the distinguished 50's love (TWF ROSEMARY AND JACK WALTEN STORY)

"There's my little girl!"

As Sophie pulled into Felix's drive way, she noticed something different. There were flowers in the garden, the grass was cut, and the ash tray that was on the porch table wasn't there anymore. Did he quit smoking? Better yet, did he quit drinking? So many thoughts rushed through Sophies head, but she figured she'd ask when she went inside. 

She got out of her car, and retied a shoelace she didn't even notice was untied until she got to the front door. She knocked, and Felix answered after two knocks. "Hell- oh! There's my little girl! I missed you Soph, how've you been? Come in!" He smiled. His teeth were stained a slight yellow, and it looked as if he hadn't brushed them in a few days? Maybe even a week. 

She hugged him, "I'm good Uncle Felix! What's going on with you? The house looks so nice!" She hit his shoulder lightly with hers, and he chuckled. But inside, he got chills. 

Uncle Felix, god he hated that so much. He hated those two words, he hated his own name. God damn it, forget about those two kids Felix! 

"I'm doing fine. My neighbors kid's been doing my yard work, I pay him 20 bucks a week. He's doing a fine job, huh?" He closed the door behind her. "Oh. Yea, he's doing a great job." That wasn't the answer she hoped for. God Felix for the love of god, please just get your life together. Why couldn't you have just lied and told me it was really you? She sighed, and sat down.

The house still smelled of alcohol, cigarettes, and Chinese food. He must've had some for dinner last night. He sat across from Sophie, she sat still, and was unsure of how to sit on the couch. "How's things at that uh..hm.." Had he truly forgotten where I live? "Oh! That hotel you work at with um..Jess?"

She laughed awkwardly, and corrected him, "Yea..everything with me and JENNY is fine.-" "Ahh! Jenny. That's her name, nice name, yes." He cut her off, laughing. She looked around the house, it looked the same as when she left. The outside was beautiful, neat and looked like a happy home. But the inside, the inside was disgusting. She could see the carpet coming up near the kitchen tiles, the wall having cracks in them, and she noticed some beer bottles on the dinning table, they looked as if Felix had tried to move them away to be unnoticeable, but some of them still standing up. 

She looked back at Felix, "I'm gonna use the bathroom, kay?" He nodded, and turned the TV on. So much for a visit, it feels like I'm still living here, she thought. She walked down the hall, god the memories. She opened her old bedroom door. Familiar but unfamiliar posters on the wall, records pilled up in a corner, her old bed. But something was different. Drawers, wide open, left the way she hadn't left them before. Her closet doors, opened and clothes puked out of it. Her nightstand drawer, almost falling out with everything pouring out. Clothes all over the room, even on the ceiling fan. What? 

Had he went through my stuff?

That doesn't make sense. I took all my important things with me when I moved out. Why would he be looking through all my things?

She shrugged, went to the bathroom, flushed the toilet to make it seem like she was actually in there, washed her hands, and sat back down. Felix sniffled his nose, and looked at her. "Hungry?" She nodded, and he ordered pizza and some soda. They ate in the living room because as he said "the dining table had some grocery bags on it", but she could tell it was a lie. She could clearly see the beer bottles. Why is he lying so much?

They ate on the coffee table, and watched, 'Gimme a break!'  Soon, the sun began to fall behind the grass, and she thanked and hugged Felix. He smelled strongly of beer and she hugged him quickly. "I'll see you sometime soon, okay?" She smiled. "Yea, behave now kiddo." She walked to her car, and sat in the drivers seat. She sighed, and drove back to the hotel. 

She never really asked Felix about her parents, she never thought of her parents. She didn't even know she had siblings. Until one day she did ask, and he got defensive, and mad. He told me it didn't matter and I didn't need to know. She was 15, and took pills when she was 14. Just the thought of that memory, slamming doors, screaming at one another, etc. 

Anyway, whatever. That was in the past. it didn't matter now. 

Sophie drove in her car, and soon arrived home before the streetlights turned on. She walked into their room, smiling at her girlfriend. "Sophie! You're home!!" She hugged Sophie, and Sophie soon felt comforted again. She hugged her back, and yawned. "How was hangin' with your uncle?" She said, walking back to the kitchen. What was she making? Mac & Cheese? Sophie followed her into the kitchen, Oh, it was Mac & Cheese. 

"It was fine. A little awkward? I-I don't know." She sat at the small dining table in the center of the kitchen. "What do you mean? Was he like, weird?" "Extremely, he acted as if I still lived there, and he forgot where I worked, and who you were..it was just overall weird." 

"Oh well-" "Then his house looked great out front, like he was doing really well. But when I went inside, it was the same way it was before I left! Beer bottles, cigarettes, the same old habits! He had some kid that was doing the work outside for him. Isn't that crazy, Jen?" 

Jenny nodded, and looked at her Mac & Cheese, "Yea, that's pretty crazy. Oh! Speaking of crazy, I wanna show you something tomorrow. You like video games, right?"  Sophie nodded, she played a few when she lived with Felix, but Felix always yelled at her to turn it down. It was like there was nothing she really could do. She couldn't play outside, she couldn't listen to loud shows or music, she couldn't play with Felix's old toys cuz they were too "boy-ish". But she knew she liked video games. They were cool.

"Alright, I'll show you this really cool one tomorrow." And with that, they ate their Mac & Cheese, got in the shower, and went to bed.