“Of course we’ll do that.” Mom didn’t consult Dad at all before she answered.
“Are you still going to live here?” Dad’s jaw was so tight, he could’ve cracked nuts. “Finish school?”
“Of course I’m going to finish school. And where else would I live? Of course I’m staying here.” Unless they made that impossible.
“Is that everything?” Mom asked me, but she was watching Dad as if she were just waiting for him to step out of line.
Dad loved us. He did, but he was incredibly angry right now.
“The only other thing she talked about is the class I’m in now. I still have four weeks and my options are to finish it or drop it. But it’s too late for a refund, so I’ll finish it.”
Mom contemplated my options. “I’ll talk to the school. Maybe we could transfer part of the tuition to next year for the dropped class.”
“They don’t do that,” I reminded her.
She chuckled. “Oh, Jurnie. You have no idea what they decide to when pushed. You don’t have to finish the class unless you really want to.”
I didn’t want to, but the guilt over them losing the money was going to eat away at me. This one time, maybe I could be selfish. “I really don’t want to.”
“Then don’t.” Mom returned to eating as if that were the end of the matter, but both Delaney and I knew more was coming.
“What about this boy?” Dad demanded.
“What about him?”
“You spent two nights with him, Jurnie. Don’t act like we don’t know what that means. We thought you were beyond the boy crazy stage. Look what happened when your sister went through this.”
“Hey,” Delaney snapped. Unfortunately for Dad, his eldest daughter was just like him. “Don’t say things like that anywhere Lily might hear you.”
That was like a slap of reality to him. “You know we love Lily. You both know we love you. We’d just hoped that you’d follow a certain path.”
“Well, your path for me wasn’t my path. The universe decided my path included a daughter. If we’re a burden to you, we can move. Yes, you’ve been helpful and generous, but if you think—”
“Enough.” Mom barely raised her voice and the word came out as a sigh. “You know that’s not what he meant, Delaney. But… I do think we deserve some information about Jurnie’s boyfriend. We haven’t even met him.”
By design. I wouldn’t tell them that, though. “His name is Bonham Thompson,” I told her. She wasn’t wrong. I was their daughter and they wanted to know about my life. They probably deserved that. “He is the drummer for Pushing Daisies.”
“What’s that?” Dad asked.
“A band. They’re on tour right now with Courting Chaos, so I don’t get to see him right now. He helped me when I needed help. He has a good heart.” I wasn’t sure what else I could tell them.
“We’ve never heard of these bands.” Of course he hadn’t. It wasn’t exactly up their alley. “Are they real bands?”
I sighed. “Pushing Daisies is opening for Courting Chaos who last year opened for Kissing Cinder. You’ve heard of them right?”
“Yes. That’s not my kind of music.”
“Didn’t think it was.”
“Well, we’d like to meet him when he’s in town again.” That was Mom’s answer and a message to Dad that this conversation was over. “You’re a good girl, Jurnie. We trust you.”
Could’ve fooled me.
19
Jurnie
It wasn’t until Delaney and I were loading the dishwasher and cleaning up from dinner that I thought about checking my phone. There was a voicemail from Bonham.
“What’re you doing?” my sister asked.
“A voicemail from Bonham. I called him earlier to tell him about school.”
“Listen to it.”
“I’m going to.”
“On speaker.” I started to protest, but she stopped me. “The fact that you’re dating a rock star is ridiculous, Jurnie. Let me live vicariously through you.”
With a laugh, I hit the speaker button and then played the voicemail.
“Hey, Jurnie. First, you don’t have to tell me it’s you when you call. You’re the only woman calling me besides my mom and I’m pretty sure that I can tell the difference,” he said. We both giggled loudly. “Second, about school, that’s amazing, baby. I’ll call you tonight and you can tell me all about it. We’re usually done around nine, nine-thirty. Talk to you then.”
There had been noise in the background and I imagined how noisy the arenas were, not to mention backstage, where everyone was running around.
“Jesus, he has a sexy voice.” Delaney turned back to the dishwasher.
“Ears off my man,” I told her back then bumped her hip with mine.
We devolved into a fit of laughter that included splashing water on each other.
That night at nine, I was lying in my bed already changed into pajamas. I’d taken a shower and put on shorts and a tank top. I wasn’t ready to go to sleep yet, but it was comfortable and I figured I’d watch some TV until Bonham called.
When my phone didn’t ring by nine-thirty, I lay back and snapped a picture of myself, then sent it to him after typing, I miss you. Then I tossed my phone aside so I wouldn’t stare at it until it made noise.
Not a minute later, I got an alert that my message had been screenshotted. Thankfully, I was alone in the room because the size of my grin probably would’ve scared others. He liked me enough to want pictures of me. That said something good and made my entire body feel like Jell-O.
Immediately after, my phone rang with a Facetime call.
Bonham appeared on the screen as soon as I accepted. From what I could see, he was wearing a T-shirt and I assumed pants. His hair was damp like he’d just gotten out of the shower.
“Hi,” I answered with a big smile, not even bothering to try
