Red, Blue, Me, and You

White Lies

Every second Sunday we go to Aunt Carol, and Uncle Steven's place for afternoon tea. Carol is my mum's younger sister by ten years, and she may be one of the most talkative people on the planet. She and Steven have no children, but instead three dogs, and their house has an all around comfortable feeling to it. Grandma and Granddad also join us for the family gathering whenever possible. Ever since they retired they've been taking road trips around the country, and often disappear with absolutely no warning. This stresses Mum and Carol out a lot, however I think it's really cool how spontaneous they've become since selling their business just over a year ago.

My family is sitting in the living room, Grandma and Granddad taking turns to question everyone about what they've been up to since the last afternoon tea they attended, when things start to go south.

"Dad and I were going to finally finish the birdhouse in the evenings this week," Ben said after Grandma had asked him how he was. "But, Dad hasn't been coming home from work until after I get to bed, and it's really annoying. He shouldn't have to work that much."

It's almost comedic the way the adults all begin to give each other glances in quick succession - Mum and Dad, Grandma and Granddad, Mum and Aunt Carol, Granddad and Mum, Aunt Carol and Grandma. Uncle Steven sits there as if he doesn't really know what's going on. Luckily Ben doesn't notice how weird the room is beginning to feel, but I look over at Liam and can tell he feels it too.

"Been busy at the office then?" my grandfather asks, deciding to slowly tear through the awkward silence.
My dad shifts uncomfortably in his chair. "Well, you know. Gets busy this time of year."
Granddad frowns. "I suppose it does."
"My manager just got the sack as well," my dad continues, "meant we've had to do extra time."
"Excellent," my mum grins, but there's no joy in her face. "We can put that extra money towards the broken fence that you claim 'isn't worth the effort'."
There's a slight shift in Dad's expression, but he manages to stay composed. "I suppose you're right, honey. We can definitely do that."
"And then the bird house!" Benjamin calls out, excitedly.
"And then the bird house, little mate," dad agrees with him, and the atmosphere of the room grows less tense.

My phone vibrates in my pocket, and I open it to see a text from Leah.
We still good for this evening?

I instantly reply, telling her that of course we are. The adults in my family start talking again - my grandfather questioning Liam about his studies, Mum, Carol, and Grandma chatting about anything and everything, and my dad on his phone texting someone. Ben's moved himself to the other side of the room, and is going through a cupboard. I think I know what he's looking for, so I go over to help him. There's a very high chance he's accidentally going to break something, if he's left alone for more than five minutes. 

I find the box, on a shelf that's taller than he is, and Ben springs up to see what I've got as soon as he hears to rattling noise. For a moment I think he's going to bang his head on one of the lower shelves, but luckily he unwilling narrowly escapes a head injury. I pass him the box of connect four, and we go find ourselves a corner to sit down in. Ben is unusually silent, as he divides the red and yellow counters into their own separate piles. This is a routine we have every time that we're here. He's red and I'm yellow, and we will continue to play the game - even if I'm very bored - until it's either time to go, or we're interrupted by an adult who wants to talk to us.

I'm distracted by the game, that I don't notice the way the time flies by. Ben is a lot better than me at connect four. (To be fair, my mind tends to wander to other things, and maybe if I concentrated more than I'd win more.) I'm brought back into the reality of this room, when I hear my mum's voice raise.

"If you're so interested in her, then why don't you just go and see her then?" she shouts.
Dad looks annoyed. "It's work related. I'm not just texting her for no reason."
"Sure looks like it's for no reason." The whole family is watching the two of them at this point. Ben moves closer to me, and puts his hand into mine. I give it a little squeeze. 
"Don't make a scene about nothing!"
"I'm not making a scene about nothing. I just looked over your shoulder to see what you were so busy doing that you couldn't socialise with the family, and-"
Dad cuts her off. "It's work! Okay! Leave me alone woman!"
"No, you leave me alone. You obviously don't want to be here. Just go!"
"Okay, fine! I'll leave then!" Dad gets up, and walks towards the entrance. I hear him quickly put on his shoes, and then the door slams.

