Chapter 24

Chapter Twenty-Four

ELIJAH

"We're going to a soccer game, not the prom. Hurry up!" I shout.

April is almost as bad as Jayson when it comes to primping. We got back from the beach an hour ago. Eat, shower, dress, all in quick succession. Julien's game starts in less than thirty minutes, and everyone else is already there. I hate running late. It's a pet peeve.

April saunters out of the bathroom with blue streaked hair pulled into a high ponytail.

"Bossy pants much? How does it look?" She does a model pose and flicks her hair, which causes her glasses to slip down her nose.

"Rocking the Smurfette look."

She rolls her eyes. "Har har. Very funny."

"You look very pretty. Grab those," I tell her as I lace up my sneakers.

She picks up my blue and silver pom-poms and gives them a shake.

"I'm totally stealing these," she says and starts twerking.

My sweet, book nerd stepsister twerks. Good god.

I push her out of the room. "I can't unsee that. Ever."

"You are such a drama queen."

I set the alarm and lock up.

"Hi, Mrs. Landon!" April yells, fluttering the pom-poms enthusiastically.

Mrs. Landon waves to us from her small front porch as we hoof it across the parking lot to my car. I introduced them yesterday when Mrs. Landon was watering her zinnias. I don't see her as often now after moving into the dorms. I'll need to up my drop-by visits to check in on her more often.

I unplug my car from the resident charging station. As soon as we get inside my POS, April goes straight for the A/C controls. After baking in the sun all day, the inside temperature of the car is like climbing into an oven. Luke-warm air blasts out when she cranks the air conditioning to max.

"We could take my car."

Checking my rearview and side mirrors, I slowly back out of the parking space. "Brad would go ballistic if it got scratched."

I made her park the Mercedes at the end of the parking lot in no-man's-land because no one likes to park there. The grackles that nest in the pine trees shit everywhere, including on your car if you're unlucky enough to have parked in the drop zone. There's one parking spot that stays shit free because there are no overhanging tree branches.

Giving up on the A/C, April rolls down the passenger window.

"Since you brought it up…"

I glance at her before making a right turn. "Brought what up?"

"Beverly."

I had an ominous feeling that the topic of my mother would come up at some time this weekend.

"I did not."

April holds up two fingers and taps each one as she says, "Brad equates Beverly. Hence, you brought it up." She flashes me a peace sign.

"Your logic is as wacky as your math. Duke made a mistake letting you in."

She smacks me in the shoulder with a pom-pom. "I've waited all weekend for you to tell me, and I'm tired of waiting."

Playing dumb, I reply, "I don't know what you're talking about."

There's more traffic than usual for a Sunday, so I decide to drive to the lot for my dorm and walk to the soccer stadium from there.

"My wicked stepmother arriving here on her broomstick. Does that ring any bells?"

Hoping to avoid being stuck at a stoplight, I gun it when it turns from green to yellow.

"Who told you she was here?" Because I sure as hell hadn't.

"I overheard you and Julien. The walls are thin."

She folds her lips under and raises her eyebrows, letting me know that's not all she heard. Road open up and swallow me whole . Hearing your sibling getting it on is as bad as walking in on your parents doing it. My face goes up in tattletale flames.

"I didn't see her."

I was having a panic attack in the men's restroom. April doesn't know about that and hopefully never will.

"Don't be obtuse."

Swinging into an available space, I kill the engine and turn in my seat. "I'm not being obtuse. I'm telling the truth. I really didn't see her. She showed up at the condo, wanting to talk to Julien. He told her to fuck off."

April bursts out laughing. "I wish I could've seen that. So, you have no idea what she wanted?"

"Nope. And I don't care to. She walked away and made it clear it was for good."

I can't be the little boy waiting for his mommy to come back and love him. I've worked hard to get to the place where I can move on with my life without that hopeless expectation hanging over my head. That being said, I am curious why now.

I get out and wait for April to do the same. She skips around the hood of the car and tucks a pom-pommed hand under my arm.

"She keeps calling me. And being nice. It's creeping me out."

"How about a change of subject?"

Making it to the sidewalk, I guide us down the pathway that will take us to Brant Street. Stanton Field is two blocks south from there.

"Real subtle," April says.

She looks around, taking everything in as we walk. CU isn't as fancy as Duke with its Gothic architecture, but it has a lot of history, similar to UNC-Chapel Hill. The one thing the campus has going for it is the scenery and lush landscaping. The grounds are full of greenery, statuesque trees dripping with Spanish moss, and beautiful pops of color from flowering shrubs and plants.

We pass a group of guys playing a game of two-on-two touch football in one of the open spaces.

"Yum," April says, unhooking her hand from my arm.

