State of Grace | ONGOING

Chapter 12

"Louise!" My mom's clear, high voice sounded over the rowdy crowd. It was always funny to me to see her at tailgates and football games because it was seemingly impossible for her to look anything less than elegant and put together. In a pair of clean white jeans and a red blouse with her blonde hair pinned behind her head, it was hard not to see my future. We looked alarmingly similar, my mom and I. We had the same fine blonde hair, the same willowy figure, the same freckles, hell, we shared shoes when I was at home. I didn't even mind the questions of if she was my older sister because I just hoped I aged as gracefully as she did.

My parents walked over to us, my dad in a Spartan's jersey and blue jeans, looking much more the picture of the classic American at a football tailgate. I hurried up to hug them both, careful of messing up my painfully high ponytail. "I'm so glad you're here," I told them both, grinning up at them.

"We're always happy to support Christopher," my mom said. My parents were some of the few people who Bo allowed to call him by his name like that, though my dad preferred Chris. They drank beers together, watched football together, sometimes I could have sworn he liked Bo better than me.

"I've been watching from home and it just isn't the same," my dad told me gruffly, and I chuckled. "They've been dominating their conference, though, the new kid, Theo, she's pretty good–" I was pleasantly surprised to hear my dad say that. Until he added, "– for a girl."

I couldn't muster the energy to argue this one, not when I had a whole weekend ahead of me with my parents in town. But Theo was good. At least that was something we could agree on, even if I wouldn't add the qualifier. She was better than the Sparten's previous wide receiver that had graduated at the end of last year and been drafted to the NFL. She was racking up more reception yards than most receivers in the conference. Last I'd checked she was in the top five receivers in the conference.

"She is good," was all I said, nodding slightly.

Simi bounded over to say hi to my parents who were as ridiculously polite as ever. I was lucky that my friends and family got along for the most part, as long as no one brought up anything too political. I stood back and watched as my mom and Simi started chatting about how school was going. My dad stood next to me, looking out over the crowd of fans at the tailgate, lowering his sunglasses off the top of his head to shield his eyes from the sun.

"How's Bo doing?" He asked, glancing down at me. He was a good father, he loved me and Henri, he taught me how to ride a bike and helped me with my homework. He wasn't always sure how to deal with me being a girl, though, he was closer with my brother and I was closer with my mom. It was something that I'd noticed over the years but never mentioned as he squirmed in his seat when I complained about period cramps or scoffing when I asked to go to the mall. He still saw me as his little princess, like I was still a toddler in a tutu and a tiara, but I was an adult now and he was wary of dealing with an independent woman. I loved him dearly despite this, because he was my dad, my hero when I was a little girl.

"He's good," I replied shortly. At the exasperated look he gave me, I smiled brightly and continued, "He's having a good semester, his classes are going well so far. He's in great shape, having a great season so far. The coach is really impressed with him even though he wasn't in the gym all summer." I rolled my eyes at that. "But he's feeling good about the season and about senior year. He's good," I emphasized.

"That's good to hear," my dad said with a distant half smile. "And you're good?"

I couldn't tell what he was looking at, nor could I read his mind and figure out what was occupying his thoughts. "Yeah, I'm excited for the year to be over, though," I admitted. "It's been a decent year so far. My business course is probably my favorite class." I had no idea where that sentiment came from, since it wasn't my typical attitude about Business Strategy.