Scrambled

Chapter 2; Embarassment

"What is it?" I asked warily. Where was this going?! Mom puffed out a breath and sipped (well gulped) her wine.
"Well.... Me and your father, were um split-" I began rapidly shaking my head. No no no no no no no no no no- my mind began to spin
My parents are not splitting up
They've been happily married for over 20 years
They love each other
They wouldn't do this to me and Mattie
Not right before my senior year-
Not before I got to college
NO
I'm dreaming- I'll pinch myself and I'll wake up from this sick dream
The world will be a better place
My head began to pound and I felt a drumming in my ears
I could hear my moms voice but it sounded so fuzzy so far away-
I dropped my glass of milk and watched it slip so slowly so slowly to the ground and s h a t t er I bolted to my room and locked and slammed my door. I was then filled with rage. I was pissed.
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After I was dressed the next morning I searched the house for Mattie, making sure I avoided any sight of my parents at all. I found him in his old room, moms new yoga room. Mattie was knocked out. His snores were so loud I had to cover my ears. I walked over to the little cot he was sleeping on and sat at the end of it. I shook his leg. Once twice and three times. Not a thing happened. "Mattie?" I whispered his name at first then I just started screaming. On the fifth scream he blinked twice and rubbed his eyes.

"Noah? What the heck?" He said in his sleepy voice.
     "Sorry Mattie. I just needed to talk to you about something before Parker came over to pick me up for school." I said.
"What is it?"
       "Well it's not really easy to say but.. Um Mom and Dad they're um- getting a divorce." I spat out that last part like there was a bug in my mouth. What Mattie did next was unbelievable. He laughed. He actually laughed."Mattie that's not funny. Don't you know what this means? How can you laugh?!" My voice went up 6 octaves. I tried to hold back my tears but I could feel them slipping down my cheeks. Faster and faster they came like they we're having a race. I swallowed back whimpers that building up in my throat like a dam. Mattie probably noticed the streaks of salty water on my cheeks cause he tried to say stuff like 'I didn't mean to laugh' or 'Hey it's okay, life happens' but that only made me cry even more until felt like I was bathing in my own tears.

Mattie with unbelievable strength picked me up into his gigantic arms and started to rock me back and forth. He brushed my hair out of my face and kept mumbling things to me.
He said, "I'm sorry. It's not a funny matter but I just half to laugh pain off.. I am here cause if the divorce stuff. I didn't want you to find out alone. I called it my personal break week, so my commander let me come back."
"When  they separate I should be done with my  training so I can settle down for a while and you can live with me. Would you like that?" I nodded my head. I sat in Mattie's arms for what felt like a while until my phone buzzed. I fished it out of my pocket to see a text from Parker. 'I'm outside. I grabbed breakfast don't worry about food'.
   "Mattie, he's here I gotta go...love you." I broke free of my brothers arms and dashed out of my crumbling house.

Once safe in Parker's truck I was awaited by the smell of a Taco Bell breakfast and his familiar new truck smell  mixed with axe. I let out the breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding. I glanced over at Parker who was examining me. He had a blue jacket on and a white polo shirt. He was wearing black jeans that hugged his thigh a little and royal blue Jordan's."You okay?" He said studying my face like it was a new, undiscovered species. I shook my head twice. "Do you wanna talk about it?" Parker urged. I wanted to talk to him and be honest but bringing it up would make me cry again. I shook my head."Okay, well if you ever need to talk, I'm here." With that he started his car and was about to pull out when my mother came running out of the house with my cheer bag I'd apparently forgotten. I slowly rolled down my window.
   "Noah, you forgot your bag!" She said panting inches from the car. I reached to grab it from her when I noticed the silver band that was always around her ring finger was gone. That was the first time in my life that I'd ever seen it not where it was supposed to be. I whimpered and snatched my bag from her hand and quickly rolled my window up. I also locked my door. I could see the pain and hurt in her eyes but I didn't care. Mom started knocking on my window but I turned a full 90 degrees so I was facing Parker.
"Can you please drive." I whispered. He took the car out of park and we went speeding towards the highway.