Teacher's Girl (Aflyingwhale)

Chapter 41: Quality Time 

EMMA's POV :

I must admit, life was pretty darn good lately.After homecoming, lan and I were inseparable.I spent all my time juggling school work, college applications, hanging out with Tiff and Carrie, and chilling with lan every chance I got.I was on a roll.

Sleep became a secondary need.Sure, it was exhausting, but I also felt so alive.So when Thanksgiving break rolled around, I was honestly relieved.

This way I could take a rest from school and work, and focus my time on my family and on lan.Especially on lan.

We were planning something big for Thanksgiving this year.

He wanted to come through with his promise from last year, he was bringing me to his home in New Jersey to spend the holidays with him and his family.

Of course, it wasn't easy convincing my parents that their only daughter wanted to spend her last thanksgiving before college somewhere else.Mom and dad had so many questions.

I told them I was spending thanksgiving at the community garden, as they were hosting an event of thanksgiving dinner at a nearby county.

The community garden was actually hosting this event, so it was the perfect cover.

I told my parents I needed the extra community service hours and that it was for a good cause.

Finally, after a lot of begging and bargaining, my parents decided it was okay that I went on this thanksgiving dinner trip. I felt bad for lying to them, but spending thanksgiving with lan and his family was an offer I couldn't refuse.

And hey, maybe next thanksgiving it would be lan’s turn to spend it with my family.

Our plan was to leave on Thursday morning and we would be back in Georgia by Sunday night.

Mom, dad, and I had dinner on Wednesday night to make up for me missing the actual turkey day on Thursday.

It was a nice and lovely dinner.

Mom and dad discussed dad’s job and that things were getting better.

Then we talked about my college plans and discussed financial aids or possibly getting a loan.

So overall, it was a very hopeful talk.

After dinner, mom came into my room and she saw that I was struggling with packing my overnight bag.

It was my first thanksgiving ever with lan’s family and I wanted to make sure I would dress right for the occasion.

"Need some help?" she asked.

"Sure. You can help me decide which one is better?"

I said as I brought up two similar sweaters but in different colors. One is red and the other is blue.

"The blue one, definitely. It'll bring out your eyes,"

"Blue it is. Thanks, mom,"

I said and folded the blue sweater into my overnight bag.

"So, this community garden thanksgiving festival thing..." she trailed as she helped fold the scattered rejected clothes.

"Yeah?"

"This guy friend that you've been seeing the whole summer, is he gonna be there?" she asked teasingly.

"Mom!"

"It's just a question, Emma. I'm a mother, that’s what I do,"

"He… might be," I answered cautiously.

"Okay.You still remember our little talk, right?"

"Yes, mom, I do.Please don't repeat yourself,"

Mom had given the talk right before we started school this year.It was about a year too late, but it didn’t matter.

I pretty much knew everything I needed to know from the internet and my friends.Tiff especially, she could be very graphic with details.

Plus, lan was always careful.

He always used a condom, always without exception.

"You're a big girl, you can handle yourself, I know that.I trust you.Especially with how hard you've been working for college and to save up money, I’m really proud of you Emma,"mom said as she continued folding my clothes.

"Thanks mom,"

"You deserve to have some fun.But please, just remember to always be safe,"

"I will, mom, I got this.You don’t have to worry," I said with a reassuring smile.

"So, since you're not gonna be home tomorrow, your dad and I decided to go on a little date night.We're gonna watch a movie.It’s been a while since we did that," mom chatted away.

"That sounds fun.You and dad deserve to have some fun.Just be safe, okay?" I said, mimicking her words jokingly.

"Ha-ha, nice one," she laughed and finished folding all the scattered clothes.

She put them all in a pile and brought it neatly back to my closet.

"You sure you don’t want me to drive you to the meeting point tomorrow?"she called out from inside the closet.

"No, my friend’s picking me up," I said as I zipped up my overnight bag.

Finally, I got everything together.

"Okay. Well, I'll be calling you every night to check up on you," mom said and she grabbed my travel charger on the desk and handed it to me.

Right, almost forgot the charger. The most important thing ever.

"And I'll be answering your call every night, mother,"

I smiled and took the charger from her, and I put it inside the front pocket of the bag.

"That's all I wanna hear," she pulled me for a quick hug and kissed m_ forehead

"Good night, sweetheart,"

"Good night, mom,"

We left the house very early the next morning.We wanted to get to New Jersey before 7 PM, where dinner would start.

lan looked a little nervous as he was driving, and he wouldn't let go of my hand.

It was kinda sweet. Finally, after twelve hours of driving filled with carpool karaoke sessions, sipping on Slurpee and coffee, and a lot of stupid I spy games later, we made it to New Jersey. "Yay! You guys are here!"

Hailey beamed at us as she opened the front door.

"Come in, come in!" she gave us each a hug before pulling us inside.

The air was cold outside but the house was warm and bright.

There was a fire in the fireplace, jazz music was playing, and the smell of Kristen’s amazing cooking filled the air.

"I'll bring these upstairs," lan said, referring to our bags.

"Emma, come here," Hailey pulled me to the kitchen before I could say anything else.

