Broken with Hope

Chapter 2

Now.

The car ride is tense as suspected.

"So, where are we going?" I ask, after an hour into the drive.

"I told you already, we are going to our new house."

Our new house filled with new people. Our new house without dad or Jax.

"I mean, where is it?" I restate my question.

"A few hours away." She replies, shortly.

Vague as usual.

"Who will be there?" I press her further with my question.

"Lilith, I am exhausted from this move. I've already explained the details before. Just wait until we arrive." Her words were final, as she turned her head away from me.

That was her way of dismissing people. It infuriated me.

"You explained this once, right after telling me you were leaving dad. Forgive me if I couldn't comprehend all the crap after that." I say bitterly, and then focus my attention on the window beside me.

"You will not speak to me in that tone or with those words." She says, giving me that serious stare she uses with all her clients.

My mom is a lawyer at a firm in New York City. She is often gone for most of the day every day, even on the weekends. I thought this was normal before, because of her busy job. But even with the limited amount of information my mom has disclosed with me recently, I've pieced together that she has been using the weekends to cheat on dad. It makes me sick.

"I will speak to you in whatever tone I feel like." I say, boldly.

She turns back in her seat to face me again and gives me the stare.

I stare back, not breaking my gaze.

"East Hampton, New York." She sighs.

She gave in this time, for the first time in years.

"Oh." I say, because I don't know what to say.

East Haven, New York was a couple hours away from the city where we were driving from. I don't know how my mom managed to cheat on dad with a man who lives this far away. They must work together closely at the firm. I don't know much about this situation, hardly anything. All I know is that I'm moving to East Haven, New York to live with my mom and her boyfriend. I also know that my dad hasn't been returning any of my calls, and neither has Jax. That's it. Everything else in my life is a blur waiting to be focused on.

The rest of the drive is replaced with uncomfortable silence.

I feel bad for our driver. My mom doesn't drive anymore, ever since she had a minor collision with a drunk driver a few years ago. She was lucky it wasn't bad, but it scared her off from driving completely. She won't even let me drive. I'm already seventeen and know very little about driving. My dad never had time to teach me either.

Jax tried to teach me a year ago. I look down at my phone at the thought of him. Still nothing.

Then.

"Lily! Watch the curb!" Jax shouted, laughing.

"I'm trying! This is too hard." I said, frustrated.

We were in an empty parking lot. There were absolutely no cars here at night. It was a parking lot meant for the church close by, but the church hasn't been in use for years. Jax decided it was time he would teach me how to drive.

"Try to back into that spot." He said, pointing.

"Fine, but don't hate me after your car ends up getting totaled." I warned him, pressing lightly on the gas pedal.

"I trust you, Lil. Always have, always will. Besides, the parking lot's empty." He laughed, looking over at me.

I loved when he laughed, it made me laugh. When we watched movies, the scenes he laughed at would end up being the scenes I enjoyed the most. His laugh made me happy. I loved that.

"Okay, good. Now back into the spot slowly." He instructed.

As I reverse into the spot, I run into the curbing again.

"I quit!" I shouted, as I hit the steering wheel in frustration.

"You did fine, we'll go somewhere else with no curbs next time." He smiled.

"That's like the third time I hit the curb. I'll never learn how to drive."

"You will. Maybe when you're thirty, but at least it will happen." He teased.

"You're real funny." I said, rolling my eyes.

"I know, that's why you love me." He laughed, winking.

"It's almost eleven; I have to be home soon." I told him.

"Then we should go get ice cream fast."

"Why would we do that?"

"Because I'm a big believer in carpe noctem."

"What is that?" I asked.

"It's Latin; it means to seize the night." He answered.

"Ice cream will help us seize the night?"

"Of course! C'mon, let's switch sides. I wouldn't want you to die without your carpe noctem-y ice cream."

"That would be a tragic." I said, as he takes my place as driver.

He laughed, which made me laugh too.

I was happy.

~

Sorry I was late on the update.

Next Update: 7/17/15

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