Beautiful Boy

shut up

Two years ago...

amara haven

I dropped my backpack off my shoulder as I shut the front door.

Mum had texted me and said she was out with Kinsley and Valeria grabbing groceries, so I had the house to myself for a while.

I walked into the kitchen to pour a glass of water.

As I was sipping the cold liquid, I remembered I needed my physics textbook, which I'd left in the office.

I placed the glass carefully on the counter and trod down the hall.

I opened the door, startled at the sudden rustling of my Dad shoving things into one of the desk drawers.

"Amara, I didn't know you were home," he breathed heavily.

"What were you doing?" I asked, unsure if I wanted the answer.

"Oh, just- stuff," he replied, "What do you need, kitten?"

"My physics textbook," I took a few steps into the office.

"Oh, where is it?" He asked, leaning forward as if to hide the table.

"It's that book that says physics in big letters on the front," I hesitated.

He looked down and sprung off of the table, "Oh, look at that."

"You're acting weird," I asserted.

He got up and handed me the book, "Me? I'm always like this."

"I don't think you a-"

"Why don't you go get to studying? I'll see you when your Mother gets home," he kissed my head and ushered me out of the room.

The door to the office shut and I stood stunned for a moment.

I decided to ignore his weird behaviour and headed back into the kitchen.

I dropped my physics book onto the counter, making a loud noise as its weight hit the marble.

I grabbed my bag from the front door and placed it on one of the kitchen stools, sitting on the other.

I grabbed out my physics notebook.

Studying was always the most boring part of school, but the most important to maintain my grades.

~

The sound of the front door followed by loud chatter erupted as I wrote my last few notes out.

"We're home," Mum called out before noticing I was at the counter, "Oh, you're right there. Where's your Father?"

"Right here," he appeared from the hallway, kissing her on the head.

I was still curious as to what he was doing before, but I ignored it and put my physics books away.

"Don't forget about that English art assignment you have with Nic," Mum said as she began unpacking the groceries.

"Yeah, we were just gonna finish that whenever," I shrugged, helping with the bags from the store.

"I got a reminder from your teacher that it's due tomorrow, so 'whenever' better be tonight," she insisted.

"Yeah, okay, I'll text him," I muttered.

We wouldn't have much to do, we decided to split the work to match our talent, I did the writing, and he did the drawing.

After dinner, we all dispersed to do our own thing, Kinsley had homework, Valeria and Mum watched TV, and Dad finished some work in the garden.

I dropped onto my bed and texted Nic about the project.