Complicated

Matthew

Matthew and Brian, just coming back from a movie, walked into Brian's house to the sound of yelling. Brian's mom Diana came over to them and whispered harshly, "Go upstairs you two, y'all don't need to hear this." Matthew and Brian gave each other a confused look as they sped up the stairs and ran into Brian's room. "I wonder what's going on down there." Matthew said peaking out the door. "I don't know, but it's obviously serious." "Yeah no shit Sherlock." Matthew hissed in response. "Let's listen to what's happening." Brian said and they crept out onto the landing and leaned over the edge trying to pick out any bit of the conversation they could hear. "You can fucking drive home I'll walk." Matthew's mother yelled slamming the door behind her. "Jane!" Diana exclaimed running out after her. Matthew and Brian silently tiptoed into his room shutting the door behind them. "Holy shit, what the actual fuck is going on!" Matthew said running over to the window and looking out at their moms walking down the street. "Hey, how about we go downstairs to get some 'water'." Brian said making air quotes and smirking. "Yeah sure lets get some water." Matthew said smiling back. "My brother Jake and his girlfriend Christina should be picking me up soon anyway, sorry to leave you in this mess." He whispered following Brain downstairs. They sneaked by the small kitchen and into the living room where Matthews dad Darwin and Brian's dad Chris were talking. Darwin had his back to the boys obviously crying by the state of his shoulders and Chris trying to comfort him. "Go away boys, this isn't the time." Chris snapped his voice sharp and they darted away quickly, running up the stairs and back into Brian's room. "I think my brothers here." Matthew said looking out the window as a white car pulled up in front of the apartment. "Bai, sucka." Matthew said bursting into a run till he got to the front door. Jake got out of the car clearly drunk and met Matthew at the side of the road. "Hello brother I've come to save you." He said stumbling a little giving Matthew a side hug. "Ugh, you stink of alcohol bro how much did you drink?" "Uh, I lost count." Jake laughed. "But hold on, what's up with the parents?" Matthew asked. "Drunk off their asses." Jake responded unconcerned. "No really, it sounded like they were having a fight and mom yelled and slammed the door and then Diana went after her and dad was crying in the living room with Chris." Jakes eyes lighted up. "Oooooh let's see what's going on." He said excited. Christina rolled down the window, "What are you guys doing?" She asked annoyance lacing her voice. "Shut up, Matthew give me your phone we're going to say that you left it there and that we came back to get it." He stuck Matthew's phone in his pocket and they rushed inside. Brian was on the stairs and looked at them confused. "Okay Brian or whatever your name is we're saying Matthew left his phone here so we can figure out what happened." He whispered and Brian nodded in agreement. Jake strode into the living room and the two boys stayed behind. "Maybe we should walk Tipsy." Brain suggested. "Yeahhh." Matthew breathed. Brian got his little brown shih tzu on his lease and they walked into the night air. They walked in silenced until they knew they were far enough from the house. "Oh my god I wonder what's going on." Brian said frantic. "I don't know." "You better text me what happened." Brian said. "Alright!" Matthew exclaimed laughing a little. They walked around the block discussing what might've happened for about ten minutes until Brian got a call from his dad to come home. "I wonder if it was about work because I heard my dad say something to your dad about some kind of work." Brian said enthusiastically. "Hmm I don't think so, it doesn't seem like that's what was going on." Matthew said. "It seems more complicated." "Maybe." Brian said. They came up to the door and paused and shot a glance at each other. Matthew sighed, opened the door and stepped into the surprisingly happy atmosphere. "What in the world." Matthew said as they looked at their parents laughing while taking shots. Jake and Christina met them at the door. "So what happened?!" Matthew asked frantically. "We'll talk about it in the car." Jake said. "Text me what happened!" Brian whispered sharply. "Okay!" Matthew said as Cristina, Jake, and Matthew walked to the car. "What happened!" Matthew asked as soon as they sat down. Jake sighed, "Everything." "Tell meeeee." Jake paused. "Christina do you want to tell him?" Jake asked. "Well, if I tell him I'm going to tell him the bare truth." She