gladly [haim] DISCONTINUED

xxiii

,,

As in for the party a while ago, the main excitement the two of them had was watching everyone else get wrecked.

The tragedy didn't come until later at three in the morning when Vivian begged to go home. Leaving in anger, Neely stayed quiet the whole car ride until the two had reached the steps to the house.

"I don't understand why you have to be such an ass. In fact you've been such an ass the whole fucking summer." Neely said as she opened the door to the house, turning the lights on.

"Maybe because you're with Corey..." Vivian drunkly admitted taking her jacket off. "So you mean you're mad that I'm spending time with Corey and less with you?" Neely asked taking her shoes off, the noises both of them had made woke up Neely's parents.

Standing behind the wall by the stairs, both parents listened to their conversations. "No, I'm mad you're with Corey. I'm mad he paid attention to you." Raising an eyebrow, Neely shook her head. Her parents covering their mouths as if they were watching a soap opera.

"You like Corey?" Neely asked crossing her arms. "Yeah and it would've worked if you two weren't fucking like rabbits before even being together." Vivian admitted as she looked at her alcohol smelling hands.

"Is it true?" Her father had asked. It was time for the truth to come out and though Neely wanted so badly to shake her head and deny it, she couldn't lie to her parents with a lie as major as that.

Looking at her in disappointment, Neely's mother spoke softly. "I think you and that boy shouldn't see each other for a while. You have two weeks left of summer, might as well end it now." Neely looked up with saddened eyes at her parents.

She couldn't believe her parents were going to take away another thing that made her life complete. After years of misery in that same house, Neely had finally found happiness with Corey.

"Ma! Don't say that." She begun, her voice cracking as tears threaten to fall. "Vivian go to your room, please." Obeying Mr. Grant's orders, Vivian walked upstairs. She didn't want Neely to be with Corey, but she also didn't want to see misery within her once again.

The three family members sat on the couch, Neely across them both looking at her hands, letting the tears fall into them. "Neely understand we're doing it because we love you. What you and Corey did was an adult act. You two weren't even in love in the beginning." They were right, they hated each other's guts, but that brought them closer.

"We want your happiness..." her mother spoke, making Neely shake her head, scrunching up her face in disgust. "No! No you don't. All my life I've been miserable. Every time I get something that makes me happy, both of you take it away. My childhood dog that was the only one I counted to feel loved with. You (her dad) telling Vivian's parents about the job in another state. Solitude I've grown with not letting me go anywhere. I was surprised you guys even let Wil, Ed, and Sean come into the house without questioning them and scaring them away. Now Corey. I get that you two think you're doing something good for me, for my future, but I noticed everyday of my life since seventh grade that I become bitter like both of you. There's a reason I decided on NYU. So I can move away. And if you two realized 7th grade was a long time ago. I haven't gained happiness since I met Corey."

She had left them speechless. Years of bottled up feeling were gone in a few minutes of anger. Corey was all she needed and she was all Corey needed as he stayed in solitude in that vast home his mother owned. She wasn't around much do to work, that's why Neely was his happiness as well.

To know their only daughter, their prized gift felt like that towards them obviously broke their heart, but soon they realized what they thought was best only caused her misery.