"Maybe we should get out of here," Nate said, trying to change the subject. He was never good with words, especially when it came to comforting someone; it just felt awkward to him, and he knew his family would love to catch up with Adrie before dinner.
The two of them rode toward Nate’s house, mostly in silence. Nate’s phone started to ring and Adrie grabbed it, handing to him ever so gracefully. “Thanks,” Nathanial said quickly to her as he answered the phone.
“Hello”
“Oh hey!”
“Yeah I’m in Chi town now.”
“No no everything is great here.”
“I miss you too”
“Alright we’ll grab lunch or something when I get home.”
“I promise, I won’t ditch you this time.”
“Alright, I’ll talk to you later, bye.”
Glancing over at Adrie, Nathanial could tell she was curious as to who his mystery caller was. “It was my friend, Gema, from state,” he said, reading Adrie’s mind. “Ahh, Gema. That’s a new name,” she responded patiently.
“Yeah I met her a couple months ago. She’s pretty cool, likes good music and all. I don’t know, I kind of promised her a date and never followed through on it. She’s real sweet but I’m so sick of trying to date, Adrie.”
“Nate, you have to get out there and date. It’s been what? 5 years since your last real relationship?”
“I Know, it just seems as though all the girls I’ve taken out are either a bore or completely absent of intelligence.”
Adrie gave Nate an apologetic smile.
The two arrived at Nate’s home only minutes later. It was already 5:30, and the house was filled with smells of delicious turkey, mashed potatoes, and green bean casserole. The second they walked in the door Rockie, Nate’s English bulldog, jumped onto Adrie. He knocked her into a chair and gave her wet kisses all over her face until Nate finally pulled him off of her, throwing him a treat in the other direction. Rockie ran after it and Adrie regained her composure.
“Oh how I’ve missed your attention-starved dog.”
“Attention starved? Low blow! If only I were home more than once every six months, besides, Mom takes good care of him,” Nate said with sarcasm, throwing a wink in Adrie’s direction.
“Is that my darling Adrie I hear,” Nate’s mother exclaimed as she ran from the kitchen to wrap her tiny arms around Adrie in a full-on bear hug.
“Well hello Mrs. Matis!”
“Oh please honey, call me Kathy, you make me feel old when you use my last name,” Nate’s mom said, as she looked Adrie up and down.
Kathy Matis hadn’t seen Adrie since the last time Nathanial was home. It was hard for her to not see either of them considering Adrie basically lived in her home while Nathanial was in grade school. Kathy came to think of Adrie as her daughter. She only had Nathanial and her youngest son, Carter, and she’d always hoped for a beautiful girl to watch grow up; Adrie let her live out this dream with all sorts of compassion.
“Hey Nate, Adrie,” Carter said as he entered the room. Carter was 19 and in his second year of undergraduate school at NYU. Him and his brother looked like carbon copies of each other except for the years of age you could see between them.
“Hey, did you get those songs I sent to you,” Nate asked Carter as he sat at the kitchen table, playing with Adrie’s hair.
“Yeah I got them, I really liked the one song, Milk and Sugar by The Hard Lessons.”
“They’re pretty good, they actually are married; they went to MSU.”
“Nice.”
“So, Carter, how’s NYU treating you,” Adrie asked, putting her cell phone down, and joining the conversation. “It’s pretty good, can’t complain.”
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