Espresso Cookie/Espresseleine Oneshots

Oneshot 25 || Angst

E + L's age: 15

"You were a mistake, Espresso."

Espresso looked up from his buttered toast, stifling a groan. "I know."

Mother took a drag of her cigarette and slowly exhaled the smoke. "All I wanted was a beautiful little girl. For as long as I can remember, I wanted a little girl. And you know what? I was going to get one." She glared at him. "But then I found out I was having twins. A girl and a boy. A beautiful, incredible baby girl... And a pathetic boy."

A frown started to creep its way onto Espresso's face. He felt Mother's words make his heart sting. He thought he would be used to all the name-calling and all the favoritism by now, but he wasn't. "I'm sorry."

"Damn right, you are." She slowly stepped across the kitchen towards him, staring him dead in the eyes the entire way. "You ruined my life. I was going to be happy with a pretty baby girl that we were going to be able to pay for and nurture... But you had to show up and ruin everything!"

Espresso frowned. It's not like he asked to be born.

"We could have saved thousands of dollars if your needy self didn't decide to be born! All I hear from you is how hungry you are and how you're outgrowing your clothes and need new ones so badly..." She stared at him, her eyes narrowing. "Who pays for your food? Who pays for your clothes?"

"You do, Mother."

"Exactly. Be glad you have food and clothes and a roof over your head. I could be feeding you our cold leftovers from dinner, but I don't, do I?"

"No, ma'am."

"I could not get you any clothes and let you freeze to death in the winter, but I don't, do I?"

Espresso stayed silent, resining the urge to roll his eyes.

"Do I?!"

"...No, ma'am."

"I could lock you in a closet with no mattress and that could be your bedroom. How does that sound? Spending the rest of your pathetic life locked in a cramped closet, your back aching from sleeping on the dirty floor—how does that sound?"

"She's probably expecting me to thank her for not locking me in a closet," He thought as he looked up at her expecting face. "Uh, thank you, Mother, for not locking me in a closet."

A smile grew on her face. "Ah. Yes, good. You're welcome." The smile then faded away, and she grew angry again as she paced around the kitchen. "You should be glad I even treat you like you're my son. I could be treating you like a dog! I could be making you sleep on the floor and making you eat our leftovers. Be goddamn grateful. You have it good." Mother grabbed him by the hair and threw him off the chair.

He hit the floor hard, letting out a hiss in pain as he landed badly on his wrists. He cautiously looked up at her, staring at the pure hatred in her cold eyes.

"Shut up," She muttered, leaning against the counter. She forced back a grin as she towered over her son's trembling body, looking down at him like he was a worthless speck of dirt. A rush of pleasure and power tingled through her as she felt her dominance and control over Espresso. She watched with a smile as he forced his body up and stumbled back to the table.

Espresso frowned, his eyes trailing down to the food in his hands. All he wanted was to eat his damn toast. He took a bite of the toast as he tried to ignore the stares from his mother.

"Just imagine how much money we could have saved if you weren't eating the food I pay for all the time," Mother spoke again, smirking as he paused his eating. "You're eating so much lately; it just seems like you're trying to waste my money."

His tired eyes looked back up at her.

"I wish you and Latte weren't twins," She hissed, staring at him. "I wish I was pregnant with you separately so I could have drank while I had you. Then there was a chance you would have died after childbirth, or before, anyway."

Espresso felt his face heat up, tears pricking the backs of his eyes. Genuinely, what the hell was he supposed to say to that?

"And why aren't you studying for school? Do you think that just because your father isn't here, you can be lazy and slack off?"

Silence filled the kitchen.

"Well?"

Espresso stood up, dumping the rest of his buttered toast into the trash. He started to walk out of the kitchen, his eyes narrowed with anger. "Alright," He hissed through gritted teeth. "I'll go study."

She smirked. "Good." She watched him walk down the hallway towards his room.

Espresso fought back tears, his hands shaking as he opened their bedroom door. Latte was lying on their bunk bed, reading. She glanced down at him, sighing. "What now? I heard yelling."

"Just..." He groaned. "I was trying to eat a damned piece of toast—but how dare I do that, I suppose—and Mother started getting all pissy about my existence." He flopped onto the bottom bunk, covering his face with his hands as he frowned. "Like, I didn't ask to be born, right?? It's not my fault I'm alive!"

Latte leaned over the top bunk to stare down at him. "I'm sorry," She mumbled, resting her head in her hands. "...I could talk to her about it if you'd like."

Espresso shook his head almost immediately. "No, no, it's fine. I don't think she would care. Then she'd just get even more mad at me..." His voice trailed off as he frowned, pulling his knees up under his chin as he sighed, wiping the tears from his eyes.

Latte's frown deepened before she climbed down from her top bunk to sit next to him. "Hey. You know I love you, right?"

He scoffed, smiling. "Yeah. You say it all the time."

"But I mean it," She mumbled, taking his hand. "I know Mother and Father didn't want twins, and they constantly remind you about it, but I still care about you and love you so much. Just because they weren't expecting to have another child, doesn't mean you shouldn't exist. You know? I love you, and so do other people."

He sighed, biting the inside of his mouth. "Thank you." He hesitated. "But that won't change the way our parents hate me. They despise me, and nothing I do will change that. I just want them to love me. I try so hard to make them happy. I get good grades, I'm well behaved, I literally do everything, but they're never happy. They're never proud." He blinked back tears once more, his cheeks burning. He was embarrassed he was acting so emotional and stupid.

She hesitated, nodding. "I'm proud of you," She said, smiling up at him.

He smiled back, but it slowly faded. "I know. I just wish that they were proud of me too," He mumbled.

Silence filled their bedroom for a moment before Espresso stood up. "I should probably start studying before Father comes back," He said, sitting down at his desk as he took out his notebook from his backpack.

Latte nodded, staring at him for another moment before leaving their room so he could focus on studying.