“Thank you.”
“I can’t believe you’re old enough to drink,” she pauses, “welllegally, now.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about; I’ve never had a sip of alcohol in my life,” I lie, and she rolls her eyes.
“I’m dying, Zeke. Not dumb.”
“Mom!”
“What? I’m just being honest.”
“When you get your last set of tests back, you’ll find out that you’re in remission and—”
“I’ll technically still be dying. I mean, technically, we all are.” She laughs.
“This is not how I saw my birthday starting.”
“You’re right. We have better things to talk about.” She points toward the door. “Like the girl you abandoned in the hallway.”
My cheeks heat up. There’s no going back now. My mom already saw Avalon, which means I have to introduce her. Not that I’m having second thoughts, but it’ll be really embarrassing if Avalon did have second thoughts and is no longer in the hallway.
“Oh, um, that’s uh, Avalon.” I take a deep breath. “M-my girlfriend.”
“Are you gonna make her stay in the hallway your whole visit, or are you gonna invite her inside.”
“Right.” I turn around, heading back to the hallway, and grab Avalon’s hand to bring her inside. Her eyes widen as I pull her inside, but I give her a reassuring nod.
“Avalon, this is my mom, Elise. Mom, this is Avalon.” I pull out one of the chairs next to my mom’s bed and motion for Avalon to sit down.
“Hi, Mrs. Harris.” She smiles. “It’s really nice to meet you.” My mom grabs Avalon’s hand, cupping it between both of hers.
“The pleasure is all mine, Avalon. And please, call me Elise.”
I sit beside Avalon and scoot closer to my mom’s bed.
“So, how’d you two meet?” My mom sits up and looks at Avalon; I cover my mouth with my hand to hide my smile.
My mom already knows exactly how we met.
“A party,” she replies, looking over at me as if to ask how much detail she should share. “We met at a party.”
I grab Avalon’s hand and squeeze, trying to calm her nerves.
“And did you know right away that he was someone you were interested in?”
“Um, depends on what kind of interest we’re talking about,” she replies, causing me and my mom to laugh.
“I think that’s the kind of response that makes us change topics,” my mom continues. “I know what goes on at those hockey parties of theirs, so I don’t think I need any more information there.”
“Those parties aren’t as crazy as you think, Mom.” I sit back in the chair, resting my arm across the back of Avalon’s. “They’re actually quite tame.”
Their heads turn toward me in unison, both rocking a furrowed brow.
“Okay, they can get a little insane. Wait until my birthday next year, Avalon. If you thought that hockey party was insane, you haven’t even seen the half of it.”
“You’re not having a party this year?” my mom wonders.
“I didn’t feel like it. I wanted to spend it with you and Avalon, so throwing a party didn’t seem like something in the cards this year.”