Muddle on! (#Wattys2016)

Chapter 8

     After being with my mother on the phone for only five minutes, I wanted to rip my hair out. It was Wednesday, the first day when I felt somewhat refreshed after crazy weekend, but now my gained stability all went down the drain, again. This woman simply didn’t hear a word I say. She still kept calling Tinley Monica. I don’t know about you, but how the hell Tinley and Monica look similar. The names don’t even sound similar. I would understand if she would call Tinley, Thea or Tina, even Tiffany would do, just not MONICA. Where did she get that name from?

     Go figure.

     Anyhow, it was four o’clock. My lecture has ended ten minutes ago, and I was on my way to the parking lot, feeling miserable after the conversation with my mother. She called to tell me that I needed to arrive for a rehearsal and a pre-wedding party. The way she said it was as if I lived twenty minutes away from the house. I guess, that I lived on the other side of the country didn’t stir any possible ideas. I couldn’t just drop my studies and take a week off, especially right before spring break.

     I wasn’t even a bridesmaid, mind you.

     When I told her that, she said that I was getting ONLY an art degree, that it wasn’t something as important as law or doctoral. Also, she added that my older sister had such a big occasion, and that she wanted the entire family to participate in the wedding.

     My sister never paid me any attention. When she got her driver’s license, she never drove me anywhere, saying that it was my mother’s job and not hers. And when she had her friends over, she always asked me to leave, so I wouldn’t embarrass her. With Kyle it was easier. He paid me no mind, but was never mean to me. For his friends and teammates, I was always invisible. As I’ve already mentioned, I was always referred to as Kyle’s sister, not Marie Belle.

     When Kristen left for college, I thought that it was finally my time to be noticed. How wrong was I. Even not having her physically in the house, she still remained first and the main topic of the conversation in the family. She chose to become a doctor, a surgeon. Which was all what my parents talked about, with random interferences of Kyle’s sport activities. Apparently, my art major felt extremely unsatisfying for my parents. I mean, my dad loved me. He always treated me like his little princess. If I wanted something I got it. BUT, as much as he loved me, he was no girl’s dad. He simply didn’t know what to do with me and was rather to toss a ball with the “boys” than read me a book or take me to the park. He was the same with Kristen, though my mother covered up for both of them with her.

     As you can see, I didn’t exaggerate when said that I was a severely disregarded middle child.

     I spotted an old yellow Volkswagen beetle at the end of the parking lot, and sighed fishing the keys out of my rucksack. I had a whole another story for you about the entire car quest. Let’s just say that when Ted finally brought me home on Sunday, our journey didn’t stop just there and then. I managed to drag him with me to my pottery class.

     I had a lot of fun. Him - not so much.

     Ted, by the way, drove me to get the car from Tinley’s mother, the last one ended up calling the police. As a result, we spent four hours at the police station, explaining that I was no thief and it was Tinley herself who asked me to get the car, since she had a job and stuff that day. To cut it short, when I finally got home, I could honestly proclaim that that weekend was the worst in my entire life. I still couldn’t remember a thing about my Framingham trip, or whom I went with. Ted brushed that subject off, avoiding my questions. Obviously, he didn’t want to talk about it and I decided to drop my inquiries.