Can I dip? | Larry Stylinson

S i x t e e n

The two boys stiffen at the sound of the door bell. Lee stops pacing around and cursing. Louis stops his breathing for a bit.

"Boys, your dad is here." Jay shouts. You can really hear the excitement in her voice right before she opens the door. That is not a good sign.

Lee curses under his breath, constantly muttering "cheater" over and over again. Louis takes note of this.

Louis unconsciously walks out of the room. He peeks out of the hall and sees a chubby man with a beer belly enter the house. He has white strands mixed with his caramel brown hair and he's balding. He walks into the household with a dry smile on his face.

Jay tries to pull him into an embrace but he walks pass her in an instant, making Jay's smile suddenly fade.

He sits on the dining chair opposite Jay, he immediately asks "so where are the boys? Hm?"

"They're gonna come out in a bit." She forces a smile. She fiddles with her chipped nails as she anticipates on her sons' arrival.

Louis suddenly has the courage to step out of the hall and appear in front of them. He steps out and looks over to his mom first. Jay is taken aback by it because she expected Lee to come out with him. Troy's eyes change from bored into excited ones. "Come give your big man a hug." He extends his arms for Louis to accept.

He awkwardly steps forward to his dad and hesitantly engulfs his dad into an embrace. It feels wrong. Louis doesn't feel comfort. He feels fear.

He instantly removes himself from Troy as he sits on the seat beside his mom, which is also opposite Troy.

"Where's the older one? What's he called? Liam?"

"It's Lee." Jay corrects.

"Oh. Okay so where is-" he's cut off by the sound of a door slamming and Lee exiting out of it with an unreadable expression.

He decides to sit beside Louis, he sharply pulls a chair and sits on it harshly. He stares at Troy shortly and continues to stay silent.

"I'll just prepare the food. I'll be back in 10 minutes. Warm up to each other while I'm away." She smiles once again. Lee can't believe how nice his mother is. How can she be nice to a man who cheated on her and left her to care for her 2 children without any support.

It's just bullshit, honestly.

"So how's school, uhm-"

"It's Louis." Lee interjects, giving his dad a subtle glare as he returns to being silent. "School's fine." Louis mumbles, kicking his feet under the table.

An awkward silence fills the dining place. Only the sound of the flickering light can be heard. None of them is doing anything nor saying anything.

Jay finally comes back with plates of food. She places it on the center of the table and hangs the serving spoon on the side of the plate. "Here you go, I made this because it's your favorite." She comments at Troy. He just nods dryly.

Lee glares at them. Jay never misses an occasion without cooking roasted lambs. It was the highlight. Without her cooking it, her day wouldn't be complete.

She secretly cooks it in hopes of Troy coming back or if Troy suddenly comes knocking at her door in Christmas eve then she has a meal prepared for him-but sadly, it has never happened before. He never went to them voluntarily. Well, without Jay calling him to come over, he wouldn't be here.

"This lamb is dry." Troy comments in slight disgust, he chews at it with a discomforted face and he finally gives up, "it's too hard to eat. I'm sorry, I can't eat this." He places down the knife in full force. Lee's eyes bulge.

"What the fuck is your problem?" Lee stands up, ready to tackle him on the ground.

"Lee." Jay warns.

"No, mom. No. This guy has done enough. He doesn't even remember our goddamn names and you expect me to believe he's here to visit us. I bet you forced him to." Jay stares at him sheepishly.

"Did you?"

"Lee-"

"Did you? Mom?" Lee softens his voice. He realized this wasn't much of his mom's fault and it was more of Troy's.

"You have no right to talk about your dad like that." Troy butts in. Lee's eyes bulge in so much shock of what he said. Almost like it was shooting daggers out of it.

"What did you just say? Our dad? You call yourself a dad?" Lee mocks him, laughing sarcastically as his eyes still stared down at his dad.

"Lee, please just stop." Jay's eyes are now full of tears.

"Don't you protect a cheater, mom." Lee bluntly says, slamming his hand on the table, making all of the plates make a clattering sound. Louis just stares in fear of what's unfolding in front of him.

"If you don't fucking stop yourself, son. I'm gonna have to stop you myself." Troy threatens him, he stands up from his sitting position.

"Go do it then." Lee slowly walks towards the old man until they were so close to each other that their chests are nearly touching. Lee glares at him longingly. Troy slightly pushes Lee back.

"Don't fucking touch me." He pushes the old man harder.

"Lee! Please stop. I'm begging you. Don't-"

Troy's face turns red. He punches his son in the gut. "Troy! Don't-"

Lee clutches his stomach, his head starts to spin madly. He tries to recover and stand up while Troy has his fist all ready. Lee just glares at him and didn't fight back. "You're a fu-"

"Stop!" Louis shouts.