Happier

Chapter 16

The thing with the Goldbergs is that they never stick to their first plan. They should head home that Sunday morning, but the second Lacey gets out of the car and the sea breeze blows through her hair, she refuses to go back home. She just doesn't want to go home yet. Not when she can have all of this for one more day. The other two didn't even protest. They can't deny they love the beach too. And the weather is even more perfect than it was yesterday. The sun is out and gives a whole lot of warmth, not giving them another choice but to wear sunglasses and have their swimwear ready for a dive in the ocean. This time around, a lot more people will join them on the beach. But it's going to be fun nonetheless.
The first thing they decide to do, is picnic on the beach. So, they go to the coffee shop they went to yesterday and buy themselves the food they desired. Then, they settle down on the sand on a blanket Lacey had taken from the car.
"Isn't this just the best way to spend your morning?" Lacey states dreamily, looking out to the horizon with her cup of coffee in hand. Cole is right beside her, taking a bite from one of the pastries they've bought. His eyes on his girlfriend. His mind goes over all the things he'd want to say to her. How much he loves her; how much he loves the way her eyes sparkle. How beautiful she is. For the way she thinks. Like Scott F. Fitzgerald would've said: she's beautiful, deep down to her soul.
"When I grow older, I want to have a little apartment near the sea so I could always visit," Stacey tells them with an enthusiastic smile on her face.
"Yeah, me too," Lacey agrees and sips from her coffee again, "Or in like, some exotic land. Far, far away from here," her mind slips away into a state of dreaming.
"You think we're going to have the money for that?" the words just slip out of Cole's mouth without even thinking about them. The two sisters stop in their tracks and stare at the boy in front of them, completely unaware of what he's just said.
"We?" Lacey asks, wanting some clarification. Cole stops chewing on his pastry to look at his girlfriend. He really doesn't know what he has just said. "You said: 'You think WE are going to have the money for that'?" she reminds him and that's when it hits. His eyes widen and his mouth almost drops open from shock.
"I-I di-..." he wants to start his explanation, but Lacey's phone cuts him off as it rings in her handbag. Slightly confused, she takes it out. Who could be calling her now? But when her dad's caller ID stares back at her on the screen, she freezes.
"It's dad," she whispers as if he'd hear it, "This isn't good," with shaking hands, she picks up. "Hello," she starts carefully, silently hoping he wouldn't be mad at her.
"Lacey Margaret Goldberg," her old man starts and it makes her only shake more. The fact that he's using her full name isn't a great start. He only ever does that whenever she's in trouble. Whenever she took a cookie from the cupboard before dinner or when she was teasing her little sister. And when she became a teenager, whenever she had a bad test or came home late from Archie's. "You better make sure you take that Goldberg butt of yours back home with your little sister and that boyfriend of yours. If you're not home in an hour, you won't be happy with the consequences," her father nearly yells into the phone, slightly deafening his daughter. Lacey's mouth drops open at his demands. This is insane. He's being unreasonable.
"Dad, we're like two hours away from home. We can't be home in an hour," she tries to argue, but her dad doesn't do arguing.
"That's too bad. You should've thought about that before you left my house with that idiotic boyfriend of yours," Lacey scoffs. Her father is overstepping every boundary there is of fatherhood, if there even is one. "See you in an hour," and with that, he hangs up. Lacey is stunned. How could her father be so unreasonable all of a sudden. He's never been like that. Not when their mother was still alive, at least. A deep sigh of frustration leaves her body, blowing up a strand of hair that had fallen in front of her face. Her companions look at her, awaiting the bad news.
"We have to be home in one hour, says dad," she informs them and gets up to clean the mess up. The other two get up too, but they're rather confused as to what she means by that.
"What? We're like two hours away from home," Stacey argues.
"Yeah, tell father that," Lacey tells her, rolling her eyes. Not so much at her sister, but more so at her father. She hates it when he's like this. It's been the exact same the last time they had a fight. He was unreasonable for kicking Cole out of the house, now is the exact same thing. Maybe it has to do with their mother dying, maybe it has something to do with Cole.
The three clean up as fast as they can and just drop everything in the car so Lacey can quickly drive away from her favorite place on earth. She makes sure to drive safe and not above the speed limit. However, it doesn't really matter how fast they go. They won't be able to make it within one hour, so they'll get the consequences anyway.
The car ride is silent, only the quiet music playing in the background. Cole is too scared to say anything, scared he might say the wrong thing. Stacey has fallen asleep again as she hadn't slept much the other night while Lacey just concentrates on the road. Her mind drifts off to every possible reason her dad could be angry. Nothing really makes sense at all.
"You okay?" Cole then breaks the silence, putting his hand on her leg to give her a somewhat reassuring feeling. The girl tenses up from being startled of the sudden touch, but soon relaxes.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little nervous," she tells him honestly, "I just don't have a clue what my father is so angry about. I mean, I left him a note and everything. He knew we'd be gone. We used to do it quite often that way," her voice sounds tired and frustrated.
"Oh honey, he's probably just stressed from all the work he's doing," Cole tries to reassure her.
"You're going to defend him now?" The boy gets startled from the harshness of her voice.
"No, I'm trying to make you feel better," he argues.
"It's not helping, Cole," she snaps at him, not taking her eyes from the road. Cole sighs and shakes his head. It's useless to fight about this. It's useless and stupid. So, he stops talking and that's how it is all the way until they are home. Two hours and fifteen minutes. That's how long they took to come home. Their father will be furious. When the three walk inside the house, suspicious for what's about to come, they don't expect any visitors. It's only when Cole speaks up, they realize it's not only their dad in the kitchen.
"Dad?" The sisters look up and see a fifty-something man next to their dad. His dark hair resembles Cole's, only his is gelled back nicely. His face is decorated with a beard, or something in between a stubble and a full-on beard. He doesn't look bad.
"Hey, son," the man speaks up.
"What are you doing here?" Cole then asks him, putting his backpack on the floor next to the counter. The man steps closer towards his son, sighing.
"William over here has called me last night," the man starts, pointing at daddy Goldberg, "He told me you lived here for a couple days..." he explains softly.
"Yeah, I did," he answers briefly, not really feeling up for a conversation with his dad.
"I want you to come back home, Cole," the man then admits. A painful, scared expression on his face, "Can you do that for me?" his son looks at him, angry for not coming to pick him up sooner. For not caring sooner, only when Mister Goldberg asks him to.
"Only if you get a proper job again AND you bring Cara and mom home," he negotiates after a couple of seconds of complete silence and just glaring.
"Well, William has offered me a job at his enterprise. Regarding your mother and sister coming back..." he trails off at the end and as if they rehearsed it, two new people enter the kitchen. Cole's face lights up immediately by seeing his mother and sister.
"Cara!" he exclaims and rushes over to his ten-year-old sister. She perfectly resembles Cole. The same hair color; it even curls the same way, the same eyes, the same nose and the same, pink, thin lips. "Hi mom," he then greets when he's done hugging his sister and moves over to his mother.
"Hey, sweetie," she greets back, a smile reaching her ears. The girls look at the scene as if their heart has melted. Lacey couldn't be happier for her boyfriend. But then it hits her.
"Dad," she starts, her expression completely changing, "Did you just lure us here this quickly for this?" Her father's smile turns into a smirk.
"Thanks, mister Goldberg," Cole says with a smile.
"Anything for my daughter's boyfriend," his daughters give him a quizzical look, "Except for my house then," everyone chuckles a little, but then everyone grows silent.
"Why don't we all go out for dinner tonight?" Lacey suggests, looking at her dad for approval. He nods, agreeing with his eldest.
"My treat," he adds, putting his hands in the pockets of his pants like those dads in the movies always do. The Steward family agrees with just one glance at each other. After, Cole's eyes find Lacey's and they just smile. She can see the happiness in his eyes. How such a small thing can be so important to someone, is baffling.

