The Dating Debate

by Chris Cannon

  “West was worried you’d be mad about Nina,” my mom said.

  I wanted to lay my head on the table. Why couldn’t she do one simple thing I asked?

  “If talking to her made you happy”—he seemed to be measuring his words before saying them—“then that’s okay. You just can’t let anyone in the house.”

  I gripped my fork tight and prayed my mom had the good sense to keep the rest of the story to herself.

  “Too late.” She laughed. “Gidget ran in and Nina came after her. I showed her the boxes in the living room. She was impressed with my collection.”

  Oh, God.

  “I’m sure she was.” My dad ate his food like he wasn’t planning to end my life, but I’m pretty sure he was.

  After dinner, I retreated to my room. How was I supposed to deal with this situation? Nina was mad because she thought I lied. My dad wasn’t happy about Nina knowing our secret. My mentally ill mom thought everything was wonderful.

  My cell beeped. It was from Nina. Can we talk?

  No. We couldn’t, because I had no idea what to say. How in the hell could I explain my mom and her bizarre ways? I ignored the message.

  A knock sounded on my door, and then my dad pushed it open. I never understood why he knocked if he was going to barge right in anyway.

  “What happened with Nina today,” he said, “that wasn’t good.”

  “I know.” What else did he expect me to say?

  “Make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

  How in the hell was I supposed to make sure Nina never came over? Maybe I could diffuse the situation. “This happened because Mom wanted to see the dog,” I said. “Not because she wanted to talk to Nina.”

  “That may be what your mother claims, but she never would’ve called Nina over if you weren’t dating her. Just make sure Nina understands that I will kick her family out if she does anything to harm or upset your mother.”

  “Nina would never—”

  “Your mother is more important than the rental income. I will kick Nina and her family out and let your mom fill that house with boxes if you don’t take care of this situation. Do you understand?”

  Afraid of what might come out of my mouth, I just nodded.

  “All right then.” My dad left, slamming the door behind him.

  Why did he have to be so unreasonable? Nina would never do anything to hurt my mom. Someone, like me or my father, was more likely to be hurt due to the fire hazard our house had become. Death by storage container landslide wasn’t out of the question either. One thing I knew for sure, I couldn’t wait to get out of this crazy house.

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Nina

  Not being able to tell anyone about the insanity at West’s house was making me crazy. Normally, I told Lisa everything, but I knew I couldn’t share this. Why wasn’t West responding to my text? Maybe he was eating dinner.

  I felt so sorry for him and for his mom. She seemed like a lost child, rather than a parent. None of that made up for the fact that he’d lied to me. I’d bared my soul about my dad, and he’d smiled and nodded, listening to my sob story. Why hadn’t he told me the truth? Didn’t he trust me? I was his girlfriend.

  This had been one hell of a Monday. I texted West again. No response. I didn’t want to annoy him, but I needed some sort of answer. Maybe him not calling me back was his response. Or maybe he was trying to cope with the fact that I knew the truth about his mom.

  The next morning after I got ready for school, I checked the driveway. West sat in his car, reading. Or pretending to read. Maybe that was how he avoided conversation.

  I walked out and climbed in, putting on my seat belt in silence, waiting for him to say something. He started the car and drove. Still nothing.

  “You never texted me back.”

  “Sorry.” His voice sounded oddly flat.

  “How’s your mom?” I asked.

  “Fine.”

  Was this One-Word-Answer Day? “And your dad?”

  “Not fine.”

  Okay we’d moved up to two words. “Anything you’d like to get off your chest?”

  “No.”

  Okay. Time to jump in and get the awkwardness out of the way. “I understand you’re upset, but I didn’t do anything wrong.”

  “I told you never to go to my house,” he said. “And you did.”

  “Only because your mom waved me over.” How did he not understand this? “Besides, you saw her. Gidget made her happy.”

