Parting Chances (Fighting Chance #1) (9 page)

“That is correct,” the voice said.

“Yay!” I bounced lightly on the bed, excited to get an answer right.

“Oh, it’s on.” Eli smirked and repositioned himself on the bed so he was laying down facing the TV. That looked comfortable, so I followed his lead.

“Okay, how about… U.S. Cities for 400, Alex.” I smiled as I clicked on the category and waited.

“The Oregon Trail and Pony Express route both passed by Casper in this state.” All you could hear is clicking and buzzing of the controllers as Eli and I pounded on them to be the one to answer. Eli’s name popped up on the TV, and he let out a little victory cheer.

“Ah, if you want to play with the big boys, you need to have a quicker thumb.” He typed in his answer and got a correct response before moving on to a new category.

“You talk a lot of trash for a pretty boy.” Since I was so into the game, the words just slipped out. I hadn’t even realized what I had said until Eli had paused the game and glanced over at me.

“Pretty boy?” He arched his eyebrow at me, in an unfairly attractive manner.

“Oh, shush.” I bumped my shoulder into his and buried my face into the comforter, which was probably not the best idea since it smelled like him, and I found myself taking in a deep breath.

“Are you done sniffing my sheets so we can play?” It was his turn to nudge me, and I was positive my face turned a darker shade of red.

“Maybe,” I mumbled into the sheets and prayed my cheeks cooled down a bit before I lifted my head. Eli still had the grin plastered on his face but he was kind enough to not say anything more and returned his attention to the TV.

“Ah. Chemical Elements for 800 please.” He clicked the question and I tossed my controller in front of me. Eli gave me a questioning glance as the answer was read.

“What? There is no point in even trying at this one. You
know
how I am with the elements.” I let out a huff as Eli easily answered the question. “So unfair. I think you have this game rigged.” Eli just laughed and selected the Literary Characters category, and I scrambled for my controller as the question was read.

“Topsy and Simon Legree are both characters in this bestselling novel.” I was quicker on the X this time, and once again, let out a whoop of triumph as I entered my answer.

“What is Uncle Tom’s Cabin?” I smiled when Alex told me I was correct.

Eli and I quickly made our way through the first round and double Jeopardy, making smart remarks to each other the whole time. At one point, I even managed to push the controller out of Eli’s hands before he could buzz in and stole the question from him. After that, it was a pretty dirty game of Jeopardy. Final Jeopardy I just went all in and failed miserably. Eli also didn’t get the answer right, but he was smart enough to not bet his entire pot.

“That was fun. Thanks for letting me play,” I said with a yawn.

“Anytime. I’m sure a rematch is due in our future soon.” His lips turned up into an almost smirk, but his own yawn interrupted the grin.

“Well, I should get some sleep. See you in the morning…er, when we wake up.” I hopped off the bed and gave him a small wave before I headed for the door.

“Night, Hales. Sweet dreams.” I heard Eli whisper as I walked out of the room. I thought the text version of those words was always the best part of my night. But hearing them was a thousand times better. I crawled into my bed with a huge smile on my face. It was one of the best nights I had in ages, and all I did was play a trivia game with a boy I liked. Not only that, but I also felt the walls that I’d built up in the beginning of the school year slowly start to come down. I’d spent the night flirting openly with Eli, and right now, it didn’t seem to bother me in the least.

“You heading out?” Kyler popped her head out of her room, and I swung my backpack over my shoulder.

“Yep. Figured I’d leave early today since I have to be back by noon tomorrow for work.” I was heading to my parents’ house for a quick visit. This was the first weekend I had off, and I hadn’t been able to visit since Labor Day. And though midterms were next week, I was going to use any free weekend I had to spend with Mom.

“Okay, well let me know when you get there. And say hi to your parents for me.” Kyler came out of her room and gave me a hug.

“Will do.” After returning her hug, I headed down to my car and began the two hour journey to my parents’ house.

My stomach was in knots as I neared Ridgeburg, my hometown. I made it a point to try and call my mom at least once a week, and with our last few phone calls, it was becoming evident that she was getting sicker. Each time, our talks were getting shorter. My heart started breaking all over again knowing that I hadn’t been there for them for the last month. I had been so sidetracked with school and work and…well, let’s face it, Eli had been taking up a lot of my time too, even though that is exactly what I was trying to avoid. As nice as it was to be distracted from it all, I was now feeling guilty for living my life while Mom got sicker and sicker.

My eyes were wet by the time I pulled up to my parents’ house. My fingers pressed against them, forcing the tears back in. I took a deep breath, readying myself for what was to come. Plastering the biggest smile I could on my face, I lifted my backpack off the seat and headed up the walkway to the house. My dad threw open the door before I could get to it and wrapped me up in a hug.

“It’s so good to see you,” he whispered, causing a rogue tear to slip down my cheek. I quickly brushed it off and pulled back from him with a smile.

“I’m happy to be here.” And I was. All the thoughts of midterms flew out of my brain as I stood wrapped in my dad’s arms. He grabbed my bag and led me into the quiet house. “Where’s Mom?” I asked as I kicked off my shoes.

“She’s resting,” he said, avoiding eye contact.

“How is she?”

Dad didn’t answer and instead took off down the hall into the kitchen. I followed, unwilling to give up that easily.

“Do you want something to drink? Eat?” He opened the fridge and started searching through the contents.

