Homecoming

After three weeks of classes and craziness, the piles of dirty laundry were telling me that it was time for me to go home. So, I took a train ride, back into the familiar place that used to be my home. But, I began to question, what exactly is home? Is it my dorm, or is it my home that is thirty to forty minutes away, traffic pending? Maybe I have two homes? I don't know.

In twenty minutes, I was in the train station of my hometown. I looked for my mom and dad, but they seemed to disappear in the masses.

“Hey there little girl, are you lost?” an all too familiar voice said. I turned. It was John, arms open with flowers in one hand. His hair had grown a little bit, but I always had liked his hair longer anyways. His gray eyes still pierced me the same way as they did the first time that I saw him almost three years ago.

I couldn't mask my excitement. I leaped into his arms. They were truly home. “Hey baby, what are you doing here?” I asked.

“I told your parents that I wanted to pick you up for a surprise homecoming present”, he said. “I hope that you don't mind”.

“Mind? Of course I don't mind. I'm just flabbergasted that I saw you here. I wasn't expecting this”, I said kissing him on the cheek.

“A good unexpected surprise, I hope”.

“A VERY good surprise.”

He smiled. “These are for you.” He grabbed my luggage, and then my hand.

“Thanks baby”, I said. I kissed him. I could get used to this. Coming home nearly every other weekend with my boyfriend waiting for me with flowers. It felt like it was the forties, before air travel become a popular thing.

“So what do you want to do first?” he asked as he put the bags in his Toyata Camry. “Tonight we can do whatever we want, you just name it, and we'll do it.”

My eyes lit up. “Really? Because you know there's one thing that I wanted to do. Seriously”.

“And that is...?”

“Can we go to John's Shake Shack? I have a craving for their burgers for about a week now”, I said.

He opened the tic tac green door. “Your wish is my command, my lady. This weekend, it's all about us”.

“Thank you, kind sir”, I said.

“Anything for my girl. She's home for the weekend.”

“Yes she is”, I said. My phone vibrated. Thinking it was my mom or dad wondering if I got home okay, I fished it out of my bag. It wasn't. It was Michael.

Michael: Hey I hope you have a good weekend at home, Alexis!

I quickly tossed my phone back into my bag.

“Who was that?” John asked.

I shrugged. “Just a friend from school. She just wanted to know what time the dining hall closed.”

“Ohh okay”, he said. I couldn't believe it. I had lied to the person who I always promised to tell the truth to, the one who I always was honest and faithful with, and now I just lied to his face. I think he might have known that I was lying. I'm not sure if it was because of his silence or because I was reading way too much into into this.

“Yeah”, I said. For the first time in our relationship, we have reached an awkward silence full of tension. I wasn't sure if it was because he knew I was lying or because I was doing such a lousy job of lying.

“So..how's senior year?” I asked trying to break the silence, tearing through the tension like a tooth that is trying to rip through your gums.

“It's going well. Between football and AP classes, I have a full plate on my hands. Oh, and trying to mask the fact that I miss my girlfriend and yet she's going out and cheating on me with some guy she just met. And she lies to me to my face about it.”

Well, now he knew that I was lying to him. “Woah, I'm NOT cheating on you.”

He held out his hand. “Then let me see your phone then.”

I grabbed onto my phone and held onto it for dear life. “No. I have the freedom to say no. It's my phone.”

“Then whose Michael?”

“You saw it?”

“Yes.”

“Well he's just a friend. Nothing else.”

“You sure?” He asked.

“More then sure.”

“Positive?”

“Cross your heart and hope to die?”

“Yes”.

“Well why did you lie to me, Alexis? This relationship would only work if you're being honest with me.”

“I am!”

“Then why did you lie?” he asked.

“I didn't think you would take it well that I was friends with a guy. A straight one.”

“Well Alexis, I do expect you to talk to guys. I mean you do have them in your classes and stuff. I do expect you to have guy friends. I have girl friends. Chelsea, Kate, and Angela are my platonic girl friends. I'm totally okay with you having guy friends.”

I smiled. “Good”, I said.

Walking into my house felt like an episode of the Twilight Zone. It felt like I was walking into a stranger's house versus my own. It felt so unfamilar, so strange, so foreign.

“Alexis!” my mom said. “I heard the sound of the laundry bag!” She ran to hug me.

“Hi Mom”, I said.

“Honeybun?” my dad asked. He held in his hands a copy of the last Harry Potter novel. I can see that my dad was digging into my book collection. That was the thing that we shared-our love for books.

“Hey daddy”, I said. “Enjoying the book?”

“Yes. I'm finally finishing the last chapter. Now that I don't have you around to protect it with your life, I can read it in peace.”

“Ha ha ha very funny”.

I hugged my dad. I was always a Daddy's girl.

The weekend went by fairly quickly. It was all a blur of dates with John, and a Sunday Brunch with my parents, in addition to the awesome feeling of sleeping on a mattress that didn't have a past behind it, a story of its own to tell. Before I knew it, I was in my mom's black Jeep wrangler, on the road back to USC.

“Hey Mom?” I asked.

“Yes”, she said.

“Do you have any guy friends?”
“Yes”, she said.

“And does Dad mind?” I asked.

She shook her head. “No, not really. “Why?”

“Just asking.”

“Is John jealous of your new school friends?” She asked.

“No.”

“Then why do you ask?” she asked.

“Just wondering if he should be.”

“Well it's perfectly normal for a lasting relationship to have no jealousy.”

“Okay good.”

“Unless.”

“Unless what?” I asked.

“Unless the other person does something to cause it.”

“Oh.” I looked out the window. Coming home bought home a new set of concerns. However, coming back bought a set of newly set restrictions.

My phone buzzed. It was Michael. I pressed ignore. Suddenly, I realized that my relationship with John was too much of a gamble to lose.

I don't even want to risk it.