The rest of the week settled into something almost normal, if you ignored the parts that weren’t.
We studied again Wednesday, same café, same rhythm. Friday, she’d told me she was busy, packed with department stuff all day, and I’d told her it was fine, we could skip it. She called anyway that evening, an hour carved out of whatever was left of her day, because apparently ’busy’ and ’unavailable’ weren’t the same thing to her.
Sasha, on the other hand, went quiet in a different way. No texts since Wednesday, not even the small, easy kind she used to send without thinking twice about it. She skipped lunch with us three days straight, and when Evelyn finally asked where she’d been, neither Jackson nor I had a real answer to give her. I didn’t blame Sasha for any of it. I wasn’t sure what I would’ve done differently in her position either.
By Saturday morning, I was dressed, keys in hand, halfway to the car when my phone buzzed.
Nicole: Have a safe trip. Tell your family I said hi. Even though they don’t know I exist yet 👀
My mouth twitched despite myself.
I’d told her Thursday night, mostly because she’d asked if I wanted to meet up this weekend and I’d had to explain why I couldn’t. She hadn’t pushed for details beyond the basics, just accepted it, the same easy way she seemed to accept most things about my life that weren’t fully hers to ask about yet.
I pocketed my phone, tossed the bag of sour gummy worms, the good kind, exactly as promised, onto the passenger seat, and started the drive home.
The drive took a little over an hour, long enough to leave campus behind entirely and land somewhere that still felt exactly the way I’d left it about a month ago; same tree-lined street, same slightly crooked mailbox out front, same porch light my dad still hadn’t gotten around to fixing.
I’d barely gotten the car in park before the front door swung open and Chloe came barreling down the steps.
She skidded to a stop in front of me, completely bypassing any kind of greeting. "Gummies."
"Hi to you too."
"Gummies, Nathan."
I shook my head, reached back into the car, grabbed the bag off the passenger seat, and handed it over.
Her whole face lit up. Only then did she actually hug me.
"Wow. I feel so loved," I said.
She giggled, letting go of the hug. "I missed you."
"Same here, CeCe." I ruffled her hair, mostly because I knew it would annoy her.
She pouted, just slightly, swatting at my hand.
I grinned and started walking toward the front door which was still open from Chloe’s earlier sprint. She huffed, then smiled, and followed right behind me.
Inside, I found my dad first, parked in his usual spot on the recliner, already looking up.
"There he is." He got up for a quick, solid hug, the kind that didn’t need words attached to it. "Good drive?"
"Not bad."
"What about mom?"
"Kitchen. She’s been cooking since this morning. Your favorites, apparently."
I smiled, and made my way toward the kitchen, following the smell before I even got there.
"I’m home."
My mom didn’t turn around fully, just glanced over her shoulder, spoon still in hand. "Come taste this. Tell me if the salt’s off."
I did, obediently, and she held the spoon out.
"Too much? Not enough?"
"Hm..." I considered it for a second. "It’s perfect."
That got me the full hug, the one that had been waiting since the front door. "Welcome home, son."
Then, immediately, without missing a beat: "Go change into something casual. We’re having lunch soon."
I paused halfway out of the kitchen. Casual, for a lunch, sounded suspiciously like someone expecting me to stick around for more than just today. I didn’t push it, not yet. I simply headed down the hall to my old room.
Everything was exactly where I’d left it, the same desk in the corner, the same faded poster I’d never bothered taking down, the same worn spot on the carpet by the bed, but it was clean, dusted, the bed made with fresh sheets, clearly maintained even though nobody actually lived in it anymore.
I changed into a t-shirt and sweats, then made my way back out to the dining table, where everything was already laid out. I ended up next to Chloe, same as always, with my parents settled in across from us.
Midway through the meal, my dad set his fork down for a second.
"So. How’s school been?"
"Busy. Good, mostly." I shrugged. "Got a brutal project due Tuesday."
"Still top of your class, though?" He said it with that same easy pride he always had, like the outcome was never really in question.
"Trying to be."
"And work? Tanaka treating you right?"
"Yeah. He’s good to me."
"Okay, enough with the boring questions." My mom leaned in immediately, all business. "Do you have a girlfriend now?"
Chloe turned to face me too, fully invested now. "Ooh. Am I finally getting a sister-in-law?"
"What? No."
"You don’t want to give me a grandchild," my mom said, somehow managing to sound both wounded and accusatory at once.
"I didn’t say—" I looked at my dad. "A little help, here?"
He shrugged, unbothered. "They’re not wrong, though. You’re twenty-two, single since I genuinely can’t remember when." A pause. "And a grandchild doesn’t sound so bad."
My mom grinned like she’d just won something.
I looked at all three of them. "Wow."
"Not wow." My mom held up a hand, already counting off points on her fingers. "You’re intelligent. Responsible. You work hard, you’re kind—"
"Hot, too," Chloe added, entirely unbothered.
"Yes. That." My mom pointed at her, as if that settled it. "So don’t tell me girls aren’t interested, Nathan. I know you. You’re definitely the one doing the rejecting."
"I’m not... rejecting anyone. I’m just—" I sighed. "Aren’t you two supposed to be the ones telling me to focus on my studies instead of chasing girls?"
My dad shrugged. "True, in most cases. But you’re top of your class, working a job, still finding time to call your mother occasionally." A small smile. "At this point, I trust you to handle a relationship the same way you handle everything else."
I opened my mouth to respond, and my phone buzzed against the table.
Every head turned toward it at once.
Chloe glanced at the screen, lit up right there on the table, and her face slowly split into a grin.
"You’ve got a text. From a Nicole."
My mom’s head snapped up instantly, eyes locking on me. "Open it."
"I’m not doing that."
"If she’s not your girlfriend," Chloe said, entirely too pleased with herself, "then why don’t you want to show us?"
"Because it’s called privacy, Chloe."
"Suspicious privacy."
"Normal privacy."
The phone chimed again. Same name.
I glanced at it, then back up at the three of them, all staring at me now with varying degrees of expectation.
"She’s just a friend."
"A friend who texts you twice in one minute," Chloe said.
My mom folded her arms. "A very committed friend, apparently."
My dad finally sighed, glancing between me and the other two. "He said she’s just a friend. Let’s eat."
I looked at him, genuinely grateful. "Thank you, Dad."
I stuck my tongue out at Chloe on my way back to my food. She gasped, then pouted at me, the exact kind of dramatic offense only a younger sibling can pull off convincingly.
I smirked and went back to eating, thinking the whole thing was over. Then my dad spoke again, not even looking up from his plate.
"You should invite her over sometime," he said. "This friend of yours."
I froze mid-bite.
My mom’s face lit up instantly. "That’s a wonderful idea."
Chloe stuck her tongue out at me, savoring the payback.
I shot her a glare that had zero real heat behind it, then turned toward my dad, betrayed. He just shrugged, entirely unbothered, and went back to eating.
I stared at my plate for a second, letting the whole idea sit there uninvited.
Nicole, here, at this table, meeting all of them.
I wasn’t ready to know what that would actually look like. Not yet. But some small, quiet part of me had already started wondering anyway.