past tense.

silence.

I stepped into my father's car, the muggy interior welcoming me before my dad did.
    I felt his scruffy jaw as he greeted me with a kiss on the head.
    "Hey, where's Mom? I thought she was picking me up today?
    "Oh, so that's how you say hi to me?" he chuckled.
     "Haha. No, seriously, wasn't she supposed to get off work early?"          
     "No, sorry. Her boss won't let her off." 
     I never really understood what it was my mother did. She never talked about work much, but when she did, it was easily comprehensible that she didn't like it. But as she always said, if it was a job she loved, bills wouldn't be paid. And so I didn't ask questions about her job anymore.
    The rutted, lumpy driveway shook the car. I grasped my bag by its handle, the fabric of it chafing my fingers.  The vehicle came to an abrupt stop and a yanked open the door.
    "Wait, why aren't we going to your house?"
    "Your mom wants you here before she gets home."
    "So basically she wants you to stay with me? Dad, no offense, I don't really need a babysitter."
    "Okay, first off, don't say no offense because that never takes away any of the offense. And second, she thought we should spend some time together. I haven't seen you in three weeks."
    Age often creates a barrier of sympathy; the older you get, the more overlooked your feelings are. You are expected to be stronger. To be less susceptible to your own emotions. But a divorce is a family coming apart, and I was affected.
    I think what was so hard for me was the fact that I had grown up with two parents. The majority of my life, I had two parents. It's just what I was accustomed to. Of course, my dad lived half an hour away, I saw him multiple times a month, and stayed over at his house every other weekend, so it wasn't exactly this Earth-Shattering Event. But going from seeing someone every day of your life to a few times a month isn't exactly the simplest thing to get used to.
    The front door opened with a click, and an empty house awaited.
    I did my homework in silence until my mom came home, nothing but the sounds of pencil scratching paper and the highlights of yesterday's football game filling the room.