Page 44 of Rise & Fall
What the hell is a rainbow slob monster?But I can’t help but let out a manic laugh.
“Hey.” A deep but soothing voice approaches. But I can’t look at him. I probably look embarrassing as I can feel my mascara smeared under my eyes from the tears of stress and joy.
“Hi, I’m Lori. I’m Dakota and Emsley’s mom.” I hear my mom say from next to me. I swipe under my eyes to try and clear up my face before standing up and introducing Nolan to my mom.
“Mom, this is Nolan.” I smile a very unsure smile at my mom, because I actually don’t know why I got up to introduce him like he was mine to introduce. I’m pretty sure normal people show up to kids’ birthday parties and introduce themselves as the parents of so-and-so. “Aria’s dad.” I decide to add because I already made it weird.
“Hi, Lori. Nice to meet you.” Nolan reaches his hand out to my mother, in which she returns and they shake hands.Well, this is fun.
“I’m pretty sure we’ve seen each other at the school a few times,” my mom says as she lets go of Nolan’s hand.
“You’re right,” he responds back.
Gosh, why is this so awkward?
Suddenly, we hear a car door slam, and we all look over to the parking lot to see my little sister racing toward us.
“I should go see if Dex needs help. See you around, Nolan.” My mother gives me a very expressive look that can either be interpreted ascareful with this manorDakota Jade Young, you little slutbefore heading off in the direction my sister is running from.Am I really that obvious?
“Hey, you okay?” Nolan turns his attention on me as soon as my mom leaves.
“Yeah, why?” I ask, wondering if he had caught any of my breakdown just moments before.
“Your face says otherwise.” He uses his thumb to catch a runaway tear sitting at the edge of my chin, and that’s how I know that I am, in fact, that obvious. I’m literally blushing and the man is still two feet away from me.
“Right. Stupid face,” I quip.
Emsley zips by us as she screams, “Hi, DJ! Bye, DJ!” and finds her way to the playground with her friends.
“Well, sorry we’re late. Little miss diva couldn’t decide what to get Em at the store.” He waves a bright pink gift bag in his hand, hand-drawn hearts scattered on the outside in black sharpie.
“You didn’t have to do that.” I say taking the bag from him and walking it over to the so-called gift table.
“Come to a birthday without a gift? If there’s one thing my grandmother ever taught me growing up, it’s never to show up to a party empty handed. If you’re not bringing food, you bring a gift.”
“Well, you being here is just enough.” Before I can process what I just said, the words were already flying out of my mouth. “I mean, you and Aria. It’s enough for Em.” I try to backtrack and clarify, but if I’m being honest, him being here is an added bonus.
“Who’s ready for pizza?” I hear my mom yell, and I groan at the thought of thirty people having to suffer through cold, stale pizza.
“Yummy!” A couple of the kids cry as they run full force under the gazebo.
“Wait, is this pizza cold?” Aria shouts as she picks up a slice.
“Yes, I’m so sorry. The delivery man couldn’t find us and—”
“I love cold pizza!” Aria shouts again, interrupting me while also shoving her face full of pepperoni pizza.
“You do?” Emsley eyes her friend, then looks at me and I just shrug.
“OHMYGODYOUGOTTATRYIT.” Aria’s face is stuffed so full, I can barely make out what she says, but it’s enough to get Em and everyone else to pick up a cold slice and dig in.
“So, who’s that with your mom?” We both look over to see my mom hand in hand with my…step-dad? I guess I don’t really know if that’s the right title for him, so I opt for a more generic one.
“That’s Em’s dad.”
“Just Em’s dad?” Nolan questions as we walk closer to the playground.
“Yeah, my dad’s dead,” I manage to say without flinching, feeling a strange sense of safety in confessing something so sad in such a non-sad way to Nolan. I actually surprise myself. I don’t really comfortably announce that my dad is dead like that. It’s not something I’ve ever actually come to terms with.