The secret she kept

Chapter 12 -BBQ

After Hailey cleaned up here shirt, the doorbell repeatedly rang while the guest was coming in every 10 minutes. I was kind of nervous. I don't know anybody and mom were talking away with multiple different persons.

I felt like I didn't, belong. Everybody was having fun; even Jamie was playing along with the other young kids. His friend Chuck was over, and they played together, although I didn't know if they were good friends. Let's say his primary school friends were there and I didn't want to bother him.

I was trying to find a familiar face when a lady around here 40ish with black curly hair and a cute kid were walking towards me. She made eye contact and said, " You look a bit lost, are you, okay sweety?"

She looked familiar, and I replied " yeah I guess so, I don't know anybody really except form Jamie, Nathan, Hailey, and my parents.

"Oh sweety, no problem. Do you want something to drink? Ohh and also, I am Karen, and this little girl over here is Lilly. "

"Nice to meet you, Karen and Lilly. I am Melissa Btw, but everyone calls me Mell," I said while shaking Karen's hand and giving Lilly a high five. She was so cute, holding out her little hand wanting me to provide a top five.

"That's a beautiful name. How do you know Nathan, Hailey, and Jamie?"

"Ohh my mom went to the same high school as them, and since we just moved back, they met up again. Let's say it has been a crazy week." I said.

"That must have been hard moving to a different town. Where did you live before moving here? If I may ask." Karen asked

"yeah sure, we lived in the, but mom lived in tree hill before she moved in with my uncle bass," I replied

While Karen and I were talking Lilly became a bit of unrest. Also, we didn't notice at all that Lucas was approaching us while we were having a chat.

We just heard him saying "Ohh mom, what are you doing here? I thought you were still in New Zealand and couldn't make it."

"Hey Lucas, how are you?" Karen said at the same time while  Lucas and Karen were hugging each other. This all happened at once while a little girl was hugging Lucas' leg and saying: "Lukkiee, I missed you."

Lucas picked her up and swung her around." I missed you to Lilly and you aswell mom. Where is andy? Is he not coming?"

"Unfortunately Andy had to stay in New Zealand for Work. His company in Tauranga needed him to be in Dunedin. He sents his best wishes.

"Okay, say hi for him. Ohh also mom have you meet Mell?" Lucas said

"Yeah, we were chatting along a bit. Ohh you mean this is Mell, my granddaughter." She said with her eyes full of emotions.

"Yeah, mom" Lucas replied.

I was immediately hugged tightly by Karen while she said " Sorry I didn't notice before, I must have been the jetlag. It's so beautiful to meet you, Mell. Your dad told me a bit about you the last couple of days, but I love to get to know you a bit better and if you need anything, remember you can always give me a call, sweety.

"Thanks, I appreciate it a lot, Karen.""Well, you can call me grandma if you like.""Alright, haha I appreciate it a lot grandma. It is nice to know that I can go to someone else then my parents.""Alright sweety, I will catch you later and let you and your dad alone for a bit.""Okay, see you later Grandma.""see you mom," Lucas said.

It felt a bit weird that I have to call Karen grandma, but at the same time, it felt normal. The only thing that made me a bit uncomfortable was that she was referring to Lucas as my Dad. I know he is my dad and I want him to be my Dad, but I think this sort of things that a bit of time.

After Karen and Lilly left, Lucas and I talked a bit about the little things. About how my life was in The Netherlands, how I started playing basketball and last but not least we talked about all the different books we liked to read. It was nice to speak with him that wasn't about all the drama that happened the last couple of months. At some moment, one of Lucas old high school friends joined the conversation, and he had to leave again to help Nathan with the bbq. Before he went, he asked if I was okay for a while or if I wanted to help him and Nathan out. That was sweet of him. I replied I was fine and decided to play basketball in the garden.

I just needed a few minutes to myself after meeting a few people and being social. I felt like I didn't have a minute to myself in a while.

I picked up the basketball that was laying behind the hoop and put my earphones on. I love playing basketball while listening to imagine dragons. It feels just so peaceful, being in your bubble and doing things I love.

I played for a solid 45 minutes, and that's when I decided to do some training. I had to bounce the ball against the wall, catch it, score a basket and run back to the end of the court. A few minutes in my training, I felt a chest, and my breath became a bit regularly. It didn't feel right, but I ignored the feeling. I think, I have had this feeling before playing basketball with my club back in the Netherlands and it always passed.

After a few minutes doing my training, I paused and drank some water when I saw a Jamie walking up to me with Nathan and Lucas.Jamie immediately sprinted to me and got the ball off the ground. He started bouncing it around and trying to score a basket.

Lucas and Nathan were now standing beside me watching Jamie trying to score a basket. At the next try, Nathan lifted Jamie, and he scored one. We all applauded. Jamie looked so happy after scoring a basket. I was happy for him although my chest still didn't feel right. Lucas noticed that something was wrong and asked

"Are you okay Mell?"I ignored his concerns and said, "Yeah I am perfectly fine."

"Alright, just checking in on you. Everybody almost left, and I think Hailey and your mom are trying to tidy up the house. If you want we could go and play some basketball at the river court when they are finished?"

"yeah, that sounds like a lot of fun. I would be keen to."Sweet let's help them out and go to the river court then."

After helping mom and Hailey out, we were finally arriving at the river court. It was around 12 in the midnight now, Hailey and mom stayed back to watch Jamie while Nathan, Lucas and I were on the river court.

When we approached the river court, we saw a torch shining a light on the basket. Someone was playing basketball. We contacted the court, and I noticed a familiar face. It was Liam, who was playing basketball.