“Alicia! It is so nice to see you!” Janet, the retiree, smiled at the three of us as she welcomed us into her huge home, “Drake, it’s been so long since I’ve seen you! Wow, this must be Maribel! You’re grandmother has told me so much about you!” the plump lady smirked, “It was the eyes that locked you in aye?”
My cheeks flushed red, “We’re not a couple…” I say as Drake smirk and shoves his hands in his jeans.
Janet winked and ran off to take care of a fight that occurred between an ex-husband and wife.
“I’ll meet you guys back here at eleven thirty,” my grandmother smiled, grabbed some meat on a toothpick from a tray and danced off.
“Don’t old people have some sort of curfew?” Drake moans, “We’re stuck breathing in mothballs for three and a half hours.”
“Wow, I didn’t know you could even count to fifty, let alone count time,” I wink and excuse myself to the restroom.
I pull up my dress and flatten the kinks. After looking at myself twenty times in the mirror I give up on trying to look decent. This place is just full of a bunch of elderly men. As I pushed the door open my phone buzzed in my purse. “Dad” lit up the screen in white letters.
“Hey Dad,” I can’t help but smile at hearing his voice. I really want to tell him how good it’s going and that I’m not mad at him sending me here anymore. I’ve made new friends, met my grandmother for the first time and I have a boyfriend, “You would not guess what’s happened since I’ve been here! I met this really amazin-”
“Do you need any money?” My heart shatters at his words. This was why he called. Not to see if I was okay or having a good time or to say I could come back.
“Do you need more money? I can just transfer some to-”
“This is why you called me? First you send me to a completely different state where I have to figure things out on my own and now you call to ask me if I need money? When most parents send their kids away for no reason they-”
“Maribel!”
“You know most parents don’t send their kids away for no reason, but what they do is they call their child to see if they are alright and if they’re having good time!”
“Maribel, let’s not do this now!” he shouts.
“You’re right! Let’s not do this now! I am not going to let you ruin anything else for me!” My finger hits the ‘end’ button.
My phone automatically starts to ring again, but I hold down the power button until it shuts of.
I slide through the guests trying to find a place to just sit. I don’t want to talk to anybody right now.
“Mabel!” That can only be one person.
I whip around.
“Woah! Did you and your makeup get in a fight? Looks like the makeup won!”
I wipe the black from under my eye in fury, “I do not need this right now Drake!”
In effort to push past him I shove into an old woman with bright red hair. The glass of red champagne has been pushed to her chest as the deep red liquid splashes out onto her dress.
“I am so sorry!” I yank the handkerchief from Drake’s suit pocket and rub in an effort to remove the red from the former sparkly gold dress.
“Who the hell are you?” the woman snatches the handkerchief from my hand and throws it to the floor and people are started to notice our mess in the corner, “Where are your manners? I would be disappointed to have you as a daughter.”
She starts to stomp away angrily and then sharply turns around on her heels, “Just a little tip, for the next person you decide to spill champagne on in here, you dab, not rub!”
Tears pour down my cheeks as I run out the house.
“Mabel!” Drake calls and pulls my arm, so that I face him.
“It was an accident! I didn’t do that on purpose. I don’t even know her!”
Drake puts his arms around me and I lean my head into his shoulder.
“She had no right to throw that, you were trying to help her.”
I pull away from him, “That’s not why I’m as upset as I am. She said she would be disappointed to have me as a daughter! Is that what my dad thinks? Is that why he sent me here? Oh my god! Does my grandma think that?” I bite my lip to hold in the tears, but by now there are none left.
“Alicia doesn’t think you’re a disappointment because you aren’t. That lady doesn’t even know you!” he yells
“Look at me,” his tone softens. He puts two fingers under my chin and lifts my head up so I’m
looking into his eyes, “I liked the dress better red,” he smiles. His lips come towards mine and my heart beats faster in my chest. I can’t help the feeling of wanting to kiss him back.
“What happened?” my grandma yells.
Our lips quickly brush past and we jump away from each other.
“I’m sorry for what happened tonight and that you left early,” I join my grandma on her bed and run my fingers over my pink pajama bottoms.
“Honestly, Janet and I weren’t that clothes. I’m just a real sucker for a party and martinis!” she smiles, “Don’t worry about it. Gretchen, the one you spilt stuff on, is a real snob. She’s got all the money in the world and still isn’t happy.”
“I overheard her telling someone the dress was over five hundred dollars,” talking about this is causing more and more anxiety and I’m out of my meds.
“That’s nothing. I bet you she has at least two of that dress,” she smiles and hugs me, “I think you could use some rest.”
I nod and start to walk into the living room when my grandma stops me, “Drake said you were crying before that. Is there anything you want to tell me?” she raises an eyebrow.
“For right now I just need some sleep, thank you.”
After shutting the door to her room I find Drake pouring a bowl of Cocoa Puffs.
“I’m guessing those two BigMacs we got on the way home didn’t do the job?”
“Even when you’re upset you can still be an insulting little thing,” his mustard covered lips formed a smirk.
“What happened, tonight, it didn’t mean anything. I have Caleb and you have Chloe, remember?” I stutter.
His face saddens, “I don’t have Chloe anymore… I don’t have anyone.”
I stand in the middle of the living room speechless as Drake walks away to the bathroom.
After returning to my room, I check my phone. Five missed calls from McKenna? The last time we talked we were in a fight. My phone rang again.
“McKenna?” I asked worried.
“I need to talk to you!” It wasn’t McKenna, it was a male voice, full of worry and stress.
“Cole?” It all made sense now.
“It’s the baby!” his voice cracked.
YOU ARE READING
Little Moments
Teen FictionMaribel Kappen lives with her rich lawyer dad in Nevada. On the first day of summer vacation her dad sends her to live with her grandmother in California that she has never met. Maribel is furious that she has to spend all summer with a woman she do...
