An Autumn to Remember: A Novel (Elmtown Series Book 1) (8 page)

10

   It was the last Saturday in September. John and Chelsea had spent most of their day at the college’s graduate students’ library but were now spending time together in her bedroom, just relaxing. She watched a women's soccer game between the US and China on her laptop while he texted on his phone at length. She’d previously complained about his obsessive phone use a couple of times but relented after she saw it was only causing friction between them and she didn’t want to be seen as a nagging girlfriend. But he was always texting one person or the other, always holding on to his phone as if he couldn't breathe without it. He would text while they were out at dinner and at the movies. He'd text while she talked to him about something important which meant she would usually have to repeat herself because he missed cogent details of their conversation.

   “At least give me your attention when we are together or when I’m trying to tell you something important,“ she said the previous week but now she just gave up completely and put it on the list of things not to bother about anymore; it really wasn’t worth the hassle.  When you’re in graduate school, the less disagreements you have the better, she thought. I don’t need all that distraction.

   “Did you see that? Did you see that goal?“ she asked excitedly. “These girls are so skillful sometimes I think they could beat the men’s team. I think that’s something I’d like to see, just for fun.” The US team scored a spectacular goal to bring the scores level with the Chinese. She sat up halfway to watch the replay of the goal and then glanced at John. It looked to her like he didn’t hear a thing she said. She kept on watching her game by herself.

   “Hey are you watching the game?” Tyler’s voice came from behind the door.

   “Hey you. Yup, I’m watching. Tied with the Chinese. Second half,” Chelsea said to Tyler who opened the door and stood at the entrance to her room. A question was written all over his face. Chelsea could tell when her brother wanted something.

   “You want something buddy?“

   “Can I come watch the game with you guys?“ he asked, almost begging. Like his sister, he had their mother's eyes. He was however, tall and lanky like their father. Although he was always a child who concerned himself with his own thoughts more than what was going on around him, his new keeping-to-myself phase had become more pronounced.

   “Sure,” Chelsea said looking at John for approval. “If John doesn’t mind.”

   “Babe, this is supposed to be our little time together,” John said, not giving Tyler a mere glance.

   “Right, but then you’ve been on your phone all day.”

   “But I’m here,” he said still typing away.

   “Guys, like, it’s OK, never mind. I’ll just go back downstairs,” Tyler didn’t wait for their response. He turned around and shut the door.

   “You should have been nicer to him. And I don’t know how you think this is spending time together when you’re constantly...never mind,” Chelsea said.

   “I don’t think I said anything wrong to him. You can spend enough time with him when I’m gone. I’m sure he’ll be fine.”

   She was quiet the rest of the evening. The game wasn't enjoyable anymore so she moved to the other side of the bed and started reading a textbook in preparation for her next class. Spending time together my foot,
she thought. She remembered what Melanie Clark (the girl in high school who read books about dating) said many years ago about the honeymoon phase of relationships, how you start to know the real person after that phase. She wondered if she was just seeing the real John now.

   After a few minutes, John looked at her and said, “Honestly babe, you are pissing me off right now. Do you think I don’t have some studying to do as well? I’m just here wasting my time?”

   Chelsea was boiling but she kept the lid on her emotions. She didn’t even look at him. Who does he think he is?

   “If you’re gonna be this way the whole evening then I might as well just leave.”

   “Maybe you should,” she found herself saying.

   It was now 7:00 p.m. and Teresa made dinner for everyone. She asked John what he would like to have for dinner and went to the grocery store herself to buy some Chinnook salmon and all the other ingredients she needed to prepare the meal.

   “I won't be able to wait for dinner anymore Teresa. I have a few things to do at home.” She was no longer Mrs Braithwaite–he started addressing her by her first name two weeks before when she insisted that he could. It was a little bit surprising to Chelsea because this was the same mother of hers who never allowed any of her boyfriends or any of her friends to refer to her by anything other than Mrs. Braithwaite but Teresa wanted her potential son-in law to be as comfortable with her as possible.

   “Oh don’t even worry about it. It’s not such a big deal. We have enough mouths to deal with this. Besides there’ll be plenty more opportunities to have dinner with us,” Teresa said setting the plates on the dining table.

