To Find the Lie, We Must Discard the Truth

Chapter Seventeen

“And though my heart can’t take no more, I keep running back to you.”

Foolish by Ashanti

If there was one thing with this house, it’s the fact that my parents bought it giving them full rights to having a key. And with a key they could enter whenever they may like, whether I wanted them to or not.

Like this morning, when I’m sleeping peacefully in my own bed. Not only does my dearest mother come into the house, but she feels the need to wake me as well. When my eyes flutter open from the cold splash of water, I notice that it’s still dark outside.

“how dare you kick her out of the house!!!” Those were my mother’s first words to me.

I yawn, “I’m not quite awake enough for this.”

“well I am.” She replies, clearly not caring about me at the moment.

I sit up a little and stretch, “I didn’t kick her out,” I tell her.

“explain then, why your fiancée will be staying at her friends house until further notice?”

This was a good question, one I didn’t quite know the answer to. “It was either because I called her a bitch or I brought her to see her aunt and uncle,” another yawn escapes my mouth, “or a mix of both.”

“what aunt and uncle?”

The look I gave her was meant to be one of bewilderment, though at this state of tiredness who knows what it actually was. “Sky’s parents. Who else?”

“and why were you visiting them?”

I hadn’t told anyone besides Veronica about the conversation I had with Sky, so explaining that to my mom now would be useless. Instead, I go for another route, “you know how much of a family man I am mom. Always have been. I don’t care if they’re in jail, I still think it’s important for Veronica to have at least met them once in her life. We just had the time tomorrow to do so. Though she herself, didn’t quite agree with me.”

“and left?” I wish it was just that simple, then I wouldn’t feel as guilty as I do now.

“well…this kind of goes back to Valentines day. She made some rude comment about Sky and her family and I defended Sky. Veronica then went on this whole rant about how I still love Sky and all that stuff and we then had another argument and for the past week or so we haven’t actually talked much.”

My mom shakes her head, “you know, Ryan, that I’ve been behind Sky since you were in elementary school and describing a little girl from kindergarten. But when you’re talking to a woman that you are going to marry, whether by force or not, you don’t mention your ex.”

“yes, I mentioned Sky. Veronica asked why I never cooked shellfish or ordered it at a restaurant. I told her that I had considered it for that night but never got the chance to ask if she liked clams. So since Sky is allergic to shellfish and they were family, I decided not to risk it for Valentines day.” Which was true, she had asked and I had answered. But that’s not what caused the fight. “Veronica said some crap about that family and though I’m being forced to marry her, I wasn’t about to watch her bash my first love. So yes, I’ll admit, I defended Sky.”

I wouldn’t have put it behind Veronica to have gone running to my mom. Since our family was close, my mother did have a certain power over me. But at the same time it pissed me off. If we were to be married, she couldn’t keep doing this. We’d have to talk things out at some point. In turn, my mom only cared about Veronica at the moment, though I knew she was also curious as to what was being said about Sky. “how does this lead into why your fiancée isn’t in bed with you?” Man, this woman was impatient.

“I brought her to meet the rest of her family. I didn’t think there was any harm in this. I won’t go as far as to say they are good people, but they have cleaned up and deserve to at least see one of their nieces. Anyways, this just brought another round of insults from Veronica and I had finally had enough of it. I couldn’t take her disrespecting them all the time. Before, all I wanted was to keep this relationship a good one, so I always pushed aside things that I guess I should have let out at the time. Because I will admit that what I told Veronica wasn’t all that nice, but it was the truth. I left her in the car when she still wouldn’t come in and when I got back there was a note saying she was going to stay at Katie’s.”

“then apologize.”

I widen my eyes, “apologize? You want me to apologize to her? I’m sorry mom, but that’s just not happening anytime soon.”

“you men never understand that all we want is a small ‘sorry’ every now and then.”

“and all I want is a ‘thank you,’ but I don’t seem to be getting that. Please, I’m begging you to just not get involved in this. It’s between Veronica and me, not you or anyone else.”

She glares at me, “Ronni was the one to come to me.”

“yes, I know. And that was very immature of her to do. I’ll talk to her today, when it’s actually day. For right now though, I want to sleep.”

My mother finally gets up from the bed and tosses a towel at me. “If I don’t hear that you’ve talked to her today, Ryan, then you will not be a happy camper.” With that she leaves the room and eventually the house.

When the sun actually comes out I head over to Katies’ house to talk with Veronica. There was something about calling that just didn’t seem right in this scenario. Katie was quite surprised when she saw me on the doorstep.

“hey Ryan.”

“hi, um, is Veronica around?”

Katie opens the door a little wider, “she’s in the shower right now, but you can wait if you’d like.”

I nod and step inside, “thanks.” Katie only shrugs in acknowledgment. “You okay?” I ask, “you’re usually more talkative than this.”

“huh? Yeah, I guess I’m distracted.”

“anything you want to talk about?”

She shakes her head, “not with you.”

I look at her wearily. She always trusted me with information. “Katie, seriously, what’s up with you?”

“nothing. It’s not me so much, I just-I can’t talk about it okay? Just drop it Ryan.”

Ugh. Women these days. I just can’t say the right thing to them. Before I could argue with Katie, Veronica comes downstairs.

“Ryan? What are you doing here?”

Well, here goes nothing.