Daydream (Maple Hills, #3)(73)
“I wouldn’t know how to seduce you,” she says. I think about what she said earlier about inexperience.
“When our friends aren’t on the other side of the door, I’ll let you practice as much as you like.”
“My hero.” She looks up, grinning, but I can tell how tired she is when she immediately lies back down. “Do you think Aurora is enjoying her birthday sleepover?”
“She said it’s the best sleepover she’s ever been to. What about you? Where does it rank?”
Halle cuddles into me more, moving her head onto my bicep so she can look at me while we talk. “I’ve never been to a sleepover.”
“I am so good at giving you new experiences.” I tuck one of my hands behind my head to give her a better place to put her head and let my free hand rest on her thigh. “I wasn’t allowed to go to them, either. I didn’t care, though. I didn’t want to sleep in someone else’s house.”
“Uh, I think you’ll find I planned this, so I gave myself the experience. And it wasn’t that I wasn’t allowed, I just didn’t have any friends growing up other than Will. Grayson went to sleepovers all the time. Gigi does, too, but now that I’m saying it out loud I’m questioning whether she’s going where she says she’s going after her recent performance.”
“Your family makes me happy I’m an only child,” I say. “I don’t have it in me to look after so many people.”
“Surely being the captain of a sports team is like having tons of brothers? And they’re not bad. I just only ever complain about them. I should talk about when they’re nice to me more.”
“It’s more like having a farm next to a highway and all the animals keep escaping.” I love the feeling of her body on mine when she laughs at something I’ve said. Even in the dimly lit room, I can tell she’s looking at me like I’m the funniest person she’s ever met. “Tell me something nice your family has done for you recently.”
She thinks for longer than I think she’d be able to justify if I challenged her. I don’t challenge her because I don’t want her to shut down. I love hearing her talk about anything, and she’s one of the only people I can say that about. “Grayson called me this morning to prewarn me about my mom being pissed off I’m not going home for Thanksgiving.”
I don’t think that meets the criteria of something nice. “Why aren’t you home for Thanksgiving?”
“When Will and I broke up, we knew our parents would interfere because they’re like that. We agreed that if I didn’t go home for the holidays, by the time we’re next together they’ll be over it. I just didn’t get around to telling my mom we broke up until today.”
Everything she says generates more questions. “Why are you not going home for Thanksgiving? Why not him?”
“I have other options, I guess. I have my dad and stepmom in New York. He doesn’t have anywhere else he could go. It was just easier for me to be the one not to go home.”
“Easier for him.”
“When I saw him, he said we should both go home, but I’ve already agreed to work. There isn’t enough pumpkin pie in the world to make me agree to go home given how unimpressed my mom was. She’ll get over it, though. Hopefully by March.”
I’m always appreciative of my moms, but I’m extra appreciative when I talk to my friends about their own parents. My moms have never made me feel not good enough, never made me think I wasn’t capable of making my own choices, never discouraged me or asked too much of me. It wasn’t until I started college and widened my circle that I realized a lot of people aren’t as lucky as I am. Sure, they were busy at work, but they always found as much time for me as I needed as well as giving me the best of everything.
“What’s happening in March?” She turns away from me to yawn, and I remember that she’s supposed to be sleeping right now. “You can go back to sleep if you need to. I’ll stop asking you questions.”
“That’s okay. I like talking to you, and I feel like I should enjoy this bed as much as I can, given I’ll never be in this penthouse again. What’s happening in March?” she says, repeating my question. “My annual headache. My family and Will’s family go on vacation together over spring break. I’m tasked with organizing it every year, and it takes thirty gazillion hours of research and debates, and then when we finally get there, they all ignore my plan and complain the whole time. It’s delightful.”
Once again immensely grateful for my family. “It sounds the opposite of delightful.”
“It is. Every year I debate planning their trip and booking myself to go somewhere else alone. Sadly, I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t be able to function without me and they’d end up missing, fighting, or stranded. I mean, they fight when I’m there, too, but at least I know where they all are.”
“My parents just use travel agents to book our trips. Have your parents not heard of them?” She laughs again and rolls off me onto her back. I follow her, rolling onto my side and resting my head against my arm. I pull her closer. “You shouldn’t go if you don’t want to.”
“Aurora invited me on a girls’ trip during spring break. I’ve never been on one, or invited to one, and I really want to go. But it’s not worth the reaction I’ll get. Maybe next year, if she still wants me to go, that is, I can do it.”