“Tyson said your wedding is in January,” Maggie looked into Tasha’s eyes. “Is that true?”
They were in Tasha’s kitchen on Friday night. Tasha smiled and opened the oven.
“That’s not true.” She placed the casserole dish inside the oven and covered it up. “Tyson is just eager to make me and Grant a couple as soon as possible,” she smiled at her son’s fondness for Grant. “We are looking at April. We are not sure yet until we meet with my home church pastor who is going to officiate the wedding.
“Tyson is just so excited about your wedding,” Maggie remarked. “Just as excited as you and Grant.”
“Yes, you can say that again,” Tasha dried off her hand with the kitchen towel. “He has found a daddy, and he’s so happy.”
Maggie grinned. “I am so happy for you. Miss. Tasha.”
“Thank you darling,” Tasha said.
Maggie’s phone rang in her pocket. She brought it out and said to Tasha.
“I have to go,” she climbed down from the high stool. “It’s Jasmine calling. I asked her to flash me when she gets to my door.”
“It’s okay darling,” Tasha looked away from the cucumber she was dicing for salad. “I will see you later.”
A few minutes later, Maggie and Jasmine sat on the balcony. They were trying to write their college essays, which Tasha had promised to help cross-check.
“I don’t know why you want to go as far away as New York,”
Maggie was now considering going as far away as it was possible for college.
“I want a change of environment,” she flipped her hair over her shoulder and furrowed her eyebrows. “I was born here, lived here all my life. I think I need a change.”
“You are talking like an old auntie. How old are you?” Jasmine gave her friend a sardonic smile. “What are you running away from? I know something is bothering you. You have been dreaming of going to UC since middle school. You just made a u-turn in the last week.”
“Nothing,” she sighed as she started typing on her tablet. “I just ne-”
Her phone rang, cutting her short mid-sentence. She picked it off the garden table and frowned, seeing that it was from her Kevin calling. He had sent a message very early in the morning asking if they could go out to the cinema this evening. Not knowing what to say, she didn’t reply. Maggie sighed deeply and dropped the phone back to continue typing. The phone started ringing again.
“Maggie.” Jasmine peered at the phone screen. “Won’t you pick up your call? Did you and Kevin have a fight?”
“No,” she rolled her eyes. “Why would you say that?”
“You have been behaving strange whenever he’s around these days.” It was the turn of Jasmine to roll her eyes. “I for a long while. Do you two have any problem?”
Maggie groaned and picked up the shrilling phone. She swiped across the screen. “What is it, Kevin?”
“Hey, baby,” his cheerful voice sent sensations round her body. “I’m on my way to pick you up for the movies.”
“The movies?” She feigned confusion. “I never said we should go.”
“Don’t worry,” he chuckled. “You will see me soon.”
He cut off the line.
“Kevin and I are in love with each other,” Maggie announced out of the blue. “And I’m afraid.”
“Oh, mine!” Jasmine looked at her friend, smiling with her eyes so wide with surprise. “My gosh! You don’t mean it!”
“So, what do you think about it?”
“Hmm,” Jasmine shrugged. “It’s so sweet, but it feels weird at the same time.”
“Exactly, I’m so much in love with him,” Maggie exclaimed. “At the same time, I feel it’s wrong.”
“Does he feel it’s wrong too?” Jasmine asked.
“No,” Maggie replied. “Not at all. Left to him, we would have told our parents by now.”
“Your mother is going to have cardiac arrest if she gets to know.”
“My point exactly.”
“So you now decide to run away,” Jasmine shifted their discussion back to the college essay.
Her friend nodded.
Kevin’s car drove up the driveway.
The guys exchanged looks.
When Kevin got out of the car and walked to where the girls were, Jasmine stood up and left after she and Kevin exchanged greetings.
“How are you doing?” Kevin asked after Jasmine left. He took over the seat she vacated.
“I’m good,” Maggie shrugged, trying to save her work on her laptop so she could turn it off. She didn’t want him to know what she was doing.
“You’ve been avoiding me,” Kevin went straight to the point. “We barely had any time together all summer, Maggie. Can we at least go to the movies this evening? Jasmine can come along if you want.”
“I don’t know,” she said, trying not to look into his eyes.
“Please don’t push me away,” he pleaded and placed a hand on her arm. I love you Maggie, not seeing you always is killing me. I can’t concentrate on my studies. I can’t stop thinking about you.”
“Kevin,” she called out his name gently. “I’m scared.”
“Scared?” He moved his seat closer to her. “Of what?”
“What our parents will say?” she breathed in and out. “Of what people will say.”
“We can’t say anything,” he insisted, his voice very sharp. “Both of us are adults. We shouldn’t be bothered about what others think about us.”
“I don’t think I have the courage not to,” she retorted. “My mom is going to kill me.”
“Don’t worry,” he smiled at her. “By the time you start college next year, we will have more freedom. We are going to rent an apartment together very near the school campus. I want to wake up with you in the morning and go to bed with you at night and love you all the time in between.”
“Kevin,” she chided. “Things are not as easy as you think.” She said in a small voice.
He caught the changed expression on her face, and it confused him.
“Maggie,” he whispered. “Do you still love me?”
“I love you, Kevin,” she bit her lip. “You know that, but…”