My Dad chopped organic carrots for Elizabeth's (or Lilah for short) baby food while I sat on the kitchen counter. My mom was working another late shift tonight.
As usual.
She works at Hometown Cinema, one of the many movie theaters Lele's Uncle owns, but this one is the oldest and best of them all. When Justin and I became friends over the summer, we bonded over classic movies. We spent hours watching Sappy scenes between Humphrey Bogart, and Lauren Bacall, and then Jimmy Stewart and Grace Kelly.
I slid the silver toaster to face me where I could see my reflection. I was relieved to notice that the 'zit zapper' cream I've been applying to for nearly a week due to my freakishly large pimple aside my left nostril.
Despite the glimmer of good news on the complexion part, I wasn't in the frame to take advice---especially from my dad, who I was fairly certain had absolutely no clue what it was like to be me. If the ink filled his pages of his yearbook were any indication, he'd spent the better part of High School basking in the unadulterated admiration of everyone from fellow jocks to the drama club. He and my mom, high school sweethearts were always after me about being myself. I know they mean well but seriously, how clićhe can you get? It's easy to be yourself and are the greatest thing next to a slice of bread.
"Allie, I know I shouldn't say this but I don't think you should play hard to get with teenage boys."
Sometimes, I appreciated the fact that my dad and I could talk about anything, and I mean anything. This was not one of those times. Now that I had to face the repercussions of my inspired lunchtime performance, I could feel my confidence taking a dive of the diving board.
I looked up at my dad and scoffed, "first of all, like I've told you a gazillion times, Justin and I are just friends!" And here's where I messed up. "Why don't you take your own advice for a change?!"
Dad looked stricken at Lilah, as if in protest.
It was a low blow and I knew it. Mom had recently went back to school to study medicine and my dad had become a Mr.Mom, picking me up from school at least once a week from me developing pictures. I would drive, I have my license, we just only have one car. My mom works nights, and my dad takes Lilah to Preschool so he can clean the house during the day and work from home. An/ sing it, and I will Kms 😊
I've been saving for a car for nearly almost a year, but working at the nearest cafe, Tisha's Diner, doesn't exactly make a dent in the bills I help my parents pay. The more my Dad tried to help, the further my mom got. Now, when she's not home, I don't notice, either way, it's always quiet.
When I slammed the front door shut on my way out an hour later, I was still giving Dad the silent treatment, as if he'd done something wrong, and not the other way around.
Lele didn't even attempt to push her chair forward as I squeezed in the backseat of Justin's Jeep Wrangler. Ever in the state of denial, Justin tried to pretend like the situation was a hundred percent normal. At least Lele had the dignity to be honest about her hatred towards me. She certainly didn't attempt to Veil her disgust with me as we rode the highway that led out of town. The ride was strained, to say the least, and her occasional grim minces I my direction were reminiscent of a teenage Medusa. She used every opportunity to blatantly caress Justin's leg or entwine her French manicured nails into his hair while giving me a tight lipped smiles that seemed to say "Jealous much?" She even rolled down her window completely to blast me with cold air while she tapped the ash of her cigarette into the wind.
"Oh, is that too much wind honey?" She said when she saw my now ratted, brown hair plastered to my face. "I didn't want to bother you and Justin with my smoke."
Well then don't smoke, easy as that.
When we arrived, a warm, but not welcoming fire was lit in front of the wood cabin. Every window of the old domicile was lit up, and the drunken seventeen year olds made me sigh in trepidation. These people obviously didn't have a care in the world. I couldn't even begin to imagine what that must've felt like.
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Tenacity {COMPLETED}
Random••• After everything we'd been through together, would time, space, and separate lives prove to be more than we could conquer? {COMPLETED}
