My Sister's Boyfriend

Chapter thirty-four

I woke up to birds chirping, the sun was shining through my room hitting the corner of my bed. I got out of bed and walked over to my window and pulled the curtains. I opened my window and took in a deep breath of fresh air. It was warmer than yesterday. Today was March 16, my birthday. I walk downstairs and I see my mom in the kitchen, she was making my annual pancakes, eggs, and bacon breakfast she'd make for Kaley and my birthday ever year. She had pancake batter on her forehead and I chuckle as I sit down across from her on the island. She smiles at me,
    "There's that smile I haven't seen in a while, happy birthday baby," my mom says kissing my forehead from across the counter. I smile,
    "Thank you," I pull the plate of food she made across the island to my reach. I start to eat and Kaley walks down the stairs. She sits next to me,
    "How does it feel to be a legal adult now?" she asks taking a plate too. "Thanks mama," she says to mom. I scrunch my nose,
    "Normal..." I say shoving pancakes in my mouth. I was eating again, I could tell my mom was happy. I felt better, a part of me felt a little bit better, I could live with that.
    "Well adulting sucks, I hope you know that," Kaley says. I half smile and then finish my food. That's the most we've talked in 3 months. The day went on and it was almost time for my party, I was dreading it more and more, I was never really wanting a big party but my mom insisted I invite at least 20 more people. At last I was 18. I cleaned up my room only because I was an adult now, I should be more responsible. I knew it would be trashed again in the next 3 days but why not. I stepped outside of my room in my outfit for the day. This was my first time actually trying to look good in a while. I truly haven't been taking the best care of myself lately. I saw Kaley in the bathroom, she was doing her makeup. I walk into the bathroom and she scoots over calmly. I eye her from the side and smile a little bit. I take a deep breath and put some mascara on and some blush. She stops what she's doing and looks at me.
    "Mm mm," she shakes her head. I look at her with confusion. Kaley steals the brush from my hand and turns me around.
    "Blush is supposed to go up, not all over, the highest point of your face," she says quietly. I watch her as she applies the makeup. Her eyes soft and wandering across my face. She was the prettiest girl I've ever seen. She finishes and places the brush down and goes back to her makeup.
    "Thanks..." I say quietly, I wanted to cry, I missed my sister. She looks at me from the side and then nods with her lips tightly closed. I stare at her a little bit before I leave the bathroom. I wondered if she was satrting to warm up to me again. I walked downstairs and my mom was in her room. I went inside and she was in her bathroom. I knocked on the door and she let me come in. She had her purple curling iron placed on the counter and she was doing her makeup too.
    "Want me to curl your hair? It's ready," she asks. I look at her and nod.
    "Okay, sure," I sit down on a little stool in front of her and she puts her mascara down. She grabs her brush and starts to brush through my hair. She sections it and then starts to curl my long brown hair. It's still in the room, no one is talking. I stare at her in the long mirror attached to the counter. Her blonde hair had gray strands peeking out from her roots. Her eye shadow was the same purple eye shadow it has always been. The Wrinkles on her forehead were showing only because of the calm expression on her face.
    "I remember when you were 5, your hair would always curl at the roots, and now you have this long stright as a line brown hair like your father. I always thought you'd grow up looking like me, nope spitting image. You have my green eyes though," she says with a smile. I smile and look up at her, this was nice. Her face suddenly morphes into a sad look. She gulps and shakes her head softly.
    "Kara...I do't know how to say how sorry I am..." she says with her voice breaking.
    "Mama, what do you mean?" I ask my face turning sad with her's. She shakes her head,
    "I've always been focused on Kaley, I never realized how bad it was until you got into your depressive state recently," she admits. I blink and look down, it felt good that she admitted it now.
    "You are my baby, my treasure, I leaped with joy when I found out I was pregnant with you. When your dad and I divorced.....you just reminded me of him so much and it hurt, Kaley was the spitting image of me and you were him, all over you're him. I thought by not having the best relationship with you, that I could forget him, but I'm a bad mother and now I regret it," she says. I feel like I wanted to cry.
    "You're not a bad mom, but can I ask you something? I've seen the way you act around Dad...do you still love him?" I ask. She looks at me again in the mirror then back at my hair.
    "Your Dad and I...We left things in a not so good place but I'll always love him...that's what scares me," she says. I nod,
    "He changed Mama, he's better," I say. She nods and then kisses my head,
    "I love you baby...so much and I'm sorry I rarely showed it," she says. I smile,
    "I love you too Mom, I forgive you," I say while clinging to her. I've been needing this hug for the longest time. People started to fill in and my Grams and and gramps came in first. I cried out as I saw them. I practically leaped into their arms. I missed them so much. Everyone started to fill in at around 6:00. It was fun but I still felt a big piece missing. Danny...I wish he could be here, I wished I could hold him and tell him that I still loved him, although he probably hated me at this point. I was in the kitchen and I was eating a cup filled up with watermelon and grapes when I saw my dad walk through the door. I practically choked on my fruit, he was wearing his khakis and a dark blue shirt, he was wearing his old fishing baseball cap he'd always used to wear. I looked over at my mom with happiness and she winked at me from the corner of the room. I ran up to him and practically jumped into his arms.
