The Spotlight

Chapter 18

Chapter 18

It was 11:30 when I pulled up outside of my house. My parents house. The mansion that I grew up in. 

I’d just driven around for a while, trying to clear my head. But there were too many thoughts to decipher in one drive. 

My dad was president. 

I was moving to DC. 

Away from Dylan. 

But then Dylan goes and gets fucked up in a game. 

And now I didn’t know what I was doing in my parents driveway. 

I turned off the engine and got out of the car. I was still wearing my pads from the game, and I was beyond sweaty. 

There was music and laughter still going on inside, no doubt my dad and his campaign team celebrating the win. 

The door was opened just a few moments after I knocked, and my dad stood there, looking down at me with an unreadable expression. 

“Congratulations.” I gave him my best smile, realizing that it was no use for me to complain about my own problems right now. 

“Rick, honey, who is it?” My mom asked, appearing behind him. Her face broke into a smile when she saw me. 

“Sam, darling. Why don’t you go clean up and join us for some celebration?” She suggested, pulling me inside. “Oh boy do you reek.” She added light heartedly. 

“I’ll be up really quick.” I assured her, my heart racing as I took the stairs down to my bedroom two at a time. 

I hadn’t been home in almost 3 months. Wow. 

I stripped off my football stuff, tossing it into the corner of my bathroom. I turned the water on in the shower, stepping in before it had time to warm up. 

I felt tears collect in my eyes as I realized how low my life had gotten again in these past few months. 

I don’t have a family. 

That’s what stuck with me the most. 

The family that I grew up loving and thinking was mine, they’re not my real family. We’re not related by blood. They just adopted me. I was one of my mom’s pity projects on a vacation that ended up being permanent. 

The family that had so kindly taken me in for the past few months, I wasn’t part of them. I’m not a Peters. As much as Kate used to joke that Josie and I were like the daughters she never had, I wasn’t and never will be part of their family. 

Who did I think I was, assuming everything was fine. How did I think that I could be part of one family, while my adopted family is moving to DC to live in the stupid White House. 

How did I possibly think that if (when) my dad won the election, I could stay here in Michigan or something insane like that. Of course that wouldn’t happen. Because when January 21st comes around and my dad officially becomes the President of the United States, I can say goodbye to the life I thought I knew. 

No more football. That’s completely off the table. As if the president could have his daughter playing on a boys football team. The whole ‘Football being the sport of America’ is bullshit. Because it’s only half of america’s sport. The boys. No, the girls are expected to parade around in fucking tutus and act like little girly, prissy bitches the whole time. 

And no more Dylan that’s for sure. No more hanging out with the guys. No more going on road trips. No more having my awesome room downstairs, alone, away from the rest of my annoying ass family.