“Dad. Please answer me.” I leaned against the counter and waited for him to show his face again. It took a moment, but eventually, he pulled his head out of the fridge. His face confirmed my fears—Mom wasn’t doing well anymore.

“She’s…okay.” He released a sigh and took a seat at the table.

“Okay?” That wasn’t a good enough answer for me.

“She still has good days. But she is starting to have a lot more bad days. She’s getting weaker. She’s in pain most of the time, which she tries her hardest to hide.” I fell into the chair next to him and gripped his hand.

“Oh, Dad. I’m sorry you’re going through this by yourself. I—”

“I’m going to stop you right there,” he interrupted. “I know what you’re thinking. You
are not
coming home. I’m not going through this by myself. I’m going through it with your mom. We’re a team. We’ve always been a team, and we’ll always be one. You, my child, have a life outside of this family. You have school, you have friends, you have…a boyfriend?” Only my dad could cause me to tear up one second to snorting in laughter the next. He eyed me curiously, waiting for the answer to his question.

“No, Dad. No boyfriend.” Although my mind immediately went to Eli, and I wanted to spill the beans that there
could
be someone, if only I could handle it. But I’m figuring from Dad’s little speech, he would not be happy that I was holding off on a relationship because of what was happening with Mom.

“What about that young man…what’s his name? Eli?”

My jaw dropped and I swear I swallowed my tongue. How in the hell did he know about Eli? Dad laughed while I just stared at him.

“I knew it!” he said. “Noah mentioned something to his mom, because she called your mom, and they talked about it for hours.”

Oh, Noah, it was nice knowing you.

“I don’t know what Noah said, but Eli and I are
friends
. That’s all. We have a few classes together so we have study nights, but that’s all we do. We study. Seriously, we’re friends. That’s all.”

Dad held his hands up for me to stop my rambling.

“Okay, honey. If you say so.” He chuckled at me, kissed the top of my head and went to the fridge to gather ingredients for lunch.

***

That afternoon, Dad had went out into the garage to change the oil on his car and gave me instructions to study and let Mom rest. I had argued that I could study in her room
and
let her rest, but he won, and I was currently sitting at the kitchen table, books spread out in front of me. I was worried about my mom the whole time. I had been here for five hours, and she was still sleeping. I had never seen her nap that long, not even when she was sick the first two times. My fingers gripped the pen, but my brain was unable to focus.

I pushed from the table, making my way to my parents’ room. The door was cracked open. I gripped the knob, pushed it further open and peeked my head in. Mom was curled up on her side, sleeping peacefully. I didn’t want to interrupt her rest, but I also didn’t want to be away from her anymore. So, I did the only thing I could think of; I crawled onto my dad’s side and curled up next to her.

There had been many summer afternoons when she was sick the first time that I would refuse to play outside and just spent them by my mom’s side in their bed. I took in my mom’s face, how pale and drawn in it seemed since the last time I was here. Her hair was void of its usual shine and fullness. I brushed a few strands off her forehead and tucked them behind her ear. She moved at my touch, and I yanked my hand back to my side. Her eyes slowly blinked open, and she gave me a tired smile.

“Hey, sweetie, when did you get here?” Her voice came out rough. She sat up and took a sip of water from the glass on the bedside table.

“Around eleven or so.” I watched as she looked over at the clock.

“It’s already four-thirty? How did I sleep so long?” She raised her arms over her head and stretched back and forth. Color slowly started to return to her face. “It must have been because I couldn’t sleep last night. Binge watching TV shows has been my thing for the last few weeks.” She gave me a smile then threw her arms around me. “It’s good to see you.”

“You too,” I murmured into her shirt. Was she really staying up late and was that why she was looking weaker? Or was she just putting on a front so I wouldn’t worry so much about her? My mind chose to believe what she said was true. It was easier that way.

“So, tell me, how’s school, life?” She asked me this like we didn’t have weekly phone conversations.

“Midterms are next week. Really looking forward to them being over with. Work is…work. I smell like coffee daily, and it’s starting to lose its enjoyable scent.” I put on my best frown face, because I have always loved the smell of coffee, but it has started to wear on me.

“Don’t worry. Next summer, you’ll have some big fancy graphic design job, and coffee will be your love again.” Mom smiled. “Speaking of
love
…” She trailed off and gave me a wink.

“Oh come on! Not you too!” I threw my arms up in defeat. There was no way I wasn’t going to spill every single detail about Eli to my mom. She knew me better than that, and by the way she was adjusting her pillows behind her making herself comfortable, she knew I was going to tell her. She eyed me expectantly. “Noah has a big mouth.”

Mom laughed. “Tell your mother all about Eli Park.”

“Jeez! He gave last names and everything? Did you do a background check too?”

“Do you think I need to?” she joked. I rolled my eyes and settled against the pillows.

“Well, okay, so I knew Eli since freshman year, but he transferred schools after that…” I filled my mom in on the past, not leaving a thing out.

“So, you’re afraid that you only like him now because he’s more attractive?” she asked giving me the look that meant she knew me better than that.

“No. Well, I mean, he definitely changed his appearance. But he’s still the same person he was back then. I just didn’t know him very well, and I was trying to date Drew, so it’s not like he was even on my radar in that way.” Mom rolled her eyes at the mention of Drew’s name. She had never been a fan of his, and it only got worse after he dumped me. “But I have hung out with him so much this year already, and he’s just…gah…he’s so amazing, Mom!”