No sooner said than done, The Steward and Goldberg family head over to the diner that night. Lucy is a little suspicious at first, but gives them a table anyways. The fact that these two families are at dinner together, says enough.
"So, Lacey, you're Cole's girlfriend now, huh?" Frank - Cole's dad, starts with a grin as he takes an appetizer Lucy has already brought them. The girl blushes a little, still not used to the term 'girlfriend'. Cole rolls his eyes and so does his mom.
"Lay off her, dad," his son tells him, pretending to be amused. In reality, he would honestly just hit his father if he even just pointed at her. Everyone at the table laughs a little, Frank laying off the whole boyfriend-girlfriend thing.
"How long have you two been together?" Cara wants to know.
"A couple of weeks, I believe," Lacey answers honestly, slightly embarrassed, but not sure why.
"Ah, there's the food already!" Stacey exclaims, taking her sister out of her misery. The two families start eating whilst starting up a new conversation.

"That's an odd combination," Violet says at another table in the diner. Together with Archie and Melanie, they keep an eye on the two families sitting together. They look happy. All of them. Lacey most of all. Archie has never seen her this happy before. Never with him. It's only been a week and she already looks happier. And when her laugh fills up the whole diner, his heart breaks. Nobody has ever broken his heart as much as Lacey has broken his. But his friends have told him multiple times that he'll be able to move on too. Soon, they say. He just doesn't believe it yet. He's certain he was happier with her, but seeing the two of them smile, makes him hesitate. Their smiles are twice as wide as when she was with him. He can't help that he's still in love with her, but watching them right now isn't helping either. It hurts in all kind of places and all kind of ways. He wants it to stop. All the pain. He just can't handle it all. Archie Andrews, the Archie Andrews, is breaking. Slowly. Piece by piece. Who would've thought?
"Excuse me, I have to pee," he informs the girls and slips out of the booth to get to the restrooms. He immediately reaches for the sink, trying to stabilize himself. His breathing is quick and it feels as if someone's stepping on his throat. With every single bit of energy he has still left, he opens the tap and splashes some water into his face. He's breaking. Archie Andrews is breaking. She's happier.