She Won't Kiss and Tell

Garrett

The cold wind blew through me as I made my way home. It was a kind of rare day in Arizona. The sun hid behind the clouds and the win blew softly. When I was already inside the foyer, I could see the phone blipped once, signaling me that I had a new message.

I pushed the button and it beeped once before the message was played. “Hey Garrett, it’s me, Amanda. I’m guessing you aren’t home. So mom told me to call you up and invite you and your parents for the thanksgiving dinner tonight. You could bring your girlfriend John been telling me about too. Anyway, see you tonight…I guess.”
************
“Hi, Mr. and Mrs. Nickelsen!”, Amanda greeted cheerfully as she opened the front door. She let my parents in and her eyes grew wide when she saw me, hand in hand with Angela. “Hey you guys.”

“Amanda, this is Angela, my girlfriend.”, I introduced them.

Amanda smiled and stuck her hand out to Angela. “Hi, I’m Amanda, but you could call me Mandy for short, just like the boys.”

“Nice to meet you.”

“You too. Come in.”

I pulled Angela into the house and I could hear Amanda closing the door behind us. The warmth of the O’Callaghan’s living room hadn’t change since the last time I was here. My friends and family were talking and laughing, when all I could feel was the cold eyes Jared and Pat gave me.

Angela excused herself to go to the bathroom and I quickly walked into the kitchen to get some drink. The smell of the turkey filled the kitchen and Amanda was there.

“Oh, hey, Garrett.”, she smiled as she placed the bowl of mashed potatoes on the island top. “Can I get you anything?”

“No, I’m just getting a drink.”, I opened the fridge and took out a pitcher of ice tea. When I was about to get a glass from the cupboard, Amanda already handed me one. “Thanks.”, I muttered and took the glass from her.

I poured the brown liquid into the glass and put the pitcher back into fridge. “Amanda, can you do me a favor?”, I asked.

“What favor?”

I took a sip of the ice tea and sighed quietly. “Pat and Jared kinda hates me for bringing Angela here.”

“Seriously?”, she raised her brows and pouted. “I’ve told them to not butt in.”

“Can you?”

“Sure, Gary. I’ll see what I can do.”
***************
When everyone already settled into the table, the door bell rang. Amanda’s eyes lit up and she quickly shot up from her seat, rushing to the front door.

“What’s with her?”, I asked John, who sat across me.

“Her new boyfriend.”, he simply answered as he put the napkin on his lap.

“Boy—“, before I could continue, Amanda walked into the dining room with a guy, and their fingers were intertwined. She led him to the seat next to her and they sat next to each other.

Mrs. O’Callaghan patted the guy’s hand and I could see that she already knew him. It was kind of irritating how Amanda’s mom already knew this guy she just dated, when she doesn’t know that I dated her daughter last summer. Oh yea, she doesn’t.

Amanda

“I’m really glad you could come, you know.”, I giggled as I dipped my legs into the pool.

“Oh yeah? Why?”, Nate asked, probably interested in the conversation.

I shrugged my shoulders. “Good thing my parents like you. Well, I’m glad cause’ I wanted you to know my friends and family, and vice versa. Besides, if you weren’t here, I have to stand Garrett’s glances.”

“Well, I’m glad I came, then.”, he wrapped his arm around my shoulder and I leaned on it.
***********
I walked through the hallway and found the guys, minus Garrett, inside John’s room. Jared and Kennedy were watching as Pat and John intensely playing Call Of Duty. I groaned and fell back to John’s bean bag.

“What’s wrong, Man-Ohh?”, Jared asked as he took a sip of his soda.
“Kind of everything.”, I muttered and took a handful of chips from the huge bowl beside Kennedy.

“Everything? How that happens?”

“I don’t really know.”, I leaned back and looked up to the ceiling.

“Boo-yah!”, John exclaimed as he threw his arms into the air. “I did it!”

Pat rolled his eyes and put down his controller. He turned around and scooted closer to me. “Don’t say that, Mandy. Everything always turns around.”

“Thanks, Patty cakes. This one is really hard to turn around.”, I sighed.

“Well, all I know, Nate’s a good guy.”, John finally spoke up. “But still, be careful.”

“Always am, John.”

Suddenly, the door swung open and Garrett was standing on the door way with his girlfriend. “Hey guys.”

“Hey.”, Pat responded with his eyes shifting to me then to Garrett, and then to Angela.

“Can we join you? Since the parents’ conversation is deadly boring.”

“Sure.”, I spoke up.

“Where’s your boyfriend?”, Angela asked as she sat next to me.

“He went home, cause’ he has his own family thanksgiving dinner.”, I looked away to the TV. She looked down to her hands. ‘Good’, I thought inside my mind.