  “The cardboard tubes from paper towel rolls make her happy. Five-year-old junk mail makes her happy. Every straw that’s ever been used in our house, which she keeps in Ziploc bags, makes her happy.”

  Oh my God. “She keeps used straws?”

  “Yes. And the bags eventually fill up with mold. And my father lets her keep them in Rubbermaid storage containers in their bedroom because he loves her and doesn’t want to upset her.”

  Holy crap. That was beyond disturbing. “Can’t she go see a counselor?”

  “She’s been to five. None of them made any difference.”

  He sounded so defeated. “I’m sorry.”

  “Me, too. It doesn’t make any difference though, does it?”

  After that, there wasn’t much to say. We walked through the parking lot, but he didn’t hold my hand. He didn’t kiss me at my locker. He walked off in a daze like he was an emotionless robot.

  “What’s up with West?” Lisa asked.

  I wanted to tell her about his mom, but if I did, and he found out about it, he’d never forgive me. So I went with the simplest explanation. “Family problems.”

  “That stinks. Maybe he should talk to my mom.”

  That gave me an idea. “If I talked to your mom about him, would she offer suggestions? Tell me things I could maybe do to help?”

  “I don’t think it works that way. You can only talk about your own issues.”

  “Crap.”

  West didn’t join me at lunch, but he did approach every table to hand out stacks of fliers. Every table but ours.

  Lisa stood and went over to another table and nabbed a flier for us. She brought it back to our table and held the flier so I could read it, too. It made a compelling case, listing the amount of items the average recycling center saved from landfills every year. There was also an ad for Paula’s Pizza Pies, which instructed people to sign the petition on the bulletin board by the front office if they wanted to be entered into a drawing for a family dinner consisting of pizza, a salad, and breadsticks.

  “We may need to up our game,” Lisa said.

  “How?” I asked. “Get your mom to offer a free counseling session?”

  She laughed. “Uhm…no. We could offer some fancy bookmarks or a book light.”

  “A bookworm-themed gift basket?” That might work. “We could add a coffee cup and some cocoa to round it out.”

  “Not to be a downer, but I’m not sure it’s worth the effort. And what happens if people sign both petitions?” she asked.

  “Good question. As with everything else going on in my life, I have no answers.” Although I did have one answer. I now knew why West was so passionate about turning the library into a recycling center. How could he live in that house? All those boxes stacked on top of each other had to be a safety hazard and a fire hazard, not to mention a health hazard.

  Why wasn’t there any way to help his mom? The look on her face when she’d talked about her collection had been almost eerie. She believed those boxes of crap—moldy straws and God knows what else—were treasures worth keeping. If someone I loved started acting like that, I’d want to stage an intervention with a Dumpster.

  “Earth to Nina.” Lisa stood holding her backpack. “Time for class.”

  “Sorry.”

  “What were you thinking about?” she asked.

  “I know why West is crabby, but I don’t know how to help.”

  After school, he was no better. When he pulled the car into the driveway and parked, I h
oped he’d want to talk. He exited the vehicle. I scrambled out and after him.

  “Hey, why don’t you come to my house for dinner tonight.”

  He kept walking. “No thanks,” he said without turning around.

  Ugh. Did he need time to pout? Was that it? His life wasn’t any different today than it was yesterday. I knew the truth about his family, which he should have told me in the first place. If anyone had a right to pout it was me. But I was trying to be the levelheaded one in this situation. Because one of us had to be. If we both sulked, life would never go back to normal.

  While I understood why he was upset, I didn’t understand why he was shutting me out. In times of trouble, you were supposed to turn to the people who cared about you, not run away from them. And I did care about West. If it was so easy for him to shut me out, did he care about me?

  I could ask him…if I followed him to his house and knocked on the back door, but I doubt he’d respond positively to that maneuver. So, I headed to my house and to the one person I knew would always be happy to see me. Gidget bounded up to greet me in her usual ecstatic fashion, spreading joy and fur. I hugged her and rubbed her ears.

