Stellar

Lip Gloss (intro)

Scott frowned when he realized he'd unwrapped his last gift and hadn't found what he'd been waiting for all week. He stood up on his knees, sifting through the mound of torn wrapping paper and bows to see if there was a package he had missed hiding under the mess, but found nothing. His confusion turned into frustration and he turned to Mitch, shaking his shoulder to get his attention.

"Mitchy?"

"Hmm?"

"Did you take one of my present on assident?"

"No?" Mitch tightened his grip around his new battery-powered remote control car, pulling it onto his lap and looking at Scott warily. "This one mine. Your is over there. Look..."

Mitch leaned helpfully over to Scott's pile of presents to show him his own new car, but Scott huffed, angry. He looked at Mitch skeptically, jumping immediately to the most obvious conclusion. "You took my toy from mommy!"

"No I not! This is mine car!" Mitch scooted back next to him, not wanting to help Scott find his car anymore and hugging his own to his chest. He saw Scott reach at him, attempting to pull Mitch's party hat off, and gasped, screaming at the top of his lungs. "No! My HAT! MISS CONNIE!!!"

Scott swiped at him again, wanting to snatch the bright blue Birthday Boy crown right off of his friends head. If he was going to steal Scott's presents, especially his most favorite one, then Mitch wasn't allowed to share a birthday party with him anymore. He huffed when he heard his mother's voice reprimanding him, and, remembering that she was in the room, turned his anger onto her, jumping off of the Birthday Boy Couch so that he wouldn't have to sit with dumb Mitch anymore.

"MOMMY! HE TOOK MY PRESENT! YOUR ONE!"

"I DIDN'T!" Mitch shrieked, his voice shrill and eyes beginning to well at the accusation, wishing his own mom was here to defend him. "This MINE! His one over there, Miss Con-"

"Scott, stop it."

The little blond boy shivered at the sound of his father's stern voice and snapped his attention away from Mitch and back to the party, taking in his surroundings for the first time after he realized he'd been cheated. He noticed that everyone in the room- not only the adults, but all of his friends from kindergarten, as well as Mitch's preschool friends who he didn't even know- everyone was looking at him. His anger melted into fear as he felt too many pairs of eyes, most of them belonging to strangers, bore down on him. All of the kids' eyes seemed to have gotten wider as they stared him down and the cheerful chatter of the parents died down, their concerned expressions making his cheeks burn.

"Mommyyy," Scott whined loudly, sheepishly avoiding his father's pointed stare in a way that his 6 year old mind deemed subtle and undetected, "Mitch took my present and hided it! That was my favoritest one." His bottom lip trembled as he gazed into his mom's concerned face, wishing she would help him already. Scott was too upset to notice that there was quiet tension in the room and that the source of it was Mitch sitting helplessly behind him, his face wet with tears.

Scott's mom put on a careful smile, beckoning her kid closer so that he wouldn't have to scream to her, but he wouldn't budge. She sighed silently, her controlled smile not wavering. "Scotty, Mitch didn't take your present. I was watching the whole time, he didn't and wouldn't take anything from you, baby." She gave him an expectant look, glad to hear some of the chatter build up in the room again as the initial disturbance caused by Scott's outburst dissipated. "Say sorry to Mitch, baby, and give him a big hug."

"No!" Scott wailed back. "It's not FAIR! He took my lip gloss, mommy! I open all the presents and it's gone."

Scott's eyes welled as his mother pressed her lips together, feeling the weight of everyone's silence and stares return at what his son had just screamed in front of them. Fuck. Oh, fuck. She should have known he was way too young and excitable to remember the discussion they'd had before the party about her gift to him, no matter how big of a deal she'd made it. How could she have really expected him to forget about the only gift on his birthday wishlist this year, the first time he'd ever made one? She started to mumble something halfheartedly when her husband's strained voice broke the tense silence.

"What did you say, boy?"

"Mommy..." Scott looked at her for help, panicking, and then looked at the spot on the floor that she was staring at. He felt a familiar heat behind his eyes and the edges of his lips pulled down on their own accord as he shuffled his feet nervously, watching his shoes so that he wouldn't have to look at his father. "M-mommy said she can give m-my lip gloss on the birthday list b-but, but...so where is it? Mommy?"

"Scotty, I got you a car like Mitch's, see?" She walked shakily to the little pile of toys in front of the couch that little teary Mitch was sitting on and drew out a remote controlled car similar to Mitch's. She swallowed thickly, the guests' eyes burning holes through her. "See, h-honey? Now you and Mitch can race your brand new cars together! Isn't that fun?'

"But that's not what I ask for, mommy, 'member? You said you promise to get me a lip gloss, so where is it?"

Scott jumped at the sound of his father's footsteps thumping loudly towards him and felt a tear roll down his cheek when a big hand grabbed him roughly by the elbow. He heard a low growl of "Move. We're going to have a talk, young man," and let out a panicked whine, looking to his mother for help that he, even at his young age, knew she couldn't give.

"Daddy, n-no."

His father tugged his arm hard enough to make Scott move, and he cried silently as he was forcefully escorted out of his own birthday party while everyone in the room stared shamelessly, the little boy not understanding why his father was being so scary. His little chest began to heave with panic when his father shut the door behind him and began jerking him up the stairs, and he wanted so badly to go back to his mom. His father hauled him into his bedroom and slammed the door shut behind him, locking the door and looking down at Scott with a fury in his face that the little boy hadn't seen in a very, very long time.

"You little fucker. Oh, you're going to pay." He grabbed Scott by the ear and yanked him across the room to his bed, sitting down forcefully it and messing up his rocket ship bed sheets. "You think you can make a scene like that, huh, embarrass me in front of everyone like that? You think it's funny?"

Scott shook as his father tugged his pants down and pulled him up across his lap. He began to sob, wanting so, so badly to be back with his mom. He couldn't understand why his father was being so scary. "D-daddy, no, please."

"You embarrassed me in front of EVERYONE, you little bastard. You think you can cry your way out of this? Jesus fucking Christ." He snarled, disgusted. "You and your fucking lip gloss. What do you think you are?"

smack

"HOW many times do I have to tell you, you idiot, that you are NOT A GIRL?!" His father's voice boomed in Scott's ear and he braced himself, grabbing the edge of the comforter in his little fists just before the impact landed over his underwear-clad rear.

smack

"STOP."

smack

"ACTING."

smack

"LIKE."

smack

"ONE."

smack

"Boy, you're going to pay."