The Pickup (Imperfect Love 1)

“…so then I told Bertha that if Sherry plans to come to my birthday dinner with her mother, she needs to leave that good for nothing boyfriend of hers at home. All those tattoos. It’s a disgrace. I can’t believe she’s dating him.”

“Hey mom,” I say, cutting in before she can continue. “I need to get going. I’m sorry. I’ll see you Sunday, though, for dinner.”

“And will you be bringing Samantha?” If my mother had it her way, Samantha would be out of the picture. While she approves of her coming from wealth, she hates that Samantha wants to work. According to my mother, women belong in the home. Which is ironic since my mom was home my entire childhood, yet I spent more time with my nanny than with both of my parents combined.

“She’ll be there, Mom. Please be nice.” She lets out an annoyed huff but agrees. We say goodbye then hang up. Standing, I take one more calming breath before I head into Samantha’s dorm. We’ve been dating for the last year, and she’s a junior like I am. She’s majoring in business and planning to work for her father’s company after she gets her MBA. Hence, the reason my mom isn’t thrilled about us dating.

When I get to Samantha’s door, I wiggle the doorknob, and when it doesn’t open, I knock. I hear shuffling and then she opens the door slightly. Her hair is messy, and her lips are puffy. She looks like she always does when we finish having sex.

“Nick! Wh-what are you doing here? I thought you had a game.”

“I did have a game…yesterday. We got back a couple hours ago, so I came to see you.” Samantha’s features contort into a pained expression, and I’m slowly putting the pieces together. Pushing the door open, I walk into her room to find Jesse, a friend of mine, shirtless and sitting on Samantha’s bed.

“Are you guys serious?” I ask even though it’s a dumb question. There’s a fucking condom wrapper on the nightstand. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out what the two of them were doing.

“I’m sorry, Nick, it’s just that you’re always playing football, and even when you’re not, you never have any time to hang out.” I thought she understood how important football is to me. It’s not like I suddenly started playing. I’ve been playing since the day we met. Hell, I’ve been playing pretty much since the day I could walk. I’m attending NCU on a football scholarship, which means on top of taking a full load of classes, I have practice every day and games every weekend during season.

“How long has this been going on?”

“Since the beginning of summer. You’re just always so busy and—”

“And instead of talking to me about it, you decided to fuck my friend?” I yell before I look over to Jesse. “Way to have my back, bro.” I cut across the room and deck him straight in his face. He falls backward onto the floor, then stands but doesn’t attempt to retaliate.

“I swear, we didn’t mean for it to happen,” Samantha cries, but I’m already halfway out the door.

“Spare me. As far as I’m concerned, you’re both fucking dead to me,” I shout before I walk out of her room, slamming the door behind me.

I get back to my dorm and see my friend Celeste is waiting for me. Growing up, Celeste was always around. When my mom left the trailer park, she left everyone from her old life behind, except for her best friend, Beatrice. Beatrice and my mom grew up next door to each other—two peas in a pod. The only difference between them is while my mom got knocked up by my dad and crossed over the train tracks into a life of luxury, Beatrice fell in love with a biker in a motorcycle club. The story I’ve heard is that he told her he had something to take care of and promised he would return. Over the years, Beatrice had the opportunity to be with several wealthy men, thanks to my mother, but she’s chosen to pine after Celeste’s dad, hoping one day he will come back. Seventeen years later, and he still hasn’t returned.

For whatever reason, she doesn’t seem to care that she’s living in a trailer park, and Celeste resents the hell out of her for that. She doesn’t understand why her mom would choose love over money, especially choosing to love a man who left and never returned. Her mom might be content living in a trailer park and pining after the love of her life, but Celeste isn’t. While she’s sixteen and still in high school, because she looks a lot older, she only gives her attention to wealthy guys. Her goal is to marry a man who is the opposite of what her mother fell in love with—wealthy and emotionless. Her plan is to show her mom that money, and the comfort it brings, is more important than love.