Crossing Paths

Chapter 20

Aliyah

Tension is a weird thing. 

The thought seemed random, but it was the only thing going through my head as I sat down at the table to eat a quick breakfast with my family before school. There was usually always an underlying tension between Jeremiah and my father. Ever since the day Jeremiah was old enough to think for himself, the two hadn't gotten along very well. My dad wanted a son who would listen to him and Jeremiah wanted to live his own life.

The fact that tension existed in my family wasn't the weird thing. What made it weird was the fact that we all chose to pretend it wasn't there. The elephant in the room couldn't have been bigger, but it seemed that nobody was interested in acknowledging it. The entire situation was only made more awkward by the fact that Jeremiah and I were doubling down on the hostility. We haven't gotten along very well for a couple years now, but we could at least live together without noticeable friction. That morning was definitely an exception. I didn't want anything to do with him, he was upset with me, and everyone was aware of it. 

My mom kept on shooting us concerned looks out of the corner of her eye, but both Jeremiah and I ignored her. We weren't agreeing with each on anything other than the fact that neither of us wanted to talk about what happened. My dad, on the other hand, seemed completely comfortable with the stressed situation as he casually ate his cereal with relaxed shoulders. 

"You're mother and I are meeting up with some old friends from college today. We'll be gone by the time you get back from school." He said simply, breaking the stony silence which had settled over our table. 

"I don't think we'll be back in time for dinner, so you two are on your own. Aliyah, do you think you could make something?" 

I was about to question why Jeremiah was never asked to take care of dinner, but he beat me to it. 

"Don't bother. I'm going out." 

"With who?" My dad asked, his coffee cup pausing half way up to his mouth. Jeremiah pinned him down with a death glare that I thought was pretty unfair. Is it a really so bad for a parent to be interested in what their child is up to? 

"Some friends." 

"Which friends?" 

Jeremiah opened his mouth to respond with a retort that would most likely test my dad's patience, but my mom quickly reached her hands out and placed them on each of their arms. 

"It's not that important." My mom muttered to my dad before she quickly flashed a smile in Jeremiah's direction. "We trust you, sweetie." 

Jeremiah said a quick thanks before his gaze quickly darted in my direction. I was glad to see the spark of an idea his eyes, otherwise I wouldn't have been prepared for the him to open his big mouth. 

"You know who you can't trust?" He started, purposefully throwing me a dark look. I didn't know if my parents caught it, but I still decided to intervene before he had a chance to do more damage. 

"Yeah, I know. It's the people who can't keep their mouth shut." I answered for him, trying not to sound too deliberate. "But you know what's so great about those people? Karma always comes back to screw them over." 

I hoped the threat was vague to my parents, because I could tell by Jeremiah's taut jawline that it had been made very clear to him. If you try to take me down, I'm dragging you with. And lucky for me, there was a whole list of things Jeremiah had done over the years that my parents still didn't know about. Yet another silence lingered over my family, but this time my mom wasn't going to let it pass.