𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 | 𝐠𝐮𝐲 𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐞

⁰⁷ | First-day shitters

ᴍᴀᴇᴠᴇ ᴡɪʟʟɪᴀᴍꜱ

𝐌𝐘 𝐑𝐎𝐎𝐌 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐘𝐄𝐃 exactly how I left it two years ago. Nothing has been moved. Nothing has been touched. My bed had the same sheets, I guessed, and my drawers were probably still the most unorganized things in the world. I wonder if Mom ever came in here, or if the door stayed shut day in and day out.

I open the window across from Adam's and yell for him to come help me unpack. He groans in reluctance, but I know he will anyways. 15-year-old boys can be so dramatic, sometimes.

"I brought you this," Mom says, appearing in my doorway with a duster in her hand. "In case it's dusty in here."

"Thanks," I smile, trying so hard to be the daughter she wants me to be.

She looks around for a second. The air grows a little heavier. We still don't talk about all the things that we probably should, but at least we aren't fighting.

"I missed you a lot, Mom. Thank you for letting me come home."

Her lips curve upwards, but I can tell she wants to cry a little. "I missed you too, Maeve. I'm glad you called. This will be good for you--for us."

She's right. This will be good for us. If I can fix my relationship with Dad, I can fix it with her, too. I'm putting my life back together, I decide then. No more running. No more fighting. No more pushing.

"Adam's coming over to help me settle back in," I tell her.

"No Guy?" she asks me and I almost stubble over from how taken aback I am.

"What? Why would Guy be coming here?"

"I thought you two had become friends again before you left."

"Did he tell you that? Did Claudia say something?" I question. I nearly sound hopeful, it's honestly pitiful--disgusting, even.

"No," she answers, running her hand through the front strands of my hair and tucking them behind my ear. She's completely calm while I'm a wreck inside. "I was just hoping a little."

Yeah, Mom. Me, too.

I force my face into what she'd want to see--a smile. "Adam will be here soon."

"Okay, Sweetheart. I'll be downstairs if you need anything."

Maybe things really are changing. Maybe I'll finally have my mom back--the one she was before all this shit happened.

"Oh, I was thinking," she suddenly remembers, and I start to grow nervous because this is where it would go south. "Claudia and Guy could come over for dinner later, like a welcome home party."

I stare at her for a long second. Okay, I take it back. Maybe she hasn't gotten it. Maybe she hasn't changed.

I open my mouth to say something when she grins at me. "Kidding."

"You're the worst," I say, laughing a little because I'll give it to her, it was sorta funny.

Just sorta, though.

☆∵☆∵☆∵☆∵☆∵☆∵☆∵☆∵☆∵☆∵☆

"𝐒𝐎, 𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐍 𝐖𝐄𝐑𝐄 you gonna tell me that Guy and Connie got back together?" I ask him, trying to be as casual as I possibly can.

I hear the sounds of him shuffling through my box of books stop. I turn to look at him. The shuffling starts again and he still won't face me. "I don't know. It never really came up."

"Oh, it came up," I counter. "I only asked about him every week."

"You asked about the team," Adam corrects.