Me, Myself, and Her

Chapter Forty-One

Chapter Forty-One: The Last Time

August was the peak of heat it seemed. Annie resorted to wearing shirts that were the least obvious with sweat stains, which was very hard. She was just glad by the time school rolled around in a few weeks, it would start cooling off.

Today, she and Max were hanging out at the redhead's. Annie was exhausted being around her parents so much and needed a break and Steve was working on getting a job with Robin, so her girlfriend would have to do.

Not that she was all that upset about this.

The girls had been listening to one of Max's records, turned up rather loud to drown out the argument in the living room, and laying on Max's bed together.

"High school is gonna be so fun. We have to join clubs and stuff, I heard colleges like those," Annie said.

Max smiled. "You think I could get scholarships with clubs?" she asked, somewhat joking but also a bit serious. Her mom was trying her best, but it was going to be hard to save up for college. Anything could help.

Annie hummed. "I think so. Steve only had basketball and they never even won, so that's not the most helpful. I bet if he were really into another club, that could've helped. Plus, aren't there government scholarships for people who need them?" Annie asked, and she let her head flop to the side to look at her girlfriend.

Max copied her motion. "Yeah but I think there are a lot of people like me out there," she said.

"Well then it looks like you'll just have to be the best one!" The girls laughed and cuddled closer together, their foreheads touching.

As Annie took in a breath to say something else, the girls heard yelling from outside the room. They paused, both sitting up and trying to hear it better.

"Should we turn off the music?" Annie asked quietly, looking at Max.

The redhead shook her head. "No, then they'll know we're listening. We'll just sit in the hall and see if we can hear anything," she whispered.

They carefully got off Max's bed and crept to the door. Max went first, opening the door and leading Annie out to the hallway. Since the redhead was taller, she stood at her full height to peak around the corner. The shorter, Annie, crouched a little and peaked around underneath Max.

In the living room, they saw Neil standing and yelling at Billy, who was also standing. Susan was sitting off to the side, not wanting to try and interfere. Technically, Billy wasn't her son so she had no right to give an opinion. That's what Neil had told her in the past.

"No, you are my son, you are coming with me!" Neil shouted. It was so loud, Annie was tempted to cover her ears.

"Yeah that might be true, but I'm eighteen now, so technically I'm my own person and can make my own decisions!" Billy shouted back.

Annie knew they didn't get along, she knew Neil wasn't that great of a person. A couple times Max had come over to avoid something happening. Other times the girls would just listen to the loud music in Max's room and drown out the voices.

They hadn't gotten this loud in a while, though. This wasn't good.

"The hell you are! Can you really go off on your own? You can't even get into a damn college- and don't you dare hit me with that 'community college' bullshit!" That was what the argument was about.

"You don't need me to leave. You can do that just as easily on your own! In fact, that would be the best outcome!" Billy yelled back.

Annie dared to glance up at Max to gauge her reaction. She hadn't known Neil was going to leave, and by the confusion on Max's face, neither did she. What drew him to this, neither would know.