The whole room appears to be in shock, as the engine to the car starts, and he pulls out of the driveway. It stays silent for a moment, before Mum gets up and leaves the room. Carol follows after her. Steven gets up to boil the kettle.

"Tea anyone?" he asks.
"I think we all may need some. Perhaps a biscuit too?" Grandma replies on behalf of us all. "Ben would you like to help me find something to eat? I believe there are some with chocolate on them in the cupboard."

Ben and Grandma leave to join Steven in the kitchen, and Granddad starts to ask me about how my football is going. 
"Very good," I reply. That's the truth. Football has been going very good recently. In fact, I have some rather big news, but I haven't found a chance to share it with the family yet. I choose not to tell Granddad, and keep it for a time where I can tell Mum first. 
"And how's the study going for these important exams you have coming up?" he inquires.
"That has actually been going surprisingly well as well," I reply, and my Granddad's expression changes to one of pride.
"Has it?"
"Yes. I've found myself a study partner. She doesn't go to the same school as me, but she also plays football," I explain, "well, she also doesn't play football for the same football club, but we know each other because of football."
"I see, and she's been helping you?" he asks.
"Yes. I even past my last maths practice exam," I reply proudly.
"That's my girl," he smiles.

Grandma, Steven, and Ben, return with the tea and biscuits. I get up to take a couple of mugs off Steven, who looks like he's struggling to carry them, before giving one to Liam, and placing mine down on a coaster. Ben's carrying the plate of biscuits, and offers them around to everyone, before taking two for himself. I give him a look.
"Grandma said I could!" he protests. I look to Grandma, who gives Ben a wink. 
"Should we see if there's any footy on the telly?" Granddad asks the room. 
"Great idea," I reply when nobody else does.

The atmosphere of the room has calmed down a lot, and we're all busy watching the game when Mum and Carol return.
"We're staying the night here kids," Mum tells us.
"But it's a school night?" Ben says, "I'm allowed a sleepover on a school night?"
"Yes you are sweetie," Mum replies. He jumps around excitedly. I on the other hand, are not so keen on the idea.
"I was supposed to have Leah over to study this evening. Also, I need to be at school on time tomorrow."
I expect her to tell me just to deal with it, but she gives it a moment of consideration. 
"Liam, you drove over here in your car, right?"
Liam nods.
"Alright, Georgia, ask Leah if you can spend the night at hers. Liam will take you home to get your school bag and uniform. If not, then you'll just have to stay here."
"Thank you," I say, and accept it as what's going to happen. I'm not going to question why we're not going home tonight. Not in front of Ben.

I text Leah almost immediately. Hey, any chance I could come to yours instead? And any chance I could stay the night? I know there's school tomorrow. I'll explain when I get there.
It doesn't take long for Leah to respond. Yeah sure. My mum says it's fine. I'll see you at half 4?
Yep, sounds good. I reply. 

"Leah says that's fine," I tell mum, "she says to come at half four."
I look down at my watch. It's quarter to four at the moment. Liam's noticed the same thing.
"Shall we leave now?" he asks me.
"Yep," I repsond, "thanks for driving me."
"I want you to pass your exams, Geo, and I know you can," he tells me. It's not often that Liam directly says something to me like this, but I think after what's happened this afternoon, he wants to let me know he cares about me. This is his way of doing that.

Almost forty minutes later, Liam's pulling up to Leah's house. I pull on my backpack, and hop out of the car. 
"See you tomorrow. Look after Ben for me," I call to him as I walk away.
"See you tomorrow, G," he calls back, before pulling off.

Leah opens the door as soon as I reach it.
"Watching for me then?" I smirk. She rolls her eyes, and pulls me inside and up the stairs.
"Wanted to talk to you before my mum does," she explains the rush she's in. "What's with the change in plans?"
"Can we discuss that later. Let's just do science for now," I deflect the question.
"Okay, something's seriously wrong if you want to do school work," Leah comments, "but sure. We can do science."

I sit down on her bedroom floor, and get out my school books. I set an hour timer on my phone to do a practice exam, and Leah gets out a practice exam of her own. I'm going to have to tell her about what happened eventually, but for now I've got science to deal with, and I'm currently on track to fail science.