False Confidence | j. hughes

1

 |text message/real life|

mayas pov:

Cole

are you coming to Michigan for this summer?

                                                yes, but not all summer only from May 17th to July 17th. also on the 20th of May, my friends are coming and they are going to be staying till July 7th at Dad's Lakehouse.

 just so you know on my birthday I'm having a party at Dad's lake house almost everyone is coming you guys should to considering you guys are living there.       

I don't know if we will go but we might 

ok               

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maya let out a sigh after reading the message about the party she always felt miserable at her brother's parties he would always claim that it would only be people they knew and then it would have half the town show up at least he acknowledged that would happen this time. she also didn't like the noise aspect she preferred for things to be quiet at least for this summer her friends were coming with her so she wouldn't be alone in the hell hole of her brother's party.

Maya and her friends were packing for her lake house trip. Her friends kept asking questions about the people they would meet there. Maya gave them a list of the people they would meet, including her mom, stepdad, dad, and her brothers, and sisters. They asked about each family member, starting with Maya's mom. Kenzie asked, "What should we know about your mom?" Maya answered, "She's nice, but can be a bit much. Please just call her Angie." 

They then asked about Maya's stepdad, which earned them a groan in response. Having lived with Maya for three years, her friends knew that was her way of avoiding the topic. They quickly moved on and asked about her brother Cole. Maya replied, "He's annoying. He wants us to go to his party on the first." 

This provoked her friend Harley to say, "Does he know you've banned yourself from having fun, Maya?" "I have not," replied Maya, slightly offended. "What do you mean, Maya? You've been in university for three years and have only been to one party - and that's because it was your surprise party. You're always taking things so seriously and constantly stressing. You literally spend two hours a week filling your notes." 

As Maya thought back, she realized Victoria was right. "I guess I'll go to the party, but only if you guys come too. I don't want to be in a room full of strangers for a whole night."

On that night, Maya felt a bit stressed because she was leaving before her roommates to meet up with her family. Despite that, Maya was excited to see her family as she had not seen her sister since she was two years old and now she was five. Her brothers had also aged from the six and ten-year-old boys she saw the last time she was home, which was right before her freshman year of university. Maya remembered promising her mom that she would be back the summer after her freshman year, but she instead spent it with her now ex-boyfriend whom she had only dated for six months when she decided to blow off her plans for the summer with her family and instead go to San Jose to stay with his family. She repeated the same patterns for the next two summers after that. What made her feel even worse was when she would make plans for her and her boyfriend to go to her family's house in Michigan, she would blow them off because her boyfriend's family needed them.

Maya packed up her car the next morning and set out on a more than a day-long drive to her mother's home in Canton, Michigan. She planned to spend two days there catching up with her younger siblings before heading to her dad's lake house where she would spend most of the summer. Maya hadn't visited her dad's lake house since her junior year of high school, as her dad had been busy with a case in New York where he had been working until the summer before she started college.

When Maya was about halfway through her journey, she realized that she had forgotten to pack her brother's birthday present. The gift was still on the kitchen table at her apartment, but all her roommates were away visiting their families in California. Maya had no choice but to call someone she hadn't spoken to since last summer, Trevor.

"Hey Trevor, I know this is going to sound strange, but are you going to Michigan this summer?" she asked, trying not to sound nervous.

"Yes, but why are you asking, May?" Trevor replied, sounding annoyed.

Maya let out a sigh of relief and continued, "I was wondering if you could stop by my apartment and grab Cole's birthday present off the table for me. If you could bring it to Michigan, I could pick it up from you wherever you're staying."

Trevor replied with a slight attitude, "Yeah, I can. You still live in the apartment from your second year of uni?"

"Yes," Maya replied, but before she could finish her sentence, Trevor interrupted her again.

"Ok, I'll get it. I still have the spare key your brother gave me to check up on you. I am staying at the Hughes' lake house. If you forgot the address, ask Cole. He knows. Bye."

"Bye," Maya replied before Trevor almost instantly hung up the call.

The next morning, Maya woke up at 2:30 am to continue her last ten hours of driving before reaching her mom's house. Around 6:30 in the morning, she received a text from Trevor saying that he got it and should be at the lake house around 6. So, she could come anytime after to pick it up. She arrived at her mom's house, where her little brother Henry greeted her first. She was shocked to see how much he had grown. Then, she met her mom, her stepdad, her little sister Marley, and her not-so-little brother Cody. After hugging all of them, she realized what she had missed in the past summers. She missed her siblings growing up, because unlike her sister Abby, her other siblings did not have social media that she could watch them grow up on. Of course, Cody, who was 13 years old, had TikTok and Instagram, which he made Maya follow. When she realized how much Marley had grown, she felt really sad and told her mom that it was good to catch up with them. But, she would probably go to her dad's lake house after dinner the next day, instead of the day after.