls out to me when they finally realize that I moved from my spot at the table. The laptop is turned so they can see what I’m doing in the kitchen.
“I am meeting with someone from Human Resources at eight. All my paperwork is done, but there were a couple of documents that needed to be signed in person,” I explain to my friends.
“You’ll be in their Marketing department?”
“Yes,” I nod in confirmation.
“But I thought you wanted to do sports management,” Riley quips quietly. It is almost as if she is worried about hurting my feelings.
“I do, but I have to start somewhere. And I think this will give me a good foundation, and more opportunities for what I want to do.”
They both hum their approval before we fall into a companionable silence. That is until Hannah decides we had enough of that.
“What about your mom? Is she okay with this?”
My mother would definitely not be okay with this. I haven’t given her all the details yet, and I don’t have the guts to admit it to my friends.
“Wesley, too?” Her voice goes up an octave when she asks. “Will there be an engagement party while you’re out there…?”
“It’ll all be fine,” I cut her off rather abruptly. “Wesley said he will support me in doing this. He knows how important it is to me.”
Wesley Arthur and I started dating in my first year in college. My parents, my mother in particular, were very supportive of our relationship. In fact, she did everything in her power to push us together to begin with. In the end, I said yes because I wasn’t interested in anyone else, and Wesley really is a good guy.
The appeal for my mother is the fact that he comes from one of the oldest families in the country. A union between us is her dream come true.
Wesley and I have been dating for three years now, and it’s become obvious that the next expect step would be to get married. To say that both our families have been dropping hints doesn’t even begin to cover it.
The only problem with this entire scenario is that I am not sure the spark is there. Before I left home, he and I decided that it was best if we took a break from each other. I was honest with Wes about my feelings. I was scared to death to do so. Surprisingly, he was incredibly supportive. That leads me to think that he is not in love with me either.
The only think he made me promise was that I wouldn’t share with the parents just yet. There was some business deal going, and apparently, people being under the impression that we were involved depended on it.
“You two are so cute together,” Riley sighs. “I can only hope to find someone as awesome one day.”
“It won’t happen, Rye,” Hannah deadpans. “Not while you’re pining after some imaginary boyfriend. Don’t think I don’t know.”
“Hannah,” I chuckle softly. “Let her be.”
Riley’s always had a crush on my brother, Brandon. The same brother that I haven’t seen since I was in middle school. But the three of us used to always hide to watch all his games, and Riley got it into her head that Bran was the perfect male specimen.
“Speaking of,” Hannah zeroes in on me now. “Do you have any plans of contacting your brother?”
It is as if she can read my mind, I swear.
“Uh, yeah.” I hesitate to commit to anything. Now that my master plan is in motion, I am nervous about making contact with him. I am freaking out about him pretending like I don’t exist, just like he’d done for all these years.
