Letting Go...

Chapter 5

    “She sounds like quite the gal. The kind that I’d love to take home to dear, old, daddy,” Noah smirked, chuckling.

    I had told him all about Charlize, or at least what I knew, and he was just as interested in her as I was. Not something I was too fond of, but I couldn’t exactly blame him, she was extremely fascinating. He revealed to me that he would have loved to meet her and I explained how that would be virtually impossible, giving that the only time you could see her was in school, and he definitely wasn’t going back to his old torture chamber.

    In high school, Noah wasn’t even a shadow of the ladies man that he was now. He didn’t get to do anything outside of studying and going to school. He didn’t get to go to parties and dances, he wasn’t on the football team or anything else. He was the quiet kid in the back that all the girls crushed on but never interacted with. Everyone knew that he kept to himself but no one knew that it was because of our father’s sharp leash.

   Now he indulged in all the things that were once banned. He had tasted all the forbidden fruits in the forest and it may have been going to his head. He viewed women as a source of pleasure and nothing more, it was wrong but he was drunk off of his autonomy.

   “Yeah, I’m sure he’d love that. He seemed to really like her last night when she practically threw her money in his face.” My father hadn’t spoken for the rest of the night, he quietly stewed in his office, tending his wounds.

   Mom, on the other hand, couldn’t stop raving about how strong Charlize was. She was proud that she didn’t succumb to his intimidation. She didn’t give in and answer questions that were downright rude. She had stood by her actions and hadn’t apologized, my mother admired her just as much as I did.

   Penelope, though, she didn’t like so much. She had gone on and on about how stupid she was, getting angry at her daughter for doing the right thing.  She thought that she was putting her job above the well being of her child and I couldn’t finds a reason to disagree. The whole night Mrs. King had been glaring and scowling and looking for a reason to reprimand Charlize. She only stood quiet when my father was interrogating Charlize.

   There was a definite wedge in that relationship, they both seemed to just hate each other. The icy tension between them was enough to suffocate a person. I couldn’t understand what would lead you to hate your child or your mother but I knew that there was plenty to the story. Maybe the wedge had manifested after Charlize’s attempt, and Penelope was still hurt that she had tried.

   I knew that there was a story behind it and I was curious to understand it.

   I was also curious to find the reason behind Charlize’s attempt. My father had asked if it was for attention but I knew that that couldn’t possibly be it. She seemed like a very independent, level-headed girl and not one who was constantly looking for validation or praise. If she was then she wouldn’t have such a problem socializing with me, and from what it seemed like, only me.

   “Oh, he’s just mad because he got told off by a seventeen year old headcase. He’ll be fine eventually, from what you told me, he deserved it. It’s about time that someone other than me stood up to him.”

   Him and father didn’t get along, so much that Noah wasn’t even allowed in the house anymore. That’s why we were in a dinner eating, father would have a fit if he came home to find his firstborn son lounging on the couch.

   Noah was here for the weekend and he was staying at a nearby hotel for the time being. This was how it was, he would come and me and mom would get out of the house to visit him, father never even attempted to acknowledge that he was in town. Cold hearted bastard in my eyes but, what can you really do about it.