Page 15 of Off the Rim
Greg is a great guy. He reminds me a little of Dad in small ways. His overall stature and easy smile, his penchant for sarcasm, and his work ethic are all very similar. He's a bit older than Dad was and definitely has a silver fox thing going for him. He looks every bit the tenured history professor. I can absolutely see the appeal, not that I'd ever admit that to my mother.
I study his expression as he watches my mother approach. The love is obvious in the way his eyes are shining, glassy with tears and a look of awe on his face. They both lose the battle to keep their tears at bay the moment I place her hand in his. I move back to stand next to my new stepbrother, Vance, as one of Greg's groomsmen. His daughter, Vanessa, stands beside Susan on my mother's side. Vanessa and Vance seem nice, and we've integrated our two families pretty seamlessly. It helps that all of us kids are adults. Vance is a couple years older than I am, and Vanessa, who was recently married herself, is in her late twenties. Vance lives on the west coast, near Portland, I think. And Vanessa just moved to the Boston area with her new husband, who is some kind of civil rights lawyer. They look just as happy for their dad as I am for my mom.
Later, at the picnic-style reception, I'm trying to hold in my laughter while my cousin gets stared down by my new stepbrother.
"What is his deal?" Sean whispers, trying to avoid making eye contact.
"How should I know? I've only met the guy once before. He's nice enough. Bit of a shit-starter from what I can tell."
"What do you mean?"
"I dunno. He's super blunt and calls people on their bullshit, which isn't the worst thing, but it stirs up drama." Sean lifts an eyebrow, waiting for more details. "At Thanksgiving, my mom was asking how school was going. You know, normal stuff. He was overly curious about why I was going to a junior college if I was such a basketball star like his dad told him and wouldn't drop it. Well, it escalated from there, and we had to physically hold him back from finding out where Ashton lives so he wouldn't go interrogate him, or egg his house, or whatever he was going to do. It was weird, dude. Greg says he has issues with people beinguntruthful."
"That's intense."
"Vance is intense, for sure. He doesn't seem like a bad guy. Just maybe don't get on his bad side." We both laugh uncomfortably for a moment.
"Speaking of school-—are you still thinking about CVU?"
"It’s pretty much a done deal. I put in my application, and Greg brought me to campus to meet his friend, who is an assistant coach for the team. They were showing me around the facilities, which are swanky by the way, and we ran into the coach. Nice guy."
Sean grunts. "Rich people."
"Oh, hush. You're just mad I'm not coming to Hunston with you."
"I'm going to have to room with a stranger. I hate strangers."
"You'll manage," I laugh. "Hell, maybe you'll get lucky and they won't accept my application. Lord knows I'm not the kind of student they're used to having around there. But Greg saysthey're trying to build up their basketball program, and they have room on the roster for a walk-on. If I work hard and play my cards right, I could qualify for a full scholarship for next year."
"Isn’t CVU wicked expensive, though? How are you going to afford that?”
"Yeah, it’s one of the most expensive schools in the country," I confirm. "But now that I'm officially Greg's stepson, I qualify for some of his faculty benefits. I can get half of my tuition paid for?—”
"Which basically makes it the same price as everywhere else," Sean interrupts, but gestures for me to continue.
"I'll have a grant for half my tuition, and I got a small academic scholarship for making the Dean’s List every semester I’ve been at Wake Prep. Greg insists on buying all my books for the first year as an incentive to come join him at CVU, and I'll get student loans to pay for the rest of it. All I have to do is get through the first year, prove myself, and hope for a scholarship for next year."
"And what if a scholarship doesn’t open up? Is it going to be worth going into debt and being miserable?”
"I could be miserable anywhere. I’ll do what it takes to get by if it means a better future.”
Choosing to go somewhere like Cumberland Valley University is a calculated career move. Just from my walkthrough with Greg, I know I'm not likely to fit in. Even with him by my side making introductions, I could feel many of the professors and even the basketball coach looking down their noses at me. I'm not expecting to make a ton of friends, but a chance at a degreefrom an elite university isn't an opportunity I can ignore. Is there a part of me that will miss the friends I made at Wake Prep, and wishes I could choose a school based on where I'm going to have the most fun? Absolutely. But I'm doing this to set myself up for success. This is how I can follow my passion and be successful, so I don't end up in a situation where I could lose everything and have to work myself to death like my dad did.
“I guess that’s true. I hate it, because I really hoped you’d come to Hunston with me like we always planned, but I get it. I think your dad would be proud.”
“Thanks, ‘cuz.” I throw my arm around Sean’s thick neck when he pulls me in for a hug.
"What's going on over here?" Vance slides up to our table, looking between Sean and me. The way Vance glares at Sean would be creepy if I didn’t already know how intense he can be.
"Nothing much, just chatting about starting school."
"Oh yeah. Dad is honestly a little too excited that someone finally wants to go to his stuffy, elitist school full of pompous douchebags with over inflated egos the size of their massive trust funds."
"Wow," I say, trying not to laugh. "Tell us how you really feel."
"I just did," he deadpans, shaking his head as he walks away, exasperated.
Sean and I crack up, and I think, not for the first time, how I'm so thankful I have him in my life. He's the only one that knows the full truth of what happened with Ashton and his friends that night in high school. He's the one that listened to me agonize over how stupid I felt, falling for Ashton's charms like that.He was the one that showed me how to change all my privacy settings on social media so he couldn't contact me or see any of my posts. And he was the one that encouraged me to fight back and speak up against Kent Richards, which I'm sure he's still disappointed I didn't do. It was his opinion, one that my mother shared, that I should have sued them for defamation.
