Page 10 of Another Love, Another Time
“Oh, I love playing games! What kind does she have?” Meredith chimes in.
I roll my eyes as my mom starts rattling off what games Aunt Connie has and try to tune them out. At this rate, I think my eyes are going to get stuck in this position.
My dad pulls up in Aunt Connie’s driveway, and everyone starts to get out. I stay back for a minute to compose myself. I’m really not in the mood to play a game. All I want to do is go to bed at this point. I look up and see my dad poke his head in. “You coming in tonight?”
“Do I have to?” I ask.
“You know I’m not leaving you out here. You need to get your butt in that house.”
“Dad, I really don’t want to hang out with them. I think I’m just going to go to bed.”
“What about this makes you so mad?” he questions.
“I don’t have the energy to be nice to her tonight. I had to be nice to her all day long. I don’t think I have any more nice in me. Plus, all I wanted to do was come back here and watch a movie with Auggie and Logan. Now, Mom is going to force us all to get alongand play a game. You told me I didn’t have to be friends with her, Dad.”
“I did say that, and I’m not saying you have to be friends with her. But she is your mom’s niece, and your mom would like to hang out with her, too. Besides, what did you tell me?” He taps his chin with his pointer finger. “Oh, that’s right. ‘Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.’ She knows the last thing you want to do is hang out with her, and you will probably go to bed. Who misses out, River?”
I look down and mumble, “I do.”
“Excuse me. What was that?” he asks.
“I do,” I say a little louder.
“Exactly. You’re mad because she is taking your time with Auggie. What did I tell you last time?”
“Not to give her any more of his time. Just go in there, play the games, and hang out with Auggie and Logan. Be nice to Melissa and her friend. Be the bigger person.”
He gives me a pointed look. I look up and see Auggie and Logan walking towards the van. My dad holds his hand out and pulls me off the seat just as the boys walk up to the van. I put my best smile on.
I look at them both. “What game will we be playing?”
“I told my mom that we really didn’t feel like playing a game. With the party, hayride, and trick-or-treating, we just want to chill. My mom said we could pick a movie. Logan and I picked one of the Harry Potter movies.”
I put a real smile on my face and give Auggie a hug. “Have I told you how much I love you?”
He chuckles. “Come on. Our moms are setting up now. I told my mom to put us together. We are just going to put blankets on the floor.”
We get downstairs, which is where we usually watch movies. Our moms have all the blankets ready. Auggie grabs my hand and drags me down to his favorite blanket.
“I need to get changed real quick into my pajamas,” Melissa announces. “I hope you don’t mind, Auggie. Your mom let Meredith and me borrow a few of your shirts and shorts to sleep in.”
“Nope, not all,” Auggie responds.
I look at the clothes, hoping that neither is a shirt that I have bought him, and see that they’re not. I relax a little and head to the bathroom to change.
All the parents have gone upstairs to hang out. My sister goes up there with them; she’s too cool for us younger kids, and Ellie and my brother Brock have already passed out.
Melissa and Meredith keep talking throughout the movie, asking Logan and Auggie questions. I feel like the fifth wheel. They are all talking about people from school, so I don’t have anything to add to the conversation.
Halfway through the movie, I start to doze off. I roll onto my front and cover my face so that I can’t see the TV screen. Between riding in the car and all the activities, I’m worn out.
I wake up in the middle of the night needing to pee. Everything has been turned off, but I can hear giggling. I notice Auggie asleep beside me. He has his pinkie hooked onto mine. Logan is on Auggie’s other side.
That must mean the laughter is coming from Melissa and her friend.
“I can’t believe we are spending the night with Logan and Auggie,” Meredith whispers. “I can’t wait to tell everyone at school.”
“I told you I would make it happen,” Melissa responds. “What’s up with your cousin, River? Why don’t you like each other?”