"Hey, everyone, look who's here!" she announced to the whole room as we stepped inside the kitchen.

"Emma! You made it!"

Kristen was busy pouring gravy into a bowl, but she dropped everything to give me a hug.

"Thanks for having me. I'm so excited for dinner," I said as I hugged her back.

"So, this is Emma," a guy with dirty blonde hair and brown eyes greeted me.

He looked like he was around lan’s age.

"Hi, I'm AJ. I've heard so much about you,"

"Hi, nice to meet you," I shook his hand politely.

"AJ is one of lan’s oldest friends.He’s lonely on his own, so he likes to spend thanksgiving with us,"Hailey added and they shared a laugh.

"Is there anything I can help you with?" I said to Kirsten as I noticed how busy she was.

"No, no.You're our guest.Just sit still, dear,"she shook her head firmly.

"This is mom's turf.She’s not gonna let you touch anything,"Hailey said.

"Hey, ma, how are you?" lan entered the room and went straight to hug his mom.

It was sweet to see how good he was with his mom.

So sweet, it was almost sexy.

"I’m doing good.Turkey's almost ready,"

Kirsten replied and turned to Hailey, "Don’t just stand there sweetie, go set the table for our guests will you?"

"lan’s a guest and I’m not?"

Hailey rolled her eyes at her big brother before turning to her heels.

"AJ! Bro, glad you can make it," lan ignored Hailey and went straight for AJ.

"Yeah, man.My parents are spending thanksgiving on a cruise, somewhere in Barbados.Your mom and Hailey invited me, hope that’s cool,"

"Absolutely.Hey, you've met my girl?" lan asked as he put an arm around me.

I loved that we could be ourselves here. He could introduce me to people as his girl and it wouldn't be weird.

"Emma, yeah.We met,"

AJ nodded at me and said, "You got a good one right here, Emma.Hold on to him,"

"Shut up,"

lan gave him a playful shove as they laughed.

"Hey AJ, I can use a hand here,"

Hailey called out from the dining room.

"Be right there,"

AJ replied and made his way over to Hailey.

lan went back to talking with his mom.

He also helped Kristen took out the big, heavy turkey from the oven.

It looked amazing and smelled divine.It was pretty much the poster child for thanksgiving turkeys.

I was smiling to myself as I saw how good lan was with his mom.They were such a lovely family.My eyes then darted to the dining room where Hailey and AJ were. Upstodatee from Novel(D)ra/m/a.O(r)g

They were busy setting the table for everyone, so I thought I could give them a hand.

I walked towards the dining room as Hailey and AJ had their backs on me.

They didn’t notice I was coming in, as they were laughing and smiling at each other.

And suddenly, AJ took Hailey’s hand and he brought it to his lips.

He kissed her hand gently before softly letting it down.

Hailey was blushing and her eyes fluttered as she stared at AJ.

Wait a minute...are they a thing?

"Emma!"

Hailey gasped as she noticed I was a few feet away from them.

Hailey and AJ immediately pulled away like magnets hitting each other.

"I'll, uh, go see if Kristen needs help with the turkey,"

AJ coughed and shuffled away awkwardly.

"Uh...hey...didn’t mean to bother you...I was just wondering if you guys needed help with anything," I said to Hailey.

"Oh, we got it. All done," she laughed nervously and motioned for the chair,

"Just sit here and chill.Talk to me.How was Georgia?"

Hailey was always chatty, but this was different.She was being nervously chatty.

"Georgia was good.You know, just busy with school.Senior year,"

"Right," she nodded in agreement

"Hey, you never told me, what was major again?"

"Uh..." I stammered,

"I’m still undecided,"

"Still? I thought you'd have to declare a major by now? You're a senior right?"

Oh shit. I completely messed that up! I shouldn't have said that, it just slipped up.

"I mean...I was undecided, but I've declared a major and it’s..."

Oh shit. I don’t have an answer to this.

If I have, I wouldn't have applied to all these colleges undeclared.

"Um...I mean..."

I was racking my brain for an answer, but somehow I couldn't think of anything.

Just say something, anything! Any major, just lie!

"What is it?" Hailey narrowed her eyes at me and I got worse.

I was blinking rapidly and no words were coming out of my mouth.

Normally I wouldn't be this dumb, but I was so caught off guard.

"I'm...um..."

I looked from side to side for some help.

I was wishing that lan would walk in here right now to save me.

But there was no one or nothing between Hailey and me.

She was waiting for an explanation.

"Emma? What is it?" she said again.

"I don't have a major..." I breathed finally.

"What do you mean you don’t have a major?"

"I don't have one because I’m not in college yet,"

"But you're a senior...oh!"

her eyes shot wide and her hands went to cover her gaping mouth as she said, "You're in high school?"

"Please, sshh," I put my hand to her mouth to keep her voice down.

"But lan’s...a high school teacher..." she was blinking like crazy as she spoke in a whisper.

"Yeah..."

"Please tell me at least you guys are not in the same school,"

"Define...same,"

"Holy shit!" she gaped again, covering her mouth with both hands.

"Please, Hailey, don’t tell anyone or say anything.Please, I’m begging you,"

"Holy freaking shit!"