   “Thank you Teresa, have a good evening.”

   After John left Chelsea came down and sat at dinner with Teresa but Tyler was absent.

   “Mom, where's Tyler?” she asked as she reached for the bowl of roasted potatoes and served herself a handful portion. Then she placed a serving of salmon beside it.

   “He's playing basketball in the back.”

   “And you let him? Shouldn't he be having dinner?”

   “I'm not in the mood for arguments today. Let him do whatever he wants as long as he doesn't get in my way,” she said and then putting on a wide smile she asked, “So how are you and John?”

   Chelsea threw her a weird look.

   “What do you mean?” She knew the question was pregnant with something beneath the surface.

   “I mean are things moving forward?”

   “We are good. Still getting to know each other. What exactly are you asking Mom? I know you.” She pointed her fork at her Mom.

   “Do you think he'll pop the question soon?“

   Chelsea scoffed and said, “Mom, let’s just eat.”

   “OK, OK I was just teasing. He looked flustered. I was wondering if you had a disagreement.”

   “It’s nothing. We are fine. The fish is really good.”

   “Thanks honey.”

   “Mmm...no, thank you. John should have waited. This is soo good.”

   “He said he had something important to do.”

   “Oh really? I couldn’t tell with all that time he was spending on his phone,” Chelsea said rolling her eyes.

   “Is everything OK? Come on, talk to me.“

   As they ate, she told Teresa what happened.

   “Sometimes he’s so nice but then beneath all that it’s almost like there’s an underlying self-centeredness. Like he expects everything to be about him. I would have said it was something that came from growing up as an only child but Jamie is an only child and he’s never like that. I guess when you combine being an only child with having parents who not only have the means to give you everything but actually do give you everything you want, it doesn’t bode well.” She shook her head.

   “Why are you being so judgemental? We always gave you everything you wanted. You didn’t turn out badly.”

   “Growing up as an upper-middle-class child is different from growing up the way he did Mom. His dad practically owns New York State. Huge difference but it’s not even about their level of wealth, I think it’s about how the parents go about things and to be honest I’m not sure they did a very good job. I’ve been putting up with a lot of things lately.”

   “I just want you to remember that no one is perfect, and neither are you.”

   “I know, I know. We’ll be fine.”

   After they were done with dinner, Chelsea went outside looking for Tyler. She didn't like that Tyler was quick to behave rudely but that didn't mean John was right to treat him that way either, like he was something to be done away with. He was her brother and she loved him. She always hoped that she would meet someone who would get along with Tyler and be the big brother he longed for and probably needed. Well, it didn't look like that was ever going to happen.

   She opened the back door that led to the garden where they used to have barbeques in the summer. The basketball court was further back, just behind the garden.

   As she walked closer, she heard the sound of the ball against the ground and a familiar voice.

   “Yeah that's it...that's it. Keep your focus on the basket.“

   Thud.

   Thud.

   Jamie was coaching Tyler and playing against him at the same time. Jamie was good at basketball in high school but not enough to make the team. He also didn't like the politics involved with making the team so he played for leisure at the community youth center and focused on the school choir.

   Chelsea stood a few yards from them, crossed her arms across her chest and watched as Jamie and his protege sweated it out on the court. Jamie glanced at her, smiled and waved while Tyler focused on his game, as if he didn’t see his sister.

   After ten more minutes they stopped. Sweating and breathing hard Jamie started towards Chelsea.

   “I see you two have been busy,” she said as he came closer.

   “Hey,” Jamie said. “Hug?” he asked jokingly, wiping the sweat off his face with his tee shirt.

   “With all that sweat? Umm, I'll pass thank you sir.” They laughed. Then she called out, “Hey Tyler I was looking for you. You missed dinner.”

   Tyler didn’t respond but started walking towards them.

   “Jamie, so same time tomorrow?” Tyler asked as he walked past.

   “Yeah, sure thing.”

   He walked away as if there wasn't a third person present with them.

   “OK what's that about?” Jamie asked.

   “That's Tyler being Tyler. He wanted to watch the soccer game with me and John but John said…” she paused, “we said no because we were spending some time together.”

