“Taking out all the meals my lovely mother ordered for me,” I said sarcastically. After all these years, Avery knew how my mom loved to micromanage certain aspects of my life. “I don’t even know what half this stuff is.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me. She’s still controlling you from three hours away?”
“Sure is. She had that delivery diet food service set up for me—the same one your mom uses. It’s all naturally prepared meals. Though, I’ve never taken the time to actually look at the food, have you?”
“Nope, never ate the crap either.”
“Ugh. Lucky.” I picked up one tray and inspected it. “This one looks like...” I trailed off, looking at the name, unable to make out what it was. “You have got to be kidding me. Tofu? She’s making me eat tofu? With gluten free croutons?” I scrambled around to look at the rest of the meals in the vibrant green mesh bag. “Oh my God, they’re all gluten free meals! Why the fuck is she ordering me gluten free? I’m not allergic to anything!” My stomach churned as I sorted through the rest of the contents. This stuff would taste horrible.
Chuckling, Avery said, “Gluten causes belly fat and she wants you fit and trim, dumbass.”
“Thanks, Captain Obvious. I know that, but I have no belly fat left to lose. She acts like I’m fucking overweight.”
“I can only imagine what she thinks of me.”
“I’m not eating this shit,” I said, dumping one of the trays into the garbage.
“Last time I checked, there’s a lot of salt and sugar in gluten free diets. Sugar turns to fat and salt is going to bloat you. What else is in there?”
“Let me see...There’s a whole week of terrible looking meals and snacks.” I grimaced at the appalling food choices. “Lamb meatballs? How do people eat this stuff? This looks like mystery meat patted together. I can’t believe she’s expecting me to eat this shit. It doesn’t look appetizing at all, it looks disgusting.”
“Take a picture and send it to me right now. I have to see this.”
I pulled another tray out. “What are corn grits?”
“Grits? Never heard of it. Maybe some type of specialty corn your mom thinks will make you lose weight after one bite?”
Shaking my head, I laughed. “That sounds like something she’d do.” I picked up another tray. “Well, this doesn’t look too bad. It’s turkey and green beans in a gluten free wrap.” I opened the plastic container and took a bite. “The wrap tastes like cardboard, but I’ll take it over the tofu,” I said with a full mouth. Before I knew it, the small snack size wrap was gone and I was still hungry.
Avery moved to another topic and began chatting about the sport she loved, talking a hundred miles a minute about her tryouts.
“You’ll make the cheer team for sure. I’d be shocked if you didn’t.”
“I hope so! I mean, I want t
o make the All-Star competition team. I should be able to after all the private lessons I’ve had.”
“I have no doubt you will. I’ve seen those girls, and you’re so much better. Oh shit, you’re never going to believe this. I met my coach.”
“Yeah?” she said, unimpressed. “And?”
I sipped my water and told her how I made a fool of myself. “He’s really young, a former Olympian, but I just can’t picture him training us. It’s weird.”
“How young?”
“I have no clue, I didn’t ask, but I would say around twenty-five? Thirty? I have no idea.” I puckered my lips, my forehead bunching together. “That seems kind of young for my dad to be friends with.”
“I didn’t know you had to be a certain age to be friends with someone.”
“You don’t, obviously. I just wasn’t expecting it.”
“Is he hot?”
My cheeks flushed. “Avery! He’s my coach!”
“And?”
“And what?”