said. "Tell me the bare truth! I want to know I'm tired of people lying to me!" Matthew blurted. "Alright," Jake paused, "So when the parents had your sister Janie life was... Harder because of her disability. The parents have had several fights over the past fifteen years and weren't really in love." Matthew nodded. "So tonight the parents had a fight and in the mix of emotions mom said that she wanted to divorce." Matthew took a small intake of breath barely noticeable, but it was still there. "Mom wasn't happy with the move, but dad wanted to move. Even though mom is overworked and underpaid she likes it here, but dad doesn't like it here and wants to move. Also, mom doesn't like how dad always travels because she likes the family to be together and since I'm moving out in about two months she thinks she needs to change something too aka her and dad. Dad is also mad at mom because he thinks that she thinks that he's a bad nurse because he got fired from his old job for 'not taking good enough care of the patients' and mom didn't take his side on that. And apparently mom mentioned divorce during the day before they started drinking." He paused as they pulled up in the driveway of their house and parked the car. "I don't want you to worry because I don't think they'll split up until you graduate high school, but they will pay for your collage no matter what." Matthew didn't know what to say or even do. He just sort of stared at the wooden fence thinking about what Jake just said trying to keep his tears back. "I'm so sorry Matthew." Christina said sympathetically. "I think we should maybe get the parents before they get more alcohol." Christina said. "Okay, and Matthew if you need to talk, I'm here." Jake said. "Yeah okay I'm going to bed." Matthew said and opened the car door. He speed walked through the back gate and in the back door. He closed the door putting his back to the wall for a second staring off into space. His legs shook and he felt something warm and wet on slid down his cheek he reached up and realized he was crying. "Damn it." Matthew's voice trembled. He pushed off the wall taking his phone out of his pocket and going to his text messages and scrolled down until he got to Carson's phone number. 'Carson, I need to talk.' Matthew texted and waited for a response. 'Please.' He waited a few more seconds until he started panicking. 'Please, please, please be awake I NEED TO TALK.' He texted urgently. 'Damnit Carson.' Matthew went to his contacts and got to Eli's number. 'Eli please be awake I need to talk.' He waited still getting no response from either of them. 'PLEASE DAMNIT.' Matthew put his phone back in his pocket and ran up the stairs and into his room and closed his door that lead to the bathroom and the one that lead to the main hallway. He jumped onto his bed and buried his head in the pillows now sobbing. He hoped Janie didn't hear him because that would ruin everything, him and his brother knew one thing for sure and one thing only, that they had to keep Janie as far out of this 'loop' as possible. She wouldn't take it well and they knew it. Matthew fished his phone out of his pocket again to see if either of them responded. No, but Carson tagged him on Instagram... 'This is us.' Carson said. "What the fuck Carson, you tag me in a photo, but you don't responded to my texts?!" Matthew whispered harshly to himself. He unlocked his phone and went to his Instagram and went to the same photo Carson tagged him in. 'CARSON I NEED TO TALK.' Matthew wrote tagging Carson. No response. Matthew got another tag from Carson. "Ugh! Answer me damnit!" Matthew hissed. Finally Matthew had enough and called Carson. He picked up on the second ring. "Heyyyyyy." He said in a happy mood. Matthew's eyes teared up again and sobbed into the phone. "Oh my god Matthew!" He said shocked and saddened. "Hey it's okay breathe." He eased. "I-I can't!" Matthew chocked out in between sobs. "Shhh, okay just tell me what happened." Carson said trying to calm him. Matthew explained everything, the divorce, the fight, and discussed how everything was going down hill especially with the move and now another added problem. "Matthew, high school is ages from now, I know you can hang in there. And besides, they're intoxicated. Please, please, PLEASE know that if you feel like shit, know that I care about you. Things might change over the course of 5 years, who knows. But all we need to focus on right now is you're sad. And that must stop. You need to take a deep long breath, and just imagine a white space. That's it. Focus on your breathing and the rhythm it makes. And just be."