  “Want some banana bread?” I asked.

  She did her excited food dance and followed me to the kitchen. With the dog’s help, I finished off the third of a loaf that was left. Then I retrieved one of the many loaves my mom had put in the freezer and set it on the counter to defrost. Wait a minute. I set a second one on the counter and toyed with the idea of taking it to West’s mom. Maybe I could give it to West, now that I knew germs weren’t an issue.

  I was still pissed about him lying to me, but I understood why he did it. Instead of trying to cover up something he’d done, he was trying to protect his mom.

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  West

  “How’s Nina?” my mom asked when I came in the patio doors.

  “Fine.” I headed to the coffee maker and started a pot of French roast. Then I grabbed the peanut butter, jelly, and bread per our normal after-school tradition.

  “We should ask her over for dinner,” my mom said.

  I grabbed a knife from the utensil drawer and started making sandwiches, ignoring her absurd statement.

  “West, did you hear me?” she said.

  “Yes. It’s not a good idea. Dad is still mad that she was in the house.”

  “Oh, he’s not mad,” she said.

  I finished making the sandwiches and put everything away before pouring two cups of coffee and joining her at the table. “If he’s not mad, then why did he threaten to evict Nina’s family?”

  She laughed. “He was joking.”

  “No. He wasn’t. He doesn’t want anyone in the house but us.” I sipped my coffee and prayed for patience.

  “Why would you think that?” she asked.

  I closed my eyes. Did we really need to have this conversation again? “I know you see the world differently, but I need you to listen to me. We can’t invite anyone into the house.” What could I offer as a compromise? “You can go out onto the patio if you want, but you can’t let anyone in here. There are too many boxes. They could fall on someone. People could get hurt.”

  “Oh…well maybe your father should work at making them safer.”

  I had to bite my tongue to keep from suggesting she get rid of some of the useless garbage she collected instead. Why wouldn’t she let this thing with Nina go? There was only one solution. “I didn’t want to tell you this, but you shouldn’t ask Nina to come over for dinner because I’m going to break up with her.”

  “What?” She set her coffee down and reached across the table to touch my hand “Why?”

  Why? Because she was a complication I didn’t need in my life. Because being close to anyone never worked out. Because if I didn’t she’d probably be evicted. “Things just aren’t working out,” I said.

  “I’m sorry. I thought she was nice.”

  I nodded and ate my sandwich. Then I went to my room and stared at the ceiling. Breaking up with Nina was the only logical solution. It’s not like she was the only girl on the planet. If I ended things between us, would she keep my secret? My gut said yes. And that was all that mattered. Sort of.

  Did I want to end things with her? No, but there wasn’t another option that would keep my mom from asking Nina to come over. If only my mom would listen to common sense, but common sense had vanished from her head a long time ago.

  Feeling restless, I headed outside to the barbecue court. There was a foil-wrapped package on top of the grill. What was that about?

  I picked it up and read the attached note. Banana Bread: Reheat in the oven at 350 degrees for ten minutes. Why had Nina left this for me? Probably because she knew my mom never baked, and she seemed to show love through food.

  Holy hell. Did I just think that? Love? Nina wasn’t in love with me. I certainly wasn’t in love with her. She was fun to hang around, and, despite what I’d said before, it was convenient to have the girl I was dating live next door. Of course, it was also a terrible idea, due to my dad compulsively trying to hide the fact that my mom was a hoarder.

  “I see you found the banana bread.” Nina practically materialized in front of me.

  I jerked backward. “Where’d you come from?”

  “Hello. I’m Nina. I live next door.” She grinned like she was making a joke.

  “Not funny,” I said.

  “Okay then.” She rocked back on her heels. “I saw you come out here, so I followed.”

  For some reason, that ticked me off. “You just assumed you’d be welcome.”

  She stared at me for a moment like I’d spoken a foreign language.

  “I’m sorry,” she said. “Did you want to be alone?”

