Eli
There’s sucha thing as too much togetherness. At least that’s what I’ve decided after being home for two weeks. I’m ready to get back to Madison, to school, to my roommates,to Emma. I haven’t heard from her since I’ve been home, but that’s because I left my phone back at my place.
Come to think of it, I haven’t talked to Cody either.
All of my information is funneled through Mom and Dad. But enough is enough. I’m ready to head back. I’ve got a shit ton of work to make up since I haven’t been able to do much. My headaches have been so bad, all I want to do is lay around in a dark room and sleep. But those are improving every day. According to my last doctor visit, everything is healing as it should. They haven’t cleared me to play hockey just yet and I’m okay with that. I’ll need extra time to get caught up with schoolwork when I get back.
“Honey?” My mom has been tiptoeing around me since I got home. I swear her voice hasn’t been above a whisper in two weeks.
“Yeah?”
“Can I turn on the light? I’ve got your laundry.”
“Oh, sure.” I sit up from my bed and close my eyes, waiting for the light to shine. It doesn’t hurt like it did.
“How are you feeling today?”
“Great,” I say with a smile. “I’m ready to get back to school.”
“Oh.” She stops. Frozen.
“About that…” Here we go. “Your dad and I…”
“Mom.” I toss off my blankets and stand. “I’m going back to school.”
“Your father thinks—”
“I know what he thinks.” And since he left yesterday to go to LA to speak at some conference on selling commercial real estate, he’s not here to repeat this bullshit. He’s decided that I need to forget about the Badgers hockey season and put all of my focus into the hockey combine. The combine is where all the hockey prospects go so professional scouts can assess them. There are workouts, drills, interviews, the works. If you do a good job at the combine, then your chances of getting drafted are much better. “That’s in June. It’s now October.”
“Yes. But you know your dad.” Mom rolls her eyes.
“And you know I want to get my degree, Mom.”
“Is that all you want?” She’s smirking.
“No.” I’m not about to talk to her about Emma because she’ll repeat what I say to my father. Wait, that may be a good idea. “I miss Emma.”
Mom’s smirking again and I don’t like it. It’s weird.
I shrug. “We just started seeing each other. I’d like to see where it goes.” Hell, I’d just like to talk to her. “I need my phone.” God, being without has been driving me crazy. It’s like I lost a limb at practice.
“So you want to go back.” It’s not a question. “I suppose you want to go today?” She sighs.
“That’d be great.” I give her my best smile.
“Fine. I’ll take you back.”
Standing up from my bed, I wrap her up in my arms and kiss her cheek. “Thanks, Mom.”
“I’ll do it if I can spend a little time with your Emma.”
My Emma. I like the sound of that.
“I met her at the hospital, remember? I told you that.”
She also mentioned that my father was talking to her when she got there. Part of me is terrified to find out what he said to her. What if she doesn’t want to see me anymore?
I watch as Mom reaches into my closet for my duffle bag. She quickly places my clean laundry in the bag, then sets it on my desk. “Oh well.” She sighs. “We’ll figure it out. You can call her when we get there. It’s Saturday. Maybe we can take her to lunch.”
