“Don’t worry. There’s like eight pounds of cookie left for you.”
“Thanks.” I shimmy up on a stool and join them at the island.
“What’s cooking, Princess Heaven?” Dad asks.
“I have a problem. Things have gotten weird,” I say, nodding to Mom.
“A ‘Weird SOS’ twice inside a week is a lot coming from you. Would I be right to assume the Fords have something to do with it?” Mom asks.
“Yeah, pretty much.”
“Okay, let’s hear it, and I’ll see if this is a situation where I need to ask Cristine if she can fight.”
I take a deep breath. I know Saylor wants to keep thisa secret, but this doesn’t feel like a good, fun secret. It’s starting to feel like it’s eating at me, and this is a discomfort I don’t want to get used to, even for someone I’m starting to love.
“Saylor’s my girlfriend.”
“Okay,” Mom says, her voice going up at the end. I catch the way Dad glances her way and then looks back at me, and I can’t help but notice that he says absolutely nothing.
“You knew?” I ask.
“I mean, you two have been making out on the couch for the better part of a month, and then one night when she was sleeping over, your dad went up to check on you guys and he said you two were knocked out in your bed and Saylor was wrapped around you like an octopus.”
“Dad!”
“What are you dadding me for?!” he says with a shrug. “I just wanted to make sure you two were still in the house and that you weren’t up there doing witchcraft or whippets.”
“What are whippets?”
“Don’t worry about it.”
“We knew something was going on, honey,” Mom goes on. “But we figured you’d tell us what the deal was when you were ready. Is everything okay? I’m loving the new girlfriend situation and I love Saylor. She’s a great kid, but how’d we land on the weird part of the equation?”
I take another deep breath and reach for a piece of one of the s’mores cookies. Ms.Lara is truly a culinary genius. I take a bite, and then I explain everything. I mean, I leave out all the kissing we’ve actually done on the couch and inmy room and in my car, but I start from the beginning with that fateful day in Whole Foods and how Saylor walked over here in the heat.
“That Pride video was not good. It was a lot,” Mom says.
“What Pride video?” Dad asks. Mom grabs her phone off its charger on the opposite counter. She does some swiping and then hands her phone over to Dad.
“Look at the caption,” Mom tells him.
“It’s ten minutes. About two in, she starts crying,” I add.
“Yeah, that’s a lot. Yikes.” Dad sets the phone down.
“The real problem is in the comments section.”
“Have her followers been harassing you?” Mom says, her eyes going a little dark, and I’m worried she might actually fight Mrs.Ford.
“I mean, I’ve gotten a few negative comments since she tagged me, but I just deleted them or left professionally snarky replies.”
“Hmm, okay.”
“So what’s going on?” Dad asks, frowning even as he takes another bite of cookie.
“Saylor and I have always been okay, but I didn’t really want to hang out with her on purpose, and I wanted to do the bingo alone. So, Saylor promised she’d help me with my assignment for Miss Kelly if I let her do the bingo with me. Actually, she basically offered to do it for me if I would let her do the bingo with me. And I said yes.”
Mom frowns, and Dad makes this face where his eyebrows shoot up. I can’t tell if he’s disappointed or really impressed with me outsourcing the assignment.