Loving Olivia

Chapter Twenty-Three

I just need you and some sunsets
-Atticus
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I somehow manage to make it back to my house without crying my eyes out. As I pull into my driveway, I notice Emma's Tahoe pulled into the yard. Why is she here?

Before I open the door, I can hear the raised voices of my sisters and I want to yank my hair out.

I walk in, praying to god I can just slip into the foyer and to the stairs without them noticing me from either the kitchen or living room.

"Don't you even try it Olivia. Family meeting now." My mother calls out from the kitchen, making me stop dead in my tracks. My mother's version of a family meeting is a time for her to scream at us for all the wrong we've done. This only happens once every couple of months when she's on a break from work.

I walk into the kitchen to see everyone sitting at the island, a mixture of angry and depressed on their faces. Except for my mom. She just looks like she's about to blow a gasket. Her perfectly manicured nails are hitting the table, and she's glaring at us all.

"What's going on?" I ask, throwing my keys in the key bowl and staring at them.

"It's come to my attention that some of you have been keeping secrets from me." I immediately look at Ally. She's the only one keeping a secret that I know of. She meets my gaze and she shakes her head, relief washing over me.

But then who's keeping secrets?

"Care to elaborate?" Brooke piped up, picking at her nails. "I have somewhere to be here soon." That seems to piss my mom off even more.

"Yes Brooke. I will elaborate. We'll start off with you." Brooke's eyes go wide and now she's paying attention.

"Let's start off with the fact that you've been skipping your classes on campus. Do you even care to think about how much those courses cost? And the fact I'm the one paying for them? It's expensive Brooke! Why have you been skipping? Do you have an explanation for that?"

She's speechless. Brooke has always been a class A liar, but now all she can do is open and close her mouth like a fish out of water.

"Oh no answer? Not another lie?" My moms snorts, staring Brooke down. Brooke looks down at her feet, unable to respond. I can already tell today is gonna be one for the books.

"Since you can't give me an answer, let's move on to you Emma." Em looks up in surprise. Emma has always been the golden child with the whole "do no wrong" face going for her. I've barely seen her in the past couple weeks since she moved.

"What about me?" Emma questions suspiciously.

"What about the fact that you're grades have gone downhill in the past four weeks? About the same time you moved in with Ben? Did you think I wouldn't find out Emma?" Emma looks like a deer caught in headlights.

"Maybe it wasn't such a great idea to let you move in with him. You're obviously not ready for it."

"You can't be serious! I admit I need to fix my grades and I've been trying to, but you didn't let me do anything. I'm 20 years old! I'm pretty sure that means I can make my own decisions." Emma bursts.

"Oh does it now? You think being legally an adult makes you a grown up? Fine then. If you're so mature and responsible, I guess you can find a way to pay your tuition then." Mom bites back. I want to escape this fight and run to my room.

"I have a scholarship mom. They pay for it."

"It that what you think Emma? They removed your scholarship weeks ago because your grades slipped. I've taken my own money out of the bank to try and pay for it, but if you want to be a big girl now, I'll just stop." This is cruel. Why did she call a family meeting if she's just going to yell at Brooke and Emma?

"And Olivia, Is that a hickey on your neck?" She comes over and digs her finger into the side of my neck where it supposedly is, making me yelp in pain and I swat her hand away. It's tender as all get out. Noah must have left his make earlier before everything went to hell.

"Yeah, so what if it is?" I bite, preparing for a heated argument with my mother. Before mom has the chance to say anything, Ally blurts out something I wish she didn't.

"I'm pregnant."

Everyone looks at her with wide eyes and I'm just about ready to jump off a bridge.

"You're lying." My mother accuses, staring at Ally with disbelieving eyes. All Ally does is stand up and lift her hoodie up slightly, showing off her swollen stomach below her shirt.

Everyone's eyes look like they're about to pop out of their sockets. Brooke and Emma stare at each other and back at Ally, while my mother can't seem to take her eyes off her belly.

"How could you Allyson? How could you be so irresponsible? How could you be so stupid!" Mom keeps yelling and hitting Ally with cruel words until I see a single tear slide down her rosy cheeks.

"Mom I never meant to, but I couldn't-"

"Couldn't what Ally? Couldn't get rid of it? Yes you could have! Do you know how much a baby costs?

"Yes but mom listen I-"

"No Ally you listen to me! When that baby is born, you're going to give it up for adoption."

"You can't make me do that! Mom just hear me out please." Ally begs but mother refuses to listen.

"Ally, you're going to give that baby up. You're not capable of raising a child. You're too young. Too naive." She keeps going on about how wrong Ally is, but all I see is Ally holding her stomach and staring at it with such love and affection that makes my heart ache.

"Okay that's enough!" I shout, catching my mother's attention. "You can't make her do anything with her baby. I bet she could be a better mother than you would ever dream to be."

"Olivia Grayce!" She yells at me to stop, but I've had enough.

"No! She can keep that damn baby is she wants to and you're not going to say nothing about it! And if you don't want an innocent baby that did nothing to you living under your roof, then I'll find a place for us to go. She's your daughter. That's your granddaughter! Ally fucked up, I'll admