Meeting Marshall Mathers: The Later Years

You dont get the final say.

I sighed with exasperation as I walked back through that garage and directly to the kitchen. Whitney was sat at the table, clearly upset, kitchen doors closed,

"Hey.. yo c'mere" I ushered to sit by her side, beckoning her into my chest for a hug,

"This is why I fucking hate coming back here"

"Ay, watch the mouth"

"Sorry" she sighed and pulled away from me,

"I promise we ain't gonna be here much longer, I just gotta make sure your moms settled before we.."

"No dad, you don't, she's gone"

"What d'ya mean she's gone?"

"Like she's not in the house. She flew out of the front door the second you took off"

"D'you know where she might of gone too?"

"No. But I know that she'll find some scumbags to party with so I wouldn't waste your time worrying over her, because she sure as hell won't be worrying over us"

"You know what, you've had a rough day.. so let's cut it short, get outta here, go get you something to eat and..."

"I'm not hungry"

"Whitney.."

"Stevie"

"My bad, it's still.. raw. What I mean is that I've called you Whitney all your life and it's like, it's not that I have a problem with Stevie it's just, you know, changing an old habit, I.." I was babbling man shut the fuck up!

"Dad I get it, it's cool"

"Look, I don't wanna be here for a second longer than you do so.."

"But I never wanted to be here in the first place! I was happy, with my friends" she looked up at me, her eyes glazed with unshed tears. I paused for a minute, I had to disregard my feelings here, with wanting to take her home, she didn't want it, and who could blame her, we'd fucked this up, this was on us, me and Kim,

"Alright.." I exhaled,
"I know that you don't wanna be here, and I know that means you don't wanna come back to my place either but could we at least.. make a deal?"

"I'm listening"

"Make your old man happy and come kick it at home with him for tonight? We'll get a take out dessert, watch a stupid movie, and then in the morning, if you still want to leave, then... I'll take you back to your friends place, but.. there is one condition"

"What's that?"

"That you keep in contact at the very least weekly and allow me to give you some money to.. help towards your art projects"

"But I don't need your money, this whole thing was to teach you and mom that I'm an independent being who can make their own dreams come true without relying on either of you"

"We'll negotiate the terms in the car, cmon, shift your butt" I caught a little glimpse of a smile as she stood to her feet.

Thankfully she'd agreed to spend the night. And on our drive we'd talked about her friends and where she was staying, but now I really wanted to press on this gender fluid topic, I could sense she was angling for me to ask, and I felt that now was a good time to dive on in with the red lights stopping us in our tracks,