I grab her forearm and pull her back, my brotherly protective instincts kicking into gear when the blond Adonis grins openly at her.

"No, yum. The guy looks like a stalker."

"With abs like that, he can stalk me anytime," she quips.

I make a fake gagging noise.

After crossing the street, we join the stream of people entering the front of the stadium, and for a split second, I think I spot David in the crowd. He hasn't tried to text or call anymore, and the way we left things isn't sitting well with me.

Stopping at Will Call to pick up our tickets, April cat-call whistles when we walk through the front gates, and she sees Julien's banner hanging front and center.

"You weren't kidding. I'm stealing that, too, along with the pom-poms. Julien is H-O-T, all caps."

"Stop skeeving on my boyfriend."

"Not a chance," she replies, taking a selfie of us with Julien's image in the background.

"Elijah!" Ash's dark head of hair bobs up and down as he waves a hand overhead from his place in line at the food and drink kiosk.

"You want anything?" I ask her.

"A twenty-dollar bottle of chilled water would be nice."

She's not that far off. A plain hot dog costs five bucks.

"April-Bae!" Ash says as they do a weird, choreographed handshake that ends with a mock finger explosion.

April loves the nickname. Jessi, not so much.

"Is Fallon here?"

April may crush on Julien, but she's obsessed with Fallon. She says he fits all her hot guy book boyfriend B-tropes: bad boy, billionaire, broody, blue-eyed, and beautiful.

She squeals like a fangirl when he replies, "Sitting with Julien's folks."

At the mention of Julien's parents, my palms begin to sweat. They must have arrived after April and I left for the beach this morning. I've been wanting to talk to them, while also being scared shitless of seeing them. Asking your boyfriend's parents for their blessing to marry their son is vomit-inducingly nerve- racking. What if I screw it up? What if they don't think I'm good enough for him? What if they say no?

"Earth to Elijah." April snaps her fingers in front of my face. "You want anything? On me. Or rather my dad since it's his money."

"Just a soda." I already feel like I want to hurl. I don't want to add greasy food smothered in fake liquid cheese to the mix.

The sun beats down warmly, making me grateful for the light breeze that occasionally flutters through the stadium. We circumnavigate through a sea of people to our row. Ryder and Jayson bookend Mr. and Mrs. Jameson, while Liz sits on Ryder's left, her head angled toward Fallon as they talk. If Jay glared any harder, they'd turn to stone. I send up a silent prayer that Jayson and Fallon behave and ignore one another.

"Look who I found," Ash proclaims as he slides into the first available seat next to Jayson.

The aisle is wide enough for Mrs. Jameson to stand up and grab me in a motherly hug. "It's been too long. We've missed you."

"I've missed you, too."

And that's the honest truth. The Jamesons welcomed me with open arms and loved me like a son. They've been so good to me and so supportive of my and Julien's relationship. Freda is the kind of mother I wish mine could've been.

"How's your father?"

"He's good." In love and finally happy.

Mr. Jameson shakes my hand in a firm grip. "Elijah."

My heart rate goes ballistic under his unwavering, paternal gaze.

"Sir." Holy hell, please don't pass out and shake the man's hand like a normal person. "How was your drive up?"

"Smooth, thankfully. No traffic at all. You and Julien need to visit more often. Freda is nesting."

Mrs. Jameson swats his chest. "I am not."

"Two words. Baby albums."

Jayson groans. "I thought you hid them."

"She found them. Tossed the house looking for them," Mr. Jameson replies.

"I did not," Mrs. Jameson proclaims, then asks, "Who's this beautiful young lady?"

"This is April. Best stepsister ever."

April preens at the compliment.

Mrs. Jameson hugs her next. "It's so nice to meet you, April."

"I'm happy to finally meet the family Elijah talks about all the time."

Fallon changes seats when Liz practically pushes him out of his, so that April can sit next to her. I take the end seat beside Fallon.

"Thanks for coming."

Fallon bumps my shoulder, his way of saying you're welcome, then leans forward and says to Liz, "Goldfish."

She replies, "Jell-O."

He laughs. Fucking laughs . What bizarro world did I just walk into?

"Jell-O?"

Ryder takes Liz's hand, threading their fingers together. "They won't tell me either."

Mr. Jameson's gaze drops to their joined hands before moving back to the field where Julien is warming up with his team. Suddenly, everything becomes slightly uncomfortable. The last time they saw Liz, she was Jayson's girlfriend. They love Ryder, but Jayson is their son. I wonder how they're dealing with the whole Liz situation. Liz's parents were their good friends. The Jamesons lived right next door to the Fairchilds. Julien and Jayson don't like to go home often because seeing Liz's house brings back all the bad stuff of what happened there.