  And here was my opening. “I do. As a matter of fact, this whole couple thing isn’t working for me. You should plan to drive yourself to school tomorrow.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “I’m sorry. Was I unclear?” I moved toward her and spoke more slowly. “Let me break it down for you. We’re done. It’s over. Go away.”

  She blinked and looked at me. “I know you’re upset about your mom, but you don’t mean that.”

  “I do.” I couldn’t let her argue her way out of this. So I said the one thing I knew she’d never forgive me for. “You living next door is convenient, but this whole neighbors-with-benefits thing has turned out to be more trouble than it’s worth.”

  She sucked in a breath, turned around, and ran back to her house.

  And that was that.

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Nina

  I fled back to my house, yanked open the patio door, and slammed it shut behind me. Gidget came running. I led her to the couch where she jumped up beside me. Hugging her, I tried to make sense of what had just happened. West’s hateful words replayed in my head. Had he really meant that? I was convenient? That’s why he was with me?

  The cynical part of my brain laughed and pointed out the obvious. Why would he put forth the effort to meet a girl he liked if there was one next door who was willing to sneak off to a shed and make out with him? How could I have been so naive…so stupid?

  My eyes burned, and a cold, dull ache radiated through my bones. I never should have trusted him. I could have sworn he liked me, cared about me. If he had, he couldn’t just end things and walk away from me, right?

  Since he had done exactly that, it meant he’d never actually cared. The realization slammed into my chest, making it hard to take a full breath. I wanted to curl up in a ball. Instead, I hugged Gidget and let the angry tears flow.

  Gidget whined and licked my face.

  “You’re the best dog.” She yodeled in agreement and cuddled closer, providing furry warmth and unconditional love.

  Screw West. I didn’t need him. Right now his biggest punishment was he would get exactly what he wanted—to be alone with a crazy hoarding mom and an almost-as-crazy OCD dad.

  Besides, I didn’t need him. I h
ad a dog. And dogs were far more loyal than men. Hadn’t my own father proven that?

  Once I was cried out, I called Lisa.

  “I can’t believe he broke up with you. Did he say why?”

  “No.” I sniffled. I couldn’t tell her what he’d said. It was too painful and humiliating.

  “What a jackass. Is there anything I can do to help?” she asked.

  When I was thoroughly stressed out, the only thing that helped me cope were books. “I need something to help me ignore reality. Want to run to the bookstore?”

  “Sure. I’ll pick you up in twenty minutes.”

  I ran to the bathroom and checked the mirror. Wow. Waterproof mascara, my ass. It looked like I’d cried black paint. I washed my face and didn’t bother applying any new makeup.

  I left a note on the kitchen table telling my mom where I’d gone. Maybe Lisa and I would eat cookies from the bookstore cafe for dinner. That was the only thing that sounded good right now.

  …

  Waking up Tuesday morning was extra sucky. In retrospect, staying up until two in the morning to finish my book had not been a smart plan, but I had needed a happily ever after, even if it was fictional. The three cookies I had for dinner probably hadn’t helped, either.

  To top it off, I’d forgotten to reset my alarm to a reasonable human time of the morning, so I woke up at the stupid early time I’d been waking up to ride with West. But I wasn’t riding with West, because he was an emotionally stunted idiot. So I spied out the window as he climbed into his car and backed down the driveway without so much as a glance in my direction.

  “Are you okay?” my mom asked.

  I gave her a look worthy of her dumb question.

  “You know what I mean,” she said. “Is there anything I can do?”

  “No.” Part of me wanted to stay home and pout, while the other half wanted to go to school to show West I was fine without him. “Guys suck.”

  “Yes, yes they do.” She gave me a quick hug.

  “Cole isn’t a jerk.” Jason called out from the kitchen.

  “But now you’re being one,” I yelled back.

  “You’ll be fine,” my mom said. “Because you have me and Gidget and Jason and Lisa. You’re luckier than West. Remember that.”