The Reality of Growing Up//Wattys 2k16

ღcoraღ

published: 4.12.16

chapter: 8

I had always been jealous of the Riviera sisters.

For years and years I liked how skinny and perfect they all were. Even Mrs. Riviera looked like a supermodel.

Now, as I walk Brandy home and listen to her mangled sobs, I'm everything but jealous towards the Riviera girls.

Lucky for me the walk to Brandy's house isn't too far. It's about ten minutes from the beach. The distance feels good with my legs.

I remember how even five minutes of walking was enough to make me out of breath. How everyone would be groaning at how freaking slow I was.

"You can go now," Brandy sniffles, wiping her cheeks with the palm of her hands.

I look down at her and try not to accept her offer. Maeryn is much more important than my uncomfortableness. "No, tonight we're having a girls night."

Brandy looks too tired to protest. Instead of responding, she reaches into her small purse and fishes her keys out. She's so exhausted that it takes her a couple tries for her to insert the key into the hole.

Eventually she does and she practically falls inside.

"Are you hungry?" I ask her as I make my way into the kitchen. Opening the fridge I'm surprised to see that it's practically empty besides a Styrofoam box and a small bottle of Fiji water.

"No, I just want to sleep," she replies.

I close the fridge and look at her. She's sitting on the couch and staring into space. Her eyes are bloodshot and her hair looks like an angry hamster had been inside it.

Making my way towards her, I sit down and let a silence sit for a while. I look at the furniture and for the first time I notice how empty the house feels. All the furniture is white and clean like it just came out from a magazine. I used to love how perfect everything here looked. Now the house just gives off an empty vibe. There's no personality anymore. It's a ghost house.

Finally I start to talk. "I know you're not okay," I start off, placing my hands on my knees. Oh god, I'm terrible at comforting people.

"No shit," Brandy scoffs.

I forgot how snobby 15-year-olds can be.

Trying a different approach, I say, "Okay....and I want to let you know that it's alright...it's alright to not be alright. Is this making sense?"

She shakes her head.

"It's okay to not be okay. And we're all trying here. What I'm trying to say here it that Maeryn is a really good person and she really loves you."

Brandy lets out a weird noise that's somewhere between a laugh and a cough. "If she really loved me then she wouldn't have left me."

I raise a brow. "What do you mean?"

Brandy looks at me funny and then looks at the ground and shakes her head. "Of course she didn't tell you," she murmurs, almost to herself. She looks up at me and talks in a stronger voice. "When we got into the accident and they announced that mom was the only one dead, Maeryn shut herself in her room for months. She only came out to the funeral."

I keep silent as Brandy continues to explain the situation. It was worse than I thought.

"I was the one who had to take care of her. Dad went to work and it was me who pulled her out of that slump she was in. I didn't have time to be sad for mom. I had to deal with my big sister who promised that she would take care of me!"