April shares a pom-pom with Liz. "Where are the cheerleaders?"

Ash tips his head back to see her past everyone. "Right?"

The first time Ash came to one of Julien's games with me, he bitched about soccer not having cheerleaders on the sidelines.

Everyone gets quiet when Julien walks to the center of the field for the coin toss. He looks up in the stands, his silver gaze finding us, and brings his hands together in a heart at his chest.

I do the same and mouth, "Love you."

" Aww ," April croons and shakes her pom-pom.

The CU Wildcats win the toss and decide to take first possession for the kick-off. Sounds of the soccer game fill the air—whistles blowing, coaches shouting, the rhythmic thud of the ball being kicked back and forth. Our row erupts from our seats when Julien makes an incredible shot, the ball soaring past the goalkeeper and into the net. He runs a victory lap as his teammates take turns jumping on his back. When he looks up, our eyes meet, and he gives me that gorgeous, full smile that first made me fall in love with him.

"That's my boy!" Mrs. Jameson shouts.

The first half goes by quickly, but I'm too nervous to enjoy the game with Julien's parents sitting two feet away.

Halftime arrives with the CU Wildcats up one-zero. Everyone stands en masse as the teams head off the field to the locker rooms.

"That was more action-packed than I expected," Liz comments, bouncing on her toes to get circulation moving. The stadium seats aren't the most comfortable.

"That's because Jules is awesome," Jayson says.

Ryder seems perplexed. "Why are you so wiggly?"

"Girls' room," she whispers.

"I'll come with," April says.

Ash stretches his arms overhead. "I need a food refill. Anyone else?"

"Me." Jayson collects the empty drink cups and trash and takes them with him to throw away.

Fallon leans close to my ear. "Now's your chance. Don't chicken out."

"What?"

He gives me that no-bullshit blue stare.

Now? He wants me to do it now?

I shake my head no like a crazy person. Fallon nods yes.

"Ry, come on," he says.

Ryder takes the hint and follows Fallon, and inside me freaks the fuck out when I'm left alone with the Jamesons.

"Elijah, how has Lizzie seemed to you?"

I blink back to the present at Mrs. Jameson's question.

"Um… better. We've been keeping a close eye on her."

"What about Jayson?"

Mr. Jameson pats her arm. "Honey, don't put Elijah in the middle. Julien said he wasn't drinking again."

I jump in, wanting to reassure her. "He's not."

She sighs out a worried breath. "Good… good. It's just?—"

"Sweetheart," Mr. Jameson gently says, stopping her.

Maybe I should have gone with Fallon and Ryder.

A few spectators begin shuffling back to their seats.

"If we don't say it enough, thank you for everything you've done for Julien. We're so grateful he found you."

Do it. Do it. Do it.

My heart thuds in my ears as it tries to pummel through my ribs. "I don't know if this is the right time, but I'd like to talk… I mean, ask you about something."

Holy hell. I can feel the perspiration gathering, and I try my hardest to ignore how icky it feels.

"Of course," Mr. Jameson replies, giving me his full attention.

My voice falters slightly as I gather my courage. "I love Julien very much. He means everything to me, and I can't imagine my life without him. So, I'd…" I wipe my clammy palms down my thighs. "I'd like to ask both of you for your blessing to ask your son to marry me."

There's a long pause of silence as they look at each other. Each second they don't say anything is an eternity of pure, hellish torture as I brace for their disapproval.

Mr. Jameson scratches his salt-and-pepper beard. "Have you spoken to your father about this?"

I squeak out through a throat dry as dust, "Yes."

"What did he say?"

Hating that I may be adding ammunition for them to say no, I reply, "He thinks we're too young but will support us a hundred percent."

Shut up, Elijah!

"His point is a valid one," Mrs. Jameson says.

Wishing I could vanish in a puff of smoke, I instead push my shoulders back and stand up straighter. I don't know what I have to do, but I will prove to them that I am worthy of their son.

"I—" Don't get a chance to finish because I'm suddenly pulled into a fierce embrace.

"A parent only wants the best for their child. Someone who loves them for who they are. Someone who will stand by them no matter what. There is no better person for Julien than you, Elijah, and we'd be damn proud to have you as a son-in-law."

Did he just say…?

And yeah, my eyes flood with tears.

"Thank you. That means more to me than you could possibly know."

Mrs. Jameson practically shoves her husband out of the way to get to me. Cradling my face, she kisses each cheek, her gray eyes the same color as her son's. "I'd say welcome to the family, but you've been a part of our family for years. When are you planning to propose, and more importantly, can I help with the wedding plans?"

My face hurts from the big smile that overtakes it.