   “And that's why he's not talking to you?”

   “He’s never really warmed up to John to be honest.”

   “A clash of alphas?” Jamie asked.

   “Haha...I guess you could say that.”

   “He said he got suspended from school.”

   “Yeah...that,” Chelsea said visibly unamused. “He really needs to get his act together and stop punching people when he's angry.”

   “Oh! That wasn't his first time?”

   “Trust me. We've lost count. My parents are fed up with him so they seem to have abandoned the situation. I would like to do something but I don't know what to do. He got suspended a few days after he started school. He’s only fourteen but he’s been suspended quite a number of times before. It always happens when Mom and Dad are either fighting or Dad isn’t around. I think my mom doesn’t know what to do anymore. I’ve tried to talk to him, tried to be the understanding big sister but for some reason I can’t get through to him. His scores in assignments have been terrible so far, and he’s gotten into fights. For a quiet child, you’d think he wouldn’t have such a terrible temper.”

   “He reminds me of myself at that age. Let me look into it OK? Don't worry he'll be fine. I know it. I think he just needs a consistent older male figure,” Jamie said looking at her with his strong dark eyes.

   She smiled as he walked her to the door. She really liked that he was genuinely interested in knowing what was going on with her brother. She thought he was so reassuring and so kind. She remembered he was always like that, like someone you could depend on. Someone you could trust. She wished John could be more like that, then she discarded the thought. Like her mom said, no one was perfect anyway.

11

   October came with its cloudy skies, cold rains and few thunderstorms. Classes, assignments, papers, group meetings and other academic activities were in full swing. Jamie and Chelsea saw each other often, walking home from school, having lunch together and sometimes she would come downstairs to do her assignments while he worked on his but they hadn’t set eyes on each other in the last three days. He still thought about her a lot. He wondered if like him she noticed that they hadn’t talked for three days and whether she was missing him like he was missing her.

   At noon, on the Wednesday of the second week in October, he got a text from Chelsea.

   -
Hey stranger, where have you been? Are you on campus? Miss you.

   His heart skipped as he opened her text and read the words “miss you.” He caught himself smiling sheepishly. He thought that butterfly feeling people feel when they see or get a message from a girl they liked was only a thing for teenage boys. He was wrong. He quickly typed his reply and pressed send.

   -Hey, yes, I’m at Foster Hall. Where are you? Miss you too.

   - Can you come to the library? We could go grab something to eat at the next building. I’m so hungry.

   -OK, on my way.

   -I’ll be outside

   He took the second exit from Foster Hall, walked through the campus smoking area, passed the nursing school and headed towards the library. From a distance, he could see her standing there, in front of the double doors, looking like the most gorgeous thing in the entire universe. She held a book folder in one hand and a bag hung over her shoulder. As he got closer, her smile beamed at him and he reciprocated in kind.

   “I didn’t know you started wearing glasses.” He put his arm around her shoulder for a hug.

   “They are just reading glasses,” she said as she tucked some wayward hair behind her ears.

   “You look really cute in them though, you should leave them on.”

   “Thanks,” she said. “How many more classes do you have today?”

   “Just one in two hours then I’m done for the day,” he said then cleared his throat.

   “OK we can hang out until you have to go then,” she said as they began walking towards the next building where the cafeteria was open from 10:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. “I didn’t have any classes today. Just working on these damn papers.” She raised her heavy binder up for him to see.

   “Sounds like someone’s getting tired of graduate school already.”

   “You have no idea.”

   “I have the right solution for you. You’ll thank me for this advice later.”

   “Oh really, let’s hear it. I think I need all the advice I can get right now.”

   “Quit the program,” Jamie said gesturing with his hand. “Just quit. Like, what the heck?”

   She raised her binder in the air again but this time she was doing so to hit his head. He ducked and ran for the entrance of the building, Chelsea ran after him.

   “Are you saying my advice won’t work in this situation?” Jamie asked raising his hands in defense.

   “You of all people know I hate the word quit. You’re just being a tease. Winners never quit,” she said sharply, squeezing her left arm to flex her biceps.

