The Story of Us (19 page)

“Is that really why you came here or
is that a pity invite because I’m here alone?”

“My sister found out about you.
Naturally she told my parents, who insist that you come over for
dinner tonight. You can call them and ask if you don’t believe
me.”

“Okay.”

“Okay, you want to call my
parents?”

“No.” I smirk. As skeptical as I am, I
certainly don’t want to call his parents. “I meant okay, I’ll
come.”

Chapter 15

I’ve been to Craig’s house before. I
slept on his living room couch… with him, actually… but in a
completely innocent way. It was the night Hailey and Drew first
admitted their feelings for each other. It was at one of Craig’s
famous house parties. At the end of the night, Craig kicked
everyone out except for me, Hailey, and Drew. Hailey and Drew slept
upstairs in Craig’s sister’s room. Craig, being Craig, wouldn’t
give me his bed unless I slept in it with him, platonically of
course. But I was smarter than that. I knew Craig would try
something so I refused. I opted for sleeping on the couch, since he
made it clear that his parent’s room was off limits. He kept trying
to convince me to just allow the both of us to sleep in his bed.
But I wouldn’t oblige. I insisted that he should be a gentlemen and
give his bed to me, to sleep in by myself, and he should sleep on
the couch alone. It was a recurring argument that resulted in us
both sleeping on the couch, go figure. When I walk into the house,
the memories resurface and I smile over at Craig, who seems to know
exactly what I’m thinking. Nothing happened between us that night,
of course. But the memory of waking up next to him, of being that
close to him, for the first time, causes me to blush in front of
his parents.

“You must be Valerie,” a middle-aged
woman with dark hair says, extending her arms out for a
hug.

Before I can respond, a teenage girl
with the same dark hair yells out, “Don’t hug me!” She doesn’t look
mad, but rather just yells it as a warning.

“I’m Craig’s mother,” the dark-haired
woman says, not acknowledging the younger one’s command. “Call me
Kathy.”

“Nice to meet you Kathy.” I give her a
warm smile.

“I’m Lexie. Don’t hug me,” the
teenager says.

“I won’t hug you, Lexie, but it’s very
nice to meet you,” I tell her. I can see her physically relax, now
that she’s assured that I won’t hug her. “You must be Craig’s
sister?”

“Yes,” she smiles.

“And I’m Rick, but we’ve already met,”
Craig’s dad says kindly, stepping in with his hand held out. I
remember him from the Lady Antebellum concert that Craig surprised
me with on my birthday.

“We have. Thanks again for that
night,” I tell him.

He dismisses it with a wave of his
hand. “That was all Craig’s doing. I knew you must have been
something to him. He’s never asked me to get him into any concert
before, and I’ve worked security for many of his
favorites.”

I smile up at Craig, and he winks back
at me.

“We’ve heard so much about you.” Kathy
claps her hands in excitement.

I look at Kathy but catch Craig
rolling his eyes at his mom before I look away from him. “C’mon
mom, don’t embarrass your favorite son.”

She gives him a pointed look and then
turns back to me. “He’s my only son, but you probably already know
that. Just like I’m sure you know by now that he’s a smartass,” she
jokes. “Anyway, please, sit down. Can I get you something to
drink?”

“I’m okay, but thank you.”

Lexie speaks up, “I can make you hot
chocolate. I’m really good at making hot chocolate.”

“Um, that sounds great,” I tell her,
not because I really want hot chocolate, but because I feel like if
I say no, I’ll be letting her down. She has one of those faces,
like that of an innocent child, that you just don’t want to
disappoint.

Craig smiles and sits on the couch
right next to me. He takes my hand and I swear he’s just as nervous
as I am.

“Actually Craig, could you help your
sister… just in case?” his mom asks him.

“Sure.”

Once he walks out of the living room,
Kathy smiles at me and there’s an awkward silence for a moment
until she speaks again. “Craig’s never brought a girl home before,”
she admits.

