Kent ran his hand through his hair with a chuckle since everyone caught him teasing me. And for a perfect moment it was as if the last four years hadn’t happened and we were friends again.

"Sorry, we were just talking about the roses you planted ages ago, Mom," Kent said as he moved over and took the seat next to Jen, who wasn't smiling.

And as soon as I spotted Jen the moment was gone. I smiled at her, trying to reassure her that nothing fishy was going on, as I took my seat and put my cloth napkin on my lap. "The Jesus roses."

My mom laughed. "I haven't heard them called that in years. They were beautiful this past summer." She piled turkey on her plate and then passed the platter along.

"Those roses took lots of my time when I was younger, Mom. What did I do to deserve that, huh?" He asked with a grin as he took the platter from my mom. He put a generous portion of everything on his plate. He served Jen and then passed to his mother. I was the last to get the dishes as they were passed around.

Kent's mom snorted, "You used all the hot water every morning and you always got into the shower before I did, that’s what you did.“

Jen laughed, "Not much has changed. Kent uses up all my hot water too."

Kent smirked.

”So, Elly said you two have a class together? Art?,” my mother asked innocently.

Kent froze for a moment before he put some green bean casserole in his mouth, "Yeah."

I could tell by his pasty complexion that he still hadn’t shared that information with his girlfriend. He’d kept me a secret.

Jen looked at Kent with daggers. And those daggers would've sliced right through his whole body if they'd been real. She didn't verbalize anything, however, I was sure he’d get the verbal beating he deserved later on at home.

I tried to dispel the tension across the table, "Art History, mom. It’s only like fifty minutes and we're really just sitting there looking and listening to the professor describe the slides. But Kent totally aced his midterm so I'm going to have to study with him for the final,” I looked at Kent, “if that's okay with you, of course."

Kent chewed at his lip for a moment as he avoided looking at Jen. He nodded slowly, "Yeah. The mid term was easy, but the final is going to be harder. We'll try to get you a better grade on the midterm." Kent smiled sheepishly, probably embarrassed that he’d been caught lying about me.

Kent's mom looked at Jen, "Are you alright, dear?"

Jen's gaze switched to his mom and her fake-polite-happy face came back. She nodded, "Oh yes, is your stuffing homemade? It’s delicious."