Her Touch

11

I made my way downstairs and passed the living room to see my grandfather involved in light conversation with Ava and her family. Their eyes turned to me as I entered the room, and their conversation came to an immediate halt, "Kylie, you look very pretty," Natalie said as she ran over to me and wrapped her arms around my right leg.
I looked down at her uncomfortably and gave her a smile, "it's nice to see you too, I really like your dress," I complimented as she stepped back.
"You got to wear shorts. Mommy, why did I have to wear a dress?" She looked over at her mother and pouted.
"Because you look beautiful in a dress."
"But Kylie is wearing shorts and she still looks beautiful."
"She does, honey, now leave the girl alone," Natalie sighed and walked over to her mother and took a seat next to her. I took a seat next to Ava, since it was the only couch that had unoccupied seats, and gave her a smile.
"Hey."
"Hi," I said as I fiddled with my fingers.
"I think you look beautiful too," she whispered, making my cheeks heat up.
"So, Kylie, how is the tutoring working out? Ava told me about it," Mrs. Reese asked as I heard the doorbell ring. Grandpa got up to answer it.
"It's good, makes my life more complicated, but the students seem to be getting somewhere."
"That's good, so have you applied for Harvard already?"
I nodded, "I have but no response yet."
"But you have gotten a scholarship from Yale, Princeton and Columbia," I rolled my eyes and sighed at my mother's voice.
"Hi mom, you arrived earlier than I expected," I got up, walked over and gave her a hug.
"Hi baby, I've missed you," she gave me a kiss on the forehead, before we released from the embrace.
"Thanks for blurting about my life," she scrunched up her nose and began to take off her jacket.
"Can't I be proud of you?" I rolled my eyes again, "Phillip, it's nice to see you. It's been a very long time," my mom said, walking over to the man, "and Diane, you haven't aged at all," she gave the woman a hug, "high school seems so far away now," my mother chuckled, making me arch my brow.
"Don't give me that look, Kylie, we aren't that old."
"She doesn't seem to know that we were best friends in high school."
"Yes, including that you ditched me for married life way too soon," mom nudged Mrs. Reese's shoulder.
"Oh, stop it, Philip was the one anxious to marry me," Mr. Reese wrapped his arm around his wife's shoulder.
"Of course, Ava was born soon after," he said as he looked over to his daughter, "come, honey, I doubt you'll remember Jaclyn," he chuckled as she made her way beside me.
"It's nice to meet you, Mrs. Blanckaert," she said stretching out her hand for my mother to take.
"You've grown so much, last time I saw you, you were still wearing onesies," mom chuckled.
"Let's eat since everyone is here," my grandfather said, making everyone walk into the dining room. We took seats, mine being directly opposite Ava's and my mom sat right beside me.
Everyone began to pass around the dishes, taking out what they wanted from the platters and then continued to pass them along. I only took a piece of rotisserie chicken, since my appetite was always small and unvaried.
"So how has school been, baby? Better than in the city?" My mother questioned looking at me.
"It's fine, Literature isn't too difficult," she nodded.
"Any girlfriends I should know about?"
"Nope, still not interested in anyone," I said as I looked over to Ava.
"Hm, you say that now, wait till you are in college."
"Yeah, still won't be interested, we all know why," I said sarcastically which was unfunny to everyone at the table, either they knew why or just didn't.
"Yeah, some should have known much sooner," my grandfather mumbled, making my mother groan.
"Dad, it's not something she wanted people to know about."
I furrowed my brows, "mom, I was a child," I said, making her shake her head.
"I did what was best for you then," I suddenly grew irritated.
"Sure, when he started hitting me, that should have been the moment you left, but you didn't," I looked down at my plate and sighed.
"So I'm being blamed for what happened?" My mother spat, her emotions on edge as though she was in more pain than I was.
"It was your responsibility as a mother to protect her, Jaclyn, you failed miserably," my grandfather pointed out.
I looked at Ava and she gave me a reassuring smile. I bit down on my bottom lip and wiped my hand across my face.
"I'm seeing someone," I said, wanting to detour the conversation from where it was.
"Really? That's great? How's the sex?"
"Mom!" I yelled making my fork topple over and land on my lap.
"What? It's only obvious I would want to know. You've never dated anyone, or at least I have never known."
"You know that is quite impossible for me emotionally," I said, making her press her lips together, immediately regretting what she said, which made us go back to the topic that I was trying to avoid.
"Jaclyn, try to be sensitive to Kay's feelings. I wonder if this is how you handled situations while she was left in your care."
"Dad, really? I divorced the bastard. What more do you want from me? I already had a nervous breakdown, I already cried myself to sleep while still taking care of Kylie. I went through enough hell for one lifetime."
"Oh fuck, seriously, I'm trying to avoid this topic but you seem to want to discuss it," I slapped my hand against my forehead as tears began to well up in my eyes, "you think you went through torture mom, I went through everything you did, either watching or experiencing, nothing will be more fucked up than what has happened to me," I closed my eyes as I pushed the chair back and got up, "I can't even have a fucking peaceful dinner without my fucking life blowing up in my face. Now everyone thinks I'm crazy," I covered my face with my hands and sobbed as I felt a hand stroking my back. I couldn't move for some reason. My body felt lifeless as the tears fell from my eyes.
"Baby, you're not crazy. You've been through a lot, much more than I have. I'm sorry for being inconsiderate toward your feelings."
"Kylie," I heard Ava's voice. I ignored the comforting tone and continued to wallow.
"Ava, is she okay?" I then heard Natalie's voice along with her mother's.
"Shh, sweetie."
"Kylie, come on, stop making a scene," mom whispered in my ear, making me flinch. I knew that I was causing unnecessary drama, but I couldn't help myself. My mental state was too fucked up to control. I raised my head up from being buried into my hands, tears still pouring down my face as I stepped backward and violently shook my head, as though it would have helped me to regain my composure, but sadly, it didn't.
"It's just sometimes so difficult to live with," I said, before walking away from the table, up the stairs and into my room.