    "Well hi there kiddo....or should I say not so kiddo.." he says with a fake sad face. I feel tears bubble in my eyes, my day had just gotten so much brighter.
    "Dad...I missed you so much," I say and hug him again. He lifts my chin up to see my face,
    "You doin' okay pumpkin?" he asks. I nod,
    "Everythings much better now," I say with a smile. He smiles too and passes me a birthday gift. We talk more and my mom walks over and flips her hair out of her neck. I look at the two of them with a suspense look. The air always got thicker whenever they were close.
    "Hey Layla," he says with a smile. She half smiles,
    "Hey, I'm glad you could make it, help yourself to anything," she says while awkwardly touching his shoulder. He nods,
    "Thanks," he says patting her hand which is still on him. I bite my cheeks with awkwardness and then I say,
    "I'm so glad you could make it Dad but I still have to go socialize..." I say with a dragging voice.
    "I told her she needs to talk more," my mom says shaking her head at me. She leaves and my dad point to her and mouths,
    "What happened?"
I laugh and then walk over to more people. About an hour later My mom tell everyone that it's cake time. I sit outside in the chair that had a balloon attatched to it to imply that it was the birthday girl's seat. I look up at the lights surrounding me, my mom really went all out for me this time. Everyone crowded around and I sat there patiently waiting. I hated this part about birthday's, everyone's eyes being on you. Everyone starting to sing, a mixture of voices and notes filled my head, it sounded terrible but everyone looked happy. It was really nice to feel appreciated, to be loved and cared about. As people were singing I saw Liam and his new apparent girlfriend snuggling up on each other, I felt a knot in my stomach, all I could think about was Danny, the way he used to hug me, why couldn't I get him out of my head? My mom came out with a two layered cake, it was indeed purple and it had pink flower decoratives on the rim. The candle was an 18 and the flame was blowing in the still air. It was already dusk out so the fire burned brigter than normal. My mom placed it in my hands with a big smile and I looked over and Kaley appeared into the crowd while crossing her arms. Everyone stopped singing and I hear my mom say,
    "Make a wish baby, not any wish, the biggest one yet," she says. I exhale and my eyebrows furrow with sadness. As I stare at the cake I knew what I wanted to wish for...everyone knew. I make eye-contact with Kaley and she looks like she could read my mind, She then stared at me with a sad expression making my throat tighten up. I felt queasy, everyone's faces morphed together into a big blob. I suddenly threw up all over the cake and on the ground. I heard a gasp from everyone and people stepped back. My mom and Dad walked over to me quickly.
    "Sweetie are you okay?" he asks me helping me up. I look at him and then at my mom.
    "I don't feel too good," I say holding my stomach. I look over at Kaley but she's already gone. People left, the party was over anyway, no one got to eat the cake, it was really pretty too. We got it from the cake shop in town. I was in my bed. I could see the lights from my backyard radiating into my room. I felt like I ruined the party. I heard a knock on my door and I said,
    "Come in," the door sqeaked as it opened. My dad sat on my bed and he played with my hair that had fallen out of the curls.
    "You feeling better baby?" he asks. I nod,
    "I didn't ruin the party did I?" I ask. He laughs and shakes his head.
    "Of course not, you couldn't help that you got sick, you did everything anyway, you got loads of cool gifts, you're probably richer than me now," he jokes. I chuckle and he smiles,
    "Your mom let me stay here tonight, sleeping on the couch, it brings me back to when your mom was mad at me, she'd always make me sleep on the couch," he laughs. I nod,
    "I remember...Dad?" I ask. He sniffs and nods his head,
    "Yes sweetie?"
    "Can you start visiting more? You're like the glue of my life right now," I say quietly. I see his face change he looks nervous,
    "I will certainly try my best, as long as your mom doesn't care," he says.
    "Trust me...she definitely doesn't care," I say with a smile. He furrows his eye brows. Then he catches on to what I'm thinking.
    "You seriously think she still likes me, even after everything that has happened?" he asks. I nod,
    "You can't ever forget your first love Dad..." I look over at my window and see Danny's window. I look back at him and sigh. He kisses my head and then get's up.
    "I love you Kare, get some rest," he says.
    "I love you too Dad."
When everyone leaves, and I'm lonely, that's when all of my depressive feelings come back, I hated being lonely, but I also hated being in people's presence because I felt like I was going to bore them. I layed there in my bed and thought about everything. I thought about Kaley, I thought about the way she looked at me. I cried...again in my bed...I cried.