I’m not really sure what to say to
that. “I’ve never been brought home before,” I confess, which
sounds stupid. Then I add, “So this is all new to me
too.”

Thankfully she smiles and relaxes a
little. “Well you don’t have to worry about us. My son loves you
and therefore I love you too. I just hope you like us and don’t go
running for the hills after dinner.”

I laugh a little, but all I can really
think about is that she knows that Craig loves me. My parents know
nothing about Craig, and yet Craig’s parents know exactly how
serious we are, despite how new it is. I’m a little envious that he
has that kind of relationship with them that he feels comfortable
enough to share his feelings, especially ones so deep. Would my
parents be this warm and inviting towards Craig? Or would they be
more like my friends, tolerating him but making a snide remark here
and there, to subtly tell him he’s not good enough? Deep down, I
know it’d be the latter.

“Lexie can be a lot to handle,
especially for people who aren’t used to her. I don’t know how much
Craig’s told you about her, but she does have a disability,” Kathy
explains.

“He told me a little,” I
admit.

“She may seem a little odd, but she’s
actually improved quite a bit and we’re still working with her a
lot. When she was ten, she still didn’t talk at all. Not one word.
Now, at sixteen, it’s like she’s always spoken. You’d never know.
She articulates perfectly. She still has the disability in many
other ways, though. For instance, she can’t be touched. But at
least now, she can tell you that you can’t touch her. We have a
great therapist who’s working with her. It’s difficult with her
therapist being so far away, but we were able to rent a small
apartment out in the city, and Rick and I take Lexie, since Rick
works out that way anyway. I always felt bad for leaving Craig for
days at a time. I’m sure he’s told you all of this anyway. That’s
why I was so grateful that he got into college. He can live there
and not be so lonely here. And of course, I’m really glad he has
you, Valerie. You make him happy, that I know for sure. I just
can’t believe he’s finally bringing a girl home. It makes my heart
so happy.”

I didn’t know half of what she just
told me and it makes me realize how little I actually know Craig
altogether. I know that I love him. I know who he is to me. But I
don’t necessarily know who he is to these people; to his family. I
don’t know about his past other than what I’ve seen, which is
mostly just his past with girls. I knew his parents were gone a
lot, but I had no idea why until just now. I’m actually a little
embarrassed of how little I know.

“Did Craig tell you we had a scare a
couple months back?”

“No,” I reply with true
concern.

“Lexie had a meltdown when he left for
college. She is so close to him. She took it hard that he was
leaving. Even though we’re gone a lot, whenever we’d come home
Craig would be here, waiting, usually with some sort of surprise
for her. Coming home to an empty house was hard for her. For me
too, but more so for her. I can rationalize that being in school is
the best thing for Craig, but Lexie can’t. She just thinks he
abandoned her. I think she’s finally starting to understand now.
But a couple months ago, she called him screaming. And then she
stopped talking again. Her mutism went on for two weeks. Craig
wanted to come home desperately. But Dr. Colney, that’s Lexie’s
therapist, had advised us not to give in to her. And sure enough,
she came out of it.”

“Wow. I had no idea. He didn’t tell
me.”

“Oh. Maybe I shouldn’t be speaking so
openly. I’m sorry if I’m making you uncomfortable.”

“No, you’re not at all. I’m glad
you’re sharing,” I assure her. It makes sense that that was going
on a couple months back. At the Hansore House party, I knew he was
upset about something. The timeline fits. And later, he did admit
that it was family stuff. He just didn’t elaborate.

Craig and Lexie walk back into the
living room with a couple mugs full of hot chocolate.

“You can drink it,” Lexie tells me,
handing me the cup. “It’s the perfect temperature. I always make
sure it’s the perfect temperature.”

“Thank you, Lexie.”