   “No they don’t. But look at it this way, you’ll be creating space for someone somewhere in the world who not only deserves to be in such a great graduate school but also actually wants to be in graduate school. You could be giving up your space for the next Albert Einstein. If you ask me, you could change the world by quitting.”

   She laughed hard and said, “I miss your silly jokes. You always know how to make me laugh. You know, I was feeling a little pressure this morning.”

   “Why what’s up?”

   “No big deal. I just wish John was here at the South Campus so we could at least spend some time together between classes. He’s always so tired in the evenings. I guess MBAs are really tough. Also I submitted a paper late yesterday. Tyler is not doing well at school. I think I miss my dad and I woke up with this terrible terrible headache.”

   “Oh I’m sorry,” he said as they stood in front of the food counter. There were students seated everywhere in the cafeteria with trays of different kinds of food. “Tyler will be fine, told you not to worry about that. You’ll see.”

   “Its OK, I feel better now. My Jamie is here,” she said, headbutting him playfully on the back.

   The lady at the back of the counter smiled at them and said, “I wish I had my own Jamie too. What would you guys like to eat?”

   “You’re going to make people think I’m some kind of superhero,” Jamie said to Chelsea.

   “What’s wrong with being a superhero? What are you getting?”

   “I’m not buying anything. I have a sandwich in my bag.”

   “OK, let’s see. Can I please get the mashed potato combo?”

   The lady kept smiling at them as she served the food, her eyes alternating between the silver food pans and Jamie’s face. As she ran Chelsea’s credit card through she asked, “How long have you guys been dating?”

   “Who? Oh you mean me and him? Oh no no no no, he’s my friend.”

   “Oh I’m sorry...I just assumed...‘cause he looks like the kind of guy you wanna take home,” the lady said with a wink.

   Jamie squinted his face. Chelsea pressed her lips together, stopping herself from laughing. As they walked toward a table he asked, “Was she hitting on me?”

   “I believe so. Why don’t you just get her number?”

   “Come on, she’s at least fifteen years older.”

   “Age ain’t nothing but a number,” Chelsea began to sing the old Aaliyah tune.

   Then Jamie sang a line from the 1976 song by Sparks, “Thanks but no thanks, anyway.”

   “Aww. I love that song,” Chelsea said as they settled for a table with two chairs by the window, looking out onto a square with grass and brown park benches.

   Chelsea stuffed her mouth with a morsel of mashed potatoes. She chewed hungrily, wiped her mouth with a napkin and asked, “What’s on your mind?”

   “Nothing.”

   She shot him a quizzical look and sighed. “That right there, is one thing I don’t like about your species.”

   “My species?”

   “Yes, men, boys, guys.”

   “OK, nice choice of word. Species. So what are we talking about here?” He bit into his sandwich.

   “When you ask a guy what’s on his mind. It’s always the same answer, ‘nothing.’”

   Jamie wiped his mouth with a napkin. “I think you would find us unimaginably weird if we told you what we think about most times. When we say nothing, it just means it wasn’t anything worth talking about.

   “You’ve just proven my point with that. Guys think the question carries a certain depth to it. We are not expecting you to talk about your philosophy of life. It’s just a freaking simple question. Even if what you had in mind was as ridiculous as wondering what it would be like if you had wings to fly, just say it without over thinking your answer or the question. We just want to feel connected, that’s all. Ugh…John is so uncommunicative, so frustrating. It just makes women feel they are being shut out of your world,” she said then regretted saying something negative about her boyfriend to her best male buddy.

   “Wow, I didn’t realize it was that serious.”

   “Trust me it is. Sometimes I feel that way about you too. Even way back when we were younger, I felt like I wanted to know things about you, but you wouldn’t let me. Don’t get me wrong, I thought you were the greatest person I’d ever met but I just had this feeling there were things important to you that you weren’t telling me. You were and still are a great listener but I wanted to know more about you too.”

   She didn’t intend to be that intense when she made the comment but she realized it must have been bothering her for a while. Her words hit him like a wild hurricane, bringing his vulnerability to the surface. She was so right. There were things she didn’t know about him. Things a friend shouldn't keep away from his close friend. Things a son shouldn’t keep away from his mother.

