Now, that pissed me off big time! It sounded like she was accusing me of not trying enough, so it was all my own fault. All this time, she was the one fucking my entire family without noticing anything being wrong! She knew well enough about my damn nickname, and, as far as I knew, never objected. She couldn’t have forgotten what happened at Thanksgiving. She must’ve seen what was going on the entire evening so far. Someone tell me again why psychology is seen as anything more than a degree in fucking common sense!
“Fine fucking therapist you are! Ask them,” I said angrily, pointing my thumb over my shoulder towards her patio door. “I did every fucking thing I could think of. I asked, I pleaded, then I begged, and finally bought gifts, and I got a big FUCK YOU in return! As I said, it didn’t work, and I’m FUCKING done taking the blame for it. Use your damn brain and figure this shit out yourself. You’ve watched it happen long enough. I’m long past giving a shit about you all. I dropped your obligatory Christmas presents on the coffee table. Enjoy your fucking Holidays and leave me the fuck alone!”
I didn’t give a shit about her pleading voice when she called after me as I left. I had to get out and do something – anything – more fun than being around these assholes and being harassed by that meddling fucking bitch. Tess was spending the Holidays with her mother in California again, so there was no way to meet up with her. Another night in front of the computer would do.
The very next day, Christmas morning, Aunt Danielle showed up at the house, trying to get me to talk to her, but I blew her off rather harshly. I wasn’t having any of it. She, as well as the rest of my family, had three damn years to realize I was their son, brother, nephew and cousin.
When I had reached my new lowest point, I searched my own feelings and had to admit: What I felt for them now was more familial obligation than anything else. Certainly not love. Though, I also had to admit that Danielle surprised me with how persistent she was. After I blew her off at the house, she simply started showing up at the office, knowing full well I wouldn’t want to make a scene there, and thinking her chance for success would be higher. It wasn’t. Thanks to the tracker on her phone, no matter at which time she arrived to talk to me, I was either already gone or had the door locked. So, Instead of making a scene by telling her off, I simply ignored her banging on my door until she gave up.
My big hope was that the whole story about me and Jenny would fade into oblivion over the Holidays. Surely, when the other students came back to school after Christmas, they would have other topics to talk about, and my life would return to how it was before Ava’s birthday. I didn’t consider the influence Golden Boy still had. It was his last year before going off to College, and he seemed to want to make it count. He wound all his football buddies into making sure I’d never live past the humiliation. And they, still remembering me ruining their football season the year before, were all too happy to assist him.
More than once, I found myself debating why I should even continue going to school. It would be the easiest solution to just stay away from it all. After all, my income was already enough to support a small family of my own, and that was while I spent half of my weekdays in school. What was the point!?
Tess wouldn’t hear any of it, though. I had to promise her to “keep going and hang on” multiple times. She was my sole support over the following months, and I suspected she knew it, since I spent more time at her place than my ‘home’. When I was with her, nothing else mattered to me than being with her. It wasn’t just the sex anymore, which was still awesome. I genuinely enjoyed her company, she had completely stopped talking about other girls, and it didn’t take long until both of us realized we were basically dating.
After school, I came to the office to pick her up and take her to lunch, trying new places to eat out whenever we could. We went to the movies, Street Fairs, and, remembering my awkwardness during our first date, she made me take a dance class with her. I even learned how to give foot massages, since wearing high heels for the whole day took a toll on her feet. And sometimes, just for the fun of it, we went to open houses and estate sales together, allocating the rooms and fantasizing on how to decorate them. A few of those we could have actually afforded, though we would’ve needed to fix them up and I never used a hammer before.
