The Two Of Us

Attie (Chapter 15)

"About time you showed up," Holden said.

I didn't come home till late afternoon. I spent the morning helping Izzy find a wedding dress online.

He was busy vacuuming the living room while Tate sat at the kitchen table coloring. Holden usually never got too mad if I came home late, but looking at him now, I could honestly say I was scared.

"I'm sorry."

He folded his arms across his chest. The vacuum was still going.

"Is that all you have to say? You know what, Attie, I'm done. Do what you want, when you want, I don't care. I'm done. I try and get you to understand that all I need is some form of communication with you, yet you continuously forget."

"Holden, I was out at a friend's house. I stayed the night. His whole family is super nice; please understand, it wasn't bad."

"You could have called Attie. You could have at least called me. I was up late last night worried about you, wondering where my little sister was."

"It slipped my mind. I'm sorry."

"You think I want to do this, Attie? Don't you think that I want to be the friendly, fun, cool brother who supports you in staying out late? Don't you think I want that? I want that so bad, Attie. I don't like being the brother who makes sure you come home by curfew or gives you rules, but I have no other choice. I try to be lenient with you and Allie because I know how hard it is for you two. I would never want either of you to be in my situation, with all the responsibilities, but you guys are still in high school. We are all in this together because of Tate, so please, Attie, call me."

My brother was the one who was, at one point, the most irresponsible. There was a time when my parents would wait up for him and even ground him for being late for curfew or sneaking out—when my brother was allowed to live life with a bit of fun. When he'd bring girls home every weekend to hang out, they were all obsessed with him because he was on the hockey team. That version of my brother is gone. The one that would sneak me chocolate bars as we walked out of the store. The one who would promise me five dollars if I didn't tell our parents that he was sneaking out. Forced to adapt to the role of our father, and here I was, making it difficult for him.

"I am so sorry, Holden. I'll open the cafe tomorrow; you can sleep in."

He smiled, "I might take you up on that offer."

I glanced over at Tate. He was still mindlessly coloring.

"Hey, do you have any of our old family photo albums? You took a couple when we moved out of the house."

"Yeah, they are top shelf of my closet," Holden said.

Skimming through the photo albums brought tears to my eyes—so many pictures of us kids. Pictures of my mom and I eating ice cream on the house's front steps. Photos of us crowded around mom holding Tate when he was born. Pictures of dad reading me a bedtime story before bed. I smiled when I noticed all of the photographs of Holden. There was a lot of him when he was first born with our parents. They were so excited to have their first child. I stopped when I noticed the picture of Mom helping Holden hold Allie and me when we were born. He was only four years old. Our family was perfect; we had loving parents who always ensured we had memorable experiences, a good house, and a good life. I don't even remember the last time I saw my mother.

"Hey, Attie, someone is here to see you," Holden said, peeking into the room.

I quickly brushed my tears away before he could notice, shoving the album back on the shelf. Griffin was sitting at the kitchen table with Tate, watching him draw.

"Griffin?" I said.

He turned and smiled. He was back to wearing his all-black attire with a red scarf. He reminded me of Chuck from Gossip Girl.

"Hey, Attie, I was wondering if we could talk?"

"Yeah, we can go in my room. Allie isn't home," I said.

He sat down on the edge of Allie's bed. He quickly examined the room, taking it all in.

"What's up?" I asked.

His attention turned back to me, his eyes shining bright.

"Would you want to come over tomorrow night? My parents will be out with Samuel for the night."

"What would we do?" I asked.

Griffin shrugged, "I don't know. I know we haven't been able to hang out yet with you, just being you."

"Okay, sure. I open the cafe tomorrow morning, and I probably can't stay out too late since it's a school night."

He seemed happy with my response, "Okay, perfect. I'll send you the address again in case you forgot."

"What was that about?" Holden asked once Griffin left.

"I'm going over to his house tomorrow."

"Sweet, one less person to cook for."

I shoved his arm, "Not nice."

Holden smiled, "What do you want for dinner tonight? Pizza?"

"We just had pizza," I said.

"Too bad; I texted Allie and asked her to pick some up on the way home from her dance practice."

"Have you heard from mom yet?" I asked.

Holden went tense. He shook his head.

"Why would I hear from mom?" He asked.

I shrugged, "I don't know. I hoped she would randomly call one day and apologize for abandoning us."

"Yeah, that is most likely never going to happen."

"Who ordered pizza?" Allie asked as she walked in the front door.

"Our saving grace," Holden said.

We all sat around the kitchen table, making jokes with one another. It was crazy to think I was doing this with a different family just this morning. It's funny; family can consist of many different things. It doesn't always have to have a mother and a father. Just people who care about other people are enough. To have someone care about you. I think family is a weird stereotype that doesn't have to have the traditional mother and father.