   Then he sat there like an idiot, not knowing what to say. He couldn’t deny it. He was probably worse than John, he thought. He wasn't merely uncommunicative, he was secretive–at least about the one thing he never told anyone, which could one day hurt everyone he loved and held dear to his heart. But he also couldn’t tell her what he really had on his mind in that moment. He couldn’t tell her he was thinking about how he liked the way her eyelashes sometimes got tangled and how she struggled to straighten them out with her fingers. That he wanted to kiss that little dimple on the right side of her face when she smiled. That he wanted to kiss, touch and hold her for the rest of their lives. He couldn't possibly tell her what was on his mind.

   “That’s not entirely true. I talk to you. I tell you stuff,” he defended.

   “Yeah right. Anyway, I bet you were thinking about coming back here and getting that lady’s number.” Chelsea winked playfully.

   “Of course. Then I’ll get free food everyday.”

   Chelsea laughed, oblivious to the figure meters away from them, watching her and observing her interaction with Jamie. He was watching how she was enjoying Jamie’s company and how Jamie looked at her.

   It was John. As he stood there, his head began to suggest different things to him at the speed of light. He’d been watching them for about five minutes from the opposite window. He didn’t know what to make of this. Didn’t she say she was going to be at the library? Oh wait, is this what she does every time she said she was at the library? he thought. He began to walk towards them, his eyes full of disappointment and anger.

   “I thought you said you were going to be at the library,” he broke into their conversation. He drove over from the North Campus so he could see her or take her out to lunch. The other day she asked for him to create more time for them and now that he did, he caught her red handed, spending time with Jamie.

   “Oh hi baby. Yeah I was, then I got hungry. Do you wanna get a seat?”

   “Hey John,” Jamie said immediately noticing the look on John’s face. His words were met with an awkward silence. Jamie smiled to disguise his irritation at not being acknowledged with as little as a look. He knew it was an intentional disregard.

   “Can I talk to you for a minute?” John asked keeping his focus on Chelsea.

   “Baby what’s wrong? You’re not even going to say hi to Jamie?”

   “Let’s go talk somewhere,” he said with one hand in his pocket and the other carrying his brown leather bag. He looked more like a corporate executive than a graduate student.

   She looked perturbed and hesitated.

   “Hey Chelsea, it’s OK. Just go with him,” Jamie suggested, his outward calm betraying how he really felt inside. He thought there was no reason for John to be so rude.

   “Jamie I’ll see you later.” Chelsea got up, now looking worried. Had something happened she didn’t know about? She put her phone back in her bag, threw the empty plates in the garbage and followed John out of the cafeteria.

   Jamie had a good inkling as to what the problem was–he knew that look. He knew that territorial look that guys gave each other when they crossed each other’s boundaries.

   He unwrapped his half-eaten sandwich, tried to take a bite but then decided against it. His appetite was gone. He stood up and shoved the whole thing into the garbage. That was going to be the last time he would say hello to John until he received an apology. And there I was thinking he was a nice guy, he thought to himself.

***

The text came in around 10:00 p.m. Jamie was watching an episode of Lost on his old beat-up laptop. Although it looked really used, it still functioned quite well and with the speed of the internet at the Braithwaite’s house, it was finally easier to watch videos on it. He grabbed his phone and opened the text. It was from Chelsea.

   -Hey, about this afternoon. John was kinda jealous seeing us together. I still don’t get why. He knows you and I have been friends since forever. Had to end up promising him not to spend too much time alone with you. I know it sounds crazy right? I guess these are the things one has to do sometimes to keep your relationship. I know you’ll understand.

   It was long and disheartening. He didn’t know what to think of it or what to say in his reply.

So what are the terms exactly? Does this mean we can’t talk at all or just that we can’t be seen together by him? he thought. I wonder what that punk said to her exactly. Wow! This is so childish. He eventually typed up something and sent it.

-It’s OK. I’ll stay away.

She responded.

-That’s not what I meant. Can I call you?

-Of course.

   The call lasted for about twenty minutes. Chelsea sounded unsure of what to say. It was as though she was still working through it herself. She admitted she had never been in that type of situation but she was willing to do anything to make her relationship work because she really did care about John.