Page 132 of We Shouldn't Be Together
“So?” I call back.
When there’s no response, I grumble my way out of the chair and head downstairs. I could just blurt it out and then hightail it downstairs, but I know my friends. They’d pause the game and chase after me with a million questions. Then we’d be in the kitchen, leaving my mom wide open for more questions.
No, thank you.
When I make my way into the kitchen, Mom asks, “Are your friends staying for dinner?”
“How should I know? I just got here.”
“If they’re staying, I’ll order some pizzas.”
Unintentionally, I clap. “Let’s go out for pizza.”
Mom frowns. “No way. I’m not taking all your loud-mouth friends out to a restaurant.”
“Why not? It’s the same difference.”
“No, it’s not. Besides, we’ll never get a table to seat all of us. Fridays are packed out.”
“Sure, we will,” I argue. “They have those long family-style tables. It’ll be easy.”
“Kai, not happening. Now, go upstairs and find out what type of pizzas everyone wants.”
On my way back to the staircase, I pull out my phone to text Tabitha, and it buzzes in my hand.
I look down and find a new text from her.
"Sorry, it’s a bust on pizza. Like I said, my parents are very set in their ways on game days."
"No problem. My mom’s refusing to go out tonight. All my friends are here, and we’re ordering in."
"Your friends are there? Did they ask where you were?"
Deep breath."Yeah, the suspicions are high. I guess telling them will have to be like ripping off a band-aid."
She texts back,"You don’t have to tell them if you don’t want to."
Facing my friends’ reactions is one thing, but making Tabitha feel bad is way worse. I don’t want her thinking I’m ashamed to be with her. She’s worth more to me than keeping her a secret.
"I want to.,"I text.
Pocketing my phone, I make it upstairs. “Any of you knuckleheads staying for pizza?”
“I refuse to let Maddy’s stuffy boyfriend buy me dinner,” Jamie complains, flinging her controller at Tyler. “I’m in.”
“I can’t,” Tyler says, tapping through the setup menu on the screen. “Dad blows a gasket when I’m out too long the night before a game.”
“My parents are going to this dinner for my dad’s work,” Parker says, tossing his controller at me. “Somehow, I got roped into looking after my little brother.”
“And he’s bribed me to hang out with them,” Lewis adds.
“So, it’s just James staying?” I ask, unable to decide if that’s the best or worst-case scenario.
“You know what that means,” Jamie says, firing finger guns at me. “Double order of pepperoni.”
I send her a wink back, and leave the controller on the coffee table for someone to grab. I jog down the stairs to let Mom know it’s only Jamie sticking around.
“Oh, then maybe we can go out tonight,” Mom says in an upbeat tone.
