Once our senior trip was over, we had midterms. Depending on how we did determine if we went somewhere for spring break or got stuck home. It was Nate and Pat's rule. To them, education was important. They've been trying to persuade Nash to get more education under his belt, but he always came up with excuses.

I didn't understand it. Nash was brilliant and had so much potential, but it seemed like he didn't want to apply himself. Even Nate and Pat furthered their education. What was stopping him?

That was something I needed to find out, and I might as well go to the source themselves.

I knocked on his door and opened it. He was sitting at a desk working on something.

"Nash?"

He stopped and lifted his head, then turned to me. "Mags? Why aren't you studying?"

"I was, but I needed a break. What are you working on?" I walked over to him.

"It's nothing but something I had been messing around with," he said, trying to hide it. I grabbed it and looked at it. He tried to stop me. "Maggie, can I have that back?" He tried to take it from me, but I pushed his hands away and looked at it.

"Nash."

He rubbed his forehead. "I would have told you, but I figured it would upset you."

I studied the drawing. The definition was exquisite, and the details were immaculate. He had captured every little part of me in the picture.

"It's beautiful." I turned to Nash. "I didn't know you drew."

"It was something I picked up when I was a teen. I would get bored, so I picked up a pencil and started doodling. Then I went from there."

"Nash, you have so much talent. Why haven't you pursued it?"

"It's stupid."

"Having a gift is not stupid. Doing something you love is always worth it."

"If my dad and ma knew, they would tell me to grow up and do something with my life."

"What are you talking about?"

"That was one of the reasons I left for a year. We fought about what I would do with my life. They wanted me to go to school so I could have some stupid office job and be stable, but that's not me. It never was." He sighed.

"Have you ever told them about an interest in art?"

"No, they wouldn't listen even if I did."

"Nash, I don't think your parents wouldn't listen. My parents, yes. Yours, no. Honestly, it would help if you talked to them. Don't let a gift like yours vanish."

Nash had an eye for detail. The drawing I saw proved it, and he had a rare, raw talent. The ball was in his court if Nash talked to his parents about it. It would be a waste of talent if he didn't pursue it.

As we all studied for midterms, I got up and got something to drink. I had to admit that studying made me thirsty.

Pat was in the kitchen. "Coffee?"

"That sounds better than water."

"Midterms getting you down?"

I sighed. "Yeah. Being a senior is rough. Pat, can I ask you something?"

"Sure." She poured me some coffee into a cup and handed the cup to me.

"Do you know Nash draws?"

"Yes, why?"

"No reason." I left the room with a cup of coffee. I knew the more I talked about Nash, it was a good possibility he would get upset. Nash was the guy who preferred not to have people discuss him.

I knew I left Pat confused, but I wanted to see if she knew he drew or it was something he hid from people. At some point, I hope he pursues it.

Midterms finally came. Thank God. My brain was so frazzled from all that studying. We got a break after we finished them for two days, which meant lots of sleep.

After I finished my last midterm, along with the others, we went back to the house. When we got there, we walked into yelling.

"We told you once you got back, you needed to do something with your life!" Nate said.

"College isn't for me! I already told you that!" Nash said.

"Nash, you're twenty-one! It's time you figured it out!"

"I'm done with this conversation!"

"Walk away! That's what you do well!"

Nash stormed past us and out of the door. The boys shook their heads and went upstairs. I walked to the kitchen and heard Nate say, "I don't understand that boy. Nash has so much potential, and he's wasting it."

"I know, Nate. But what can we do? You know he has always been stubborn." Pat noticed me standing in the doorway. "Maggie. How were midterms?"

"Stressful," I said, walking into the kitchen. "What was that about?"

"Oh, it's nothing but a discussion about futures."

"I know it's none of my business, but it seems you're pushing Nash in the wrong direction."

"Maggie, we know you mean well, but let us handle our boy," Nate said.

I looked at Nate. "I know you mean well, and I would have loved to have parents like you while growing up, but sometimes a child's dream and a parent's dream are two distinct things. My parents didn't care about any of my dreams but only about themselves and money. I would have preferred them to yell at me about my dreams. At least I knew they cared." I walked away.

"What's that supposed to mean?" He asked Pat.

"It means she loves and cares about our son and sees something we're missing."

"Like what?"

"That Nash has a different dream from us."

He looked at her as she shrugged.

I left the house and searched for Nash. I thought it would be problematic until I remember the find my phone app that Nixon used to locate him. I used that, and it led me right to him. He was in a park leaning frontwards on a wall.

I walked over and stood next to him.

"How did you find me?"

"Find my phone app."

He looked at me, and I grinned. "I need to turn that off."

"Want to talk about it?"

"Nope."

"Okay, so did you want to know how midterms went?"

He said nothing.

"Good, then I'll tell you. Midterms were rough, but I think I did well."

He looked at me, and I looked at him. "Maggie, I prefer not to talk right now."

"Nash, you know that won't happen."

He sighed. "What do you want from me?"

"I want you to be honest and tell your parents you want to pursue art."

"They would never approve because it's not a stable job with benefits and a 401k."

"How do you know? Did you tell them?"

"Well, no."

"Then you don't know. Nash, I get the whole stability thing, but you also have to be happy."

"Maggie, I know you mean well, but you need to stay out of it."

"Fine. Keep being miserable because that's what you're best at, or better yet, run away because you're good at that, too!" I walked away.

"Yeah, well, look who's running away now!"

"I'm walking, not running! Big difference!"

I tried. I swear these Gray boys were stubborn. None of them can admit to anything. Is it that difficult to admit you love to do something and fight for it?

I will never understand guys, and I definitely will never understand them.

When I got back, I went up to my room. All I wanted to do was sleep from studying so much, but I got mixed up in family drama. When will I ever learn? The way I'm going, never.