Fireflies at Midnight

FIVE 5

The ride home from the lake was terrible.

Evelyn sat in the back, staring out the window, ignoring every glance that Eric gave her. She was pissed, even if she didn't have a right to be. Aaron would rub on her legs, her hands, and she would just smile then go back to the window. Evelyn couldn't make it stop, the big green monster she brought home with her from the lake.

Even Kathy was in a mood. Evelyn wasn't sure why, but she made sure to let Eric know that she was. The older woman sat in the passenger seat with a grimace on her face, smoking a cigarette and ignoring Eric's hand on her thigh. Evelyn questioned how she ignored the man so easily.

She would catch Eric looking at her in the rear view every few minutes, almost as if studying her reaction. There were so many things she wanted to say to the man, ask him even. But right now she couldn't. Not with her significant other and the man's wife in the same vicinity.

It was so confusing to her. She loved the attention and maybe that's all that it was. But then again, she found herself watching everything the man did. It didn't matter if it involved her or not. So she wanted to ask him why. Why her? Why make her feel this way? Was it just miscommunication and she was reading too much into him being so open with her? Or was she picking up on the small clues Eric couldn't bring himself to admit?

Evelyn despised not knowing what was going on. Albeit with Eric or something else, it was an issue for her. Life in Evelyn's world was always easier when she knew even the finest of details. For her it was the unknown, the things not planned.

"So guys, what else are we doing today?" Kathy asked, turning in her seat to look at Aaron and Evelyn.

Aaron rambled off ideas to his mom left and right. Night fishing, going to the mall, going in the mountains. It was so easy to tell how excited he was to be there. But it was also obvious that most of Aaron's attention was on his dad. Evelyn couldn't blame him, hers was too. Perhaps just for different reasons.

From what she had been told, Kathy was a decent woman. Aaron had explained multiple times before how much the woman had been through. She lost her first baby, found drugs, got shot, all in that order. Yet the woman still tried her best to be a good mom.

However, Aaron's older brother was the golden child and it didn't take more than the first 3 months of their relationship for Evelyn to see that. He got everything he wanted, when he wanted it. Evelyn could only expect that is why he wasn't as close to his mom.

On top of that, she had heard stories about how overbearing Kathy could be. She'd even witnessed it a few times first hand. Evelyn could tell that Kathy wanted her boys to abide by her rules, do what she said no matter if they liked it or not. From the guilt trips to the anger fits and tantrums, Evelyn couldn't imagine having her as a mom. She didn't want to.

"Do you drink, Evelyn?" Eric asked, looking at her in the rear view again. Kathy whipped her head to the side, lips pressed firmly in a line that portrayed dissatisfaction.

"You all are not drinking, Eric!" She demanded, not looking away for even a second.

There it is, Evelyn thought to herself. The controlling aspect that Aaron always spoke about.

"Do you drink, Evelyn?" He repeated, blatantly ignoring Kathy's demands.

"I do, sometimes." She wasn't even in the mood to give him a decent response.

He nodded his head and hummed, but still yet Evelyn could see the irritation he had from Kathy telling him what to do. She couldn't blame him, or anyone, for that matter. Evelyn even disliked being told what to do.