Lesson 2: The BBQ

I hate it when my parents make me go with them to places.  It’s the weekend and I would normally go to Brian’s house or he come to mine and we play video games.  We are usually even when it comes to winning.  Then we ride our bikes down to get a burger with the money Mom gives me so we don’t have to eat at home.  We race our bikes and it’s the only time that I actually laugh.  It’s not like we laugh at jokes, but everything is funny somehow anyway. 

But this Sunday, Mom made me go to a BBQ at Auntie Gertrude’s house.  I hate going there and Mom knows it.  She can see my face when Uncle Harry slaps Dad on the back so hard that Dad trips and has to push his glasses back up to his nose.  Then Uncle Harry stoops down to me and takes my cheek in between the knuckles of his index and his middle finger. And then once he has a chunk of my cheek, he turns it until I wince while he’s all the while smiling.

“And how is this handsome young man these days?”

It’s not like he’s actually waiting for a response or anything cause he just turns around and starts talking to other people right away.  So, today, when he turned my cheek and made it red, I caught my father’s eye.  He was looking at me as if he was feeling my pain.  It was like he got tripped and I got red-cheeked and we were the same.  He smiled and I smiled back and everything seemed better.

“Sammy upstairs waiting for you.  You know the way, don’t you?”  Aunt Gertrude pointed to the stairs and I ran as fast as I could get away.

It’s not like I was looking forward to meeting Sammy.  It had been a long time since we had met but we weren’t like really close cousins or anything.  But he was ok.  He was a bigger nerd than even me and all he wanted to do was play video games, nothing else.  I like video games too but, it kinda like that’s all he had in his life.  It wasn’t like he was great at any subject in school either.  I kinda thought he was a loser.  At least Brian and I had math to fall back on. 

I got up to the top of the stairs and walked down the hallway to the right where I knew his room was.  I heard music and I figured it was from the party in the backyard but as I got closer to Sammy’s room, I could tell that the thump thumping was coming from from there. 

I knocked on the door and no one answered cause I think the music was too loud so I opened the door expecting Sammy to be sitting as always with the paddle in his hand and staring at the game screen.  Instead, when I opened the door, I stood still.  I guess you could say I was in shock.  There was Sammy with two girls in the middle of the room dancing to rock and roll.  I could tell he had changed not only cause of what he was doing and who he was doing it with, but also how he looked.  His hair was longer and careless.  More than that, he had this big smile on his face as he jumped up to Usher’s OMG in rhythm and synchronized with the two blond girls.   

He saw me enter mid-jump and ran across the room to give me a hug. He gave me the sunniest, widest smile I had ever seen.  I wanted to ask who he was because he sure wasn’t the Sammy I knew.  I didn’t know what to do.

              “Celia, Julie, this is my cousin Jimmy.” 

              “Come on Jimmy, join us.”  Both the girls took my hands and started dancing again.  I tried to have that open smile, like them, but I got nervous, and I wanted to say something but it wouldn’t come out of my mouth.  Finally, I stammered, “I’ll be right back.  Bathroom,” and went back out the door from where I had come.  I rushed to the bathroom and closed the door hard behind me making sure it was locked.

              I couldn’t breathe. I mean, I could breathe, but I was winded and panting and held on to the sink.  After I  calmed down and had no choice but to go back into the room. I went back in and tried my best to be a part of the group, but I couldn’t dance. So, I sat on the bed next to the speaker. 

              I swear, I don’t know what came over me then. I started to really resent the whole setup, Sammy’s friendly, relaxed attitude. I don’t know why, but I started shouting.

              “That’s not even a good song, you know.”  I took the cell that the playlist was on and pushed pause.  “This is a stupid song and you’re stupid and this whole thing is stupid.”  I’ve never yelled like that at anyone before.  I threw down the phone on the carpeted floor and ran out the door again, slamming it behind me.