I Love You, The End

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- 6 weeks into summer break, 1 month since the summit ended -

Neal's dad had stayed out late the night before, only coming home at nearly 2 o'clock in the morning. He was so furious with him. It had been months now of everyone in the family knowing what 'a late business meeting' meant. And yet he still continued to use it as an excuse to openly cheat on Neal's mother, and they were all supposed to continue acting like they believed him. How had his life turned into this? They had been such a typical normal family, or so he'd thought. He had the cool dad everyone liked to hangout with, he'd always been close with his mom, and he'd thought his brother was his best friend. Now he couldn't even stand being alone in the same room as his dad, his mom drowned her sorrows in hours at the tennis courts, and bottle after bottle of wine. And Neal hadn't spoken to Barry since the party 3 months ago, and he didn't want to. He now regarded his brother in much the same way he saw his dad. They were both womanizers who thought of no one else's wants but their own. Barry had been fine leaving their mother in the dark just so their dad would pay for his new car, which was not the person Neal thought his brother was.

"Hey buddy," Mr. Schweiber greeted Neal in the kitchen the next morning.

Neal tried his best not to roll his eyes, and to hide his disdain. "Hey dad." He said brusquely, with no expression.

"I was thinking we might go check out that new movie, what, what's it called?" He snapped his fingers trying to call the name to his mind. Neal just stared at him blankly. "You know, the comedy, it's Egypt something."

"Flatfoot in Egypt." Neal answered him flatly.

"Yeah, that!" He smiled at his son. "What'd you say?"

"I've already seen it." Neal looked at his father finally. "I'm going to go hangout with Melody. I'll be home later." He told him then went out the door, hoped on his bike and rode off down the street. Mr. Schweiber looked sadly back at his son.

Neal hadn't made plans to hangout with Melody, but he just couldn't be home with his dad right now. He rode for a few minutes before arriving at Melody's house. He knocked on the door, to be greeted by Nick.

"Daniel dude you bas- oh. Hey. It's Neal right?" He was expecting Daniel but stopped mid sentence and looked down to greet Neal.

"Yeah. Is Melody home?" He asked, winded from his ride.

"Uh, yeah I think so." He replied then just went into the house. Neal followed, shutting the door behind him awkwardly when it was clear he wouldn't receive an invitation inside. "Melody! You're boyfriends here!" He yelled up the stairs. "You can just wait upstairs if you want." Nick told him pointing toward the living room, before going back into his room.

"Thanks." Neal replied then went upstairs and sat down rigidly on the couch.

After a moment Melody poked her head out from her bed room, still wearing pajamas, with a phone pressed against her chest. She looked out at Neal shocked. "Oh, you really are here. I'm sorry, did we have plans? I completely forgot!" She apologized, just assuming she was in the wrong.

"Oh, no. We didn't, I just- Sorry, I just showed up here." He apologized.

Melody looked back at him, he was trying to put on a brave face but something was clearly wrong. "Hey one minute." She said into the phone she was holding, then set it down and walked out to come sit by Neal on the couch. "Hey, Neal what's wrong?" She looked at him worried.

"Nothing." He tried to blow it off, but she looked at him seriously and he knew he couldn't lie to her. "Just stupid stuff with my dad, it's nothing. Really I'm fine."

Melody looked at him sadly. "Okay. Well how about I go get dressed, and we can go hang out and talk if you want?"

"Yeah, let's do it." He told her. He loved how caring she was, he knew he could always count on her for a stable shoulder to lean on.

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