"You can forget the article. It's not happening."
Kevin stares at me with complete shock and a little bit of disgust on his face. "Chapman, I have spent months waiting on you and your stupid little article. Are you kidding?"
"I'm not writing it, Kevin," I say firmly. "You can give the highlight story to Gabby's article."
The other students at the newspaper were sitting in a shocked, mutual silence. They stare at the two of us with wide eyes and dropped jaws. No one talks back to the head editor like this.
"Gabby's article sucks!" Kevin screams. "This could've been huge, Chapman. Like I said, Barstool, Channel 8, even Good Morning America!"
I cover my mouth with my hand to hide a laugh. "I think that's a bit of a stretch."
"You are making a career-ending mistake."
"Kevin, I'm twenty-one years old. This is just the start of my career." I pick up my backpack from the corner of the room and walk out.
Total girl boss move.
I hear the gossipy whispers as I walk down the hallway and roll my eyes. Please, as if I care about what Nosy Nelly and Gabbing Gabby think about it.
Joseph chases after me. He still looks awestruck from my announcement. "What happened? What made you decide to drop the article?"
"I can't do it to Aiden. I know we talked about blurring his face in the video, but the whole newspaper still knows which Frat he's in. I know one of those big-mouths would leak it for their fifteen-seconds of fame. Aiden would still end up getting in trouble."
I know I made the right decision. It felt so good finally dropping the article. I can finally be a hundred-percent real with Aiden without this secret lingering between us. It's done.
"You know I support whatever you do, Brook, but I just... Is he worth it?"
I think about the way that Aiden makes me feel, so confident and cool and beautiful. He makes me feel like a strong woman. I just know that it's special.
"He is," I say sheepishly. "I know it's only been a few months, and we just started officially dating, but he's different than anyone I've ever met."
Joseph nods. "Then I support it. And you know Sophie's going to be so happy to hear this. She would not stop complaining about it to me." Joseph goes on to make a terrible impression of Sophie.
I interrupt him. "I'm going to the store today. What do you want me to get for Friendsgiving?"
"Oh," Joseph sighs, "I thought Sophie told you."
"Told me what?"
"I'm actually going to go home with her this year. Be with her family instead."
Because I live a plane ride away, I usually stay on campus for Thanksgiving break with Joseph, who is also on campus for work. I wait until holiday break to buy my tickets instead of spending the money back-to-back.
We always go all out for our annual Friendsgiving the past two years. We buy and stuff a turkey, mash the potatoes, make the cornucopia, all the works. Last year, we ended up getting too drunk off wine and burnt the turkey.
"Are you mad?" Joseph asks with a wince on his face.
"No, of course I'm not," I laugh. "I'm glad you're actually invited to Sophie's house for dinner. Doesn't her mom hate you?"
"Hate is a little strong of a word," he says. "I'd say she thoroughly dislikes me. She thinks Sophie should be with someone... well, a doctor."
"Joe, you're so smart. You could be a doctor if you wanted to. You just faint at the sight of blood!"
"Exactly! But she doesn't get that," he says. "She thinks that Graphic Design is not going to support her daughter's PhD aspirations."
I shake my head. "Well, all she needs to see is how happy you make Soph. That's all that matters."
"Money also makes Soph happy," Joseph says.
"You know what else does?" I pause for dramatic effect. "Ice cream!"
On our way back from picking up ice cream for Sophie, I see Aiden outside the Sigma Tau Delta house with a few of his brothers. I wave, and he comes running over, almost like an adorably loyal puppy.
"Hey, guys," he greets us. "What's up? Heading home soon?"
"I'm going home with Sophie in a few hours. We've got a two hour car ride. Which means two hours of her forcing me to listen to Taylor Swift."
"We all know you love Taylor Swift, Joseph," I say and nudge his arm.
"What about you, Brook? Leaving soon?"
"I'm actually staying on campus. This guy," I point to Joseph, "is ditching me this year."
Aiden puffs out his bottom lip like he does when he's contemplating something. "I'm taking off later today. You want to tag along?"
I immediately look at Joseph, hoping he can somehow get me out of this. Aiden wants me to meet his family when we decided to be official only three days ago? "Uh..."
"It's chill! It'll just be me, my mom, and my sister. We don't really do much. But I'd hate for you to be by yourself during the holiday," he says. "And my mom has been dying to meet you since I accidentally slipped about you."
I think about Aiden saying that I never show him I like him. If I say no, he might think it's because I don't want to meet his family. I do, but it just seems so soon.
"Okay," I finally decide. "You'll have turkey though, right?"
"We can make a turkey if you want," he says with a small laugh.
"Anything will be better than our turkey incident last year," Joseph says. "Go easy on the wine, Brooklyn."
"Turkey incident?" Aiden asks, an amused smile resting on his face.
I shake my head and cover my face with my hand. "I do not want to get into it."
I kiss Aiden on the cheek before finishing the walk back to the apartment with Joseph.
When I tell Sophie about my plans for Thanksgiving, she absolutely starts freaking out with excitement. She pulls me into my room to pick out my outfits for the week, making sure it is all mother-approved. I can tell she is so happy for me, but her smile isn't fully reaching her eyes.
"Soph, what's up?"
"Nothing!" She tries to play it cool. "Nothing, nothing!"
"Something," I correct her. "Is this about your mom not liking Joe?"
She nods and takes in a deep breath. "She told me she's going to try to set me up with her friend's son. He's a doctor." She sticks out her tongue. "He's a nice guy and all but... totally boring! And old!"
"I wish she knew how happy you were with Joseph."
"She doesn't care," she says and plops down on the floor. "All she cares about is being able to say, 'oh, yes, my daughter is dating a doctor. And, oh, yes, she is studying to be a doctor. And oh, yes, they make so much money.'"
I laugh at her snooty impression of her mother. "She's not that bad."
"She is! She totally is! And guess what, Brook? I don't even think I want to be a stupid doctor anymore!"
I know Sophie has really been struggling with school recently. Her classes are just getting harder and harder... and they won't stop. I know she's smart and completely capable, but I also know she deserves to love what she does.
"Tell her," I say. "Tell her you don't want to be a doctor. Tell her you don't want to marry this random doctor man. Tell her you're so completely in love with Joseph, and tell her that this is what you want to be happy."
She bites her cheek. "Yeah, no. I can't do that."
"Soph!" I throw my hands up. "You can't keep letting her control you!"
And that's the problem with being a twenty-one-year-old in college that doesn't truly know what they want to do with their life. People try to control you, to tell you what you should do, up until they believe you got it together.
I hate to see someone trying to control my best friend, and to see it affecting my other best friend as well.
"I'll figure it out," she says.
Yeah, figure it out. That's just what we go to college to do. Figure it out.
~~
AN:
Any predictions about Brooklyn meeting the family for the first time? ð±
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