Moved In

Chapter 15 : Arguing

Chapter 15

A few days later...    

Riker POV

I was back home with dad again. I'd given him the ring Rydel took from Stormie without her knowing. But he hasn't looked at rings yet.

"Riker, I think we need to have a talk about something," dad said, sitting down on the edge of my bed.

"About what?"

"About your mom."

"Like mom in Florida?"

"Yes."

"Ok. What is it?"

"Do you remember how you really wanted us to get back together?"

"Yeah."

"Well she called me last night."

"Why?"

Dad sighed.

"What is it? You're making me nervous."

"She wanted to talk to me."

"About what?"

"About getting back together."

"Really!?"

"Hold on a minute. I haven't made any decisions on what I'm going to do yet. We talked about when you visited her."

"What do you mean?"

"She told me what happened. She told me she feels awful about it and she wishes she wasn't drunk."

"Really?"

"Really. She wishes she had a relationship with you. You guys don't really talk or keep in touch. And she said she misses me."

"So what does this mean? Because she and Stormie both want to be with you."

"I don't know. I haven't decided yet. That's why I wanted to talk to you."

"Ok... So..."

"So I need to know what you want me to do."

"Why? You're the one who would be marrying one of them. Why does it matter what I want you to do?"

"Because I don't want you to be mad at me for the rest of your life if I didn't give your mom a chance if you wanted me to."

"I wouldn't be mad at you for the rest of my life."

"I want you to tell me what you think."

I sighed.

"I don't want to," I said, quietly.

"Why not?"

"Because you won't like my answer."

Dad just stared at me, waiting.

"Of course I want you to try to make it work with mom. I want our family to go back to how it was. I don't want to share you with other kids. But I'm guessing you want to be with Stormie."

"That's true, I would rather be with Stormie."

"So then just be with Stormie," I said, laying down and turning away from him.

"Riker, this is exactly what I wanted to avoid. I don't want you to be mad."

"I'm not mad!"

"You seem mad."

"I don't want to talk about this anymore."

"Riker, we need to talk about this."

"Well I'm done talking."

I pulled the covers over myself and closed my eyes.

"Riker, we need to finish this conversation."

"Well then finish it."

"Riker, I need you to stop with the attitude and stop being so immature about this. I wanted to talk to you so we could come to a conclusion together instead of just deciding without you."

I stayed silent.

"Riker."

"I said I was done talking."

Dad grabbed my shoulder and pulled me so I was laying on my back.

"You can't act like this, Riker."

"I already told you what I wanted! I want you to be with mom! You want to be with Stormie! There's nothing else to talk about!" I shouted, starting to cry.

"Riker."

I turned over on my side again, away from him.

"I can't help it! That's just what I want!"

"Riker, that's ok."

"But it's not what you want!"

"I wasn't asking you to agree with me. I wanted to know what you wanted."

"Ok, well we don't agree! So now what!?"

"How about this? We go to bed. Get some sleep and calm down. And we'll talk about it again tomorrow, ok?"

"Ok..."

"Riker, it's ok. You don't need to agree. You can have your own opinion."

"But I feel bad!"

"Why?"

"Because you want to marry Stormie! And I don't want you to be stuck without her for the rest of your life if that's who you want to marry! I want you to be happy!"

"I want you to be happy, too, Riker."

"But it's not about me! I'm not the one getting married!"

"Riker, we're not even talking about marriage right now. We're just talking about dating."

"Well can we just be done talking for the night?"

"Yes."

Dad turned my light off and left. I was still really upset though.

I know I already gave him permission to marry Stormie. And I know he wants to. That's why I got Rydel to get one of her rings, so dad knows what size ring to get to propose. And I know mom was drunk and didn't even remember to pick me up at the airport but...

I don't even know anymore.

I laid in bed for a while, going over a million scenarios in my head.

The problem is that I don't know if I can trust mom or not. What if she gets drunk? What if she throws beer bottles at me? What if she says she'll change, but she doesn't?

I can't sleep now. I'm all upset over this whole thing.

I got out of bed and walked down to dad's room. He was still awake.

"Riker, you ok?" He asked, looking up from his phone.

"No."

"What's wrong?"

I climbed onto his bed and laid down beside him. I wrapped my arms around him and buried my face in his side.

"Riker, what's wrong?" He asked, again.

"I don't want to fight with you."

"We weren't even fighting."

"I know, but I'm upset about it and I can't sleep now."

I felt his arms around me. He pulled the covers over me and started slowly rubbing my back. I sighed and just tried to relax.

But I didn't even have to try for very long because I fell asleep.