Lexie starts to talk about her math
class and how she misses it, being on break. She gets into specific
details and I just nod and smile politely, although I can’t follow.
Math was always my weakest subject. Kathy excuses herself to put
the finishing touches on dinner. I ask if I can help but she
insists that I relax as her guest. Moments later she announces that
it’s ready and we all follow along into the dining room.

It’s a huge spread that looks more
like Thanksgiving than Christmas Eve, complete with a turkey and
all of the fixings. “This looks amazing, Mrs. Morgan.”

“Please, I told you, call me Kathy,”
she insists, “Mrs. Morgan is my mother-in-law,” she fakes a
disgusted look while Rick isn’t looking and I can’t help but smile.
“Now, before we eat, we have a Christmas Eve family tradition,” she
explains. “We go around the table and say what we’re most grateful
for at this very moment.”

“It’s also our Thanksgiving
tradition,” Craig says sarcastically.

“It should be an every mealtime
tradition,” Kathy tells him. Craig just rolls his eyes. “Rick, you
want to start?”

“Sure.” He pauses for effect. “I’m
grateful at this very moment for the food before us and the people
near us.”

“Way to think out of the box, dad,”
Craig tells him.

“Ok, smartass, your turn,” he replies
with a smirk that mimics his son’s.

“Bad word!” Lexie yells.

No one pays it any
attention.

“Okay. Right now, at this very moment,
I’m grateful no one’s pulled out any naked baby
pictures.”

“Ooooh,” Kathy exclaims, “I forgot all
about those, Valerie. We’ll have to get to those after
dinner!”

“I would
love
to see them!” I
smile over at Craig, who realizes his mistake in giving his mom the
idea.

“Shit. Okay, your turn
mom.”

“Bad word!” Lexie yells again. I’ve
come to the conclusion that this is a common occurrence, as no one
pays it any attention still, nor do they make an effort not to
swear.

“Okay, let’s see. Hmm… skip me for
now,” she says. “Lexie, you go.”

Lexie brightens. “I am grateful at
this very moment that Craig is home and here to stay and will never
leave us again!”

I look around nervously, and I can
tell by the faces around me that this is going to be a big
problem.

Craig speaks up, “Lexie bean, I’m home
on break, but I’ll have to go back to school in a couple
weeks.”

“No. Here to stay,” she says
nonchalantly.

Kathy speaks up next, “Okay, I know
what I’m most grateful for at this very moment. Wine. I’m most
grateful for wine,” she says holding up her glass full. We all
laugh a little, feeling the mood of the table lightening. “Your
turn, Valerie.”

“Mom, she doesn’t have to,” Craig
says.

“No, it’s okay,” I tell him, “I want
to.” I pause for a moment, nervous that it’ll sound like I’m trying
to suck-up, but ultimately I continue. “Okay. At this very moment,
I’m most grateful for the Morgan family. I’m grateful for the boy
who stole my heart. I’m grateful for his dad, who is totally
awesome and let me meet Lady Antebellum. I’m grateful for his mom,
who is so kind and welcoming. And I’m grateful for his little
sister, who makes the best cup of hot chocolate at the absolute
perfect temperature.”

“I always make it the perfect
temperature,” Lexie beams.

After dinner, Craig takes me up to his
room. No one asks questions or tells him he can’t have a girl in
his room. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think this was a normal
occurrence, him bringing girls up to his room. But I do know
better, because his mom had said that I’m the first girl he’s ever
brought home. I wish my parents were as laid-back as
Craig’s.

Craig shuts the door and closes the
distance between us immediately. He starts kissing my neck and it
feels like a little bit of heaven, then he moves onto my mouth and
I kiss him back for a minute, but then I stop him while I’m still
able to think clearly.

“Your mom told me a little bit about
Lexie,” I tell him.

“Oh yeah? Like what?” He continues to
kiss my neck.

“Like how she didn’t talk for the
first ten years of her life. And about how much she missed you when
you went away to WSC. About how their gone a lot, too. About her
therapist.”

He stops kissing and takes a step
back. “You got all of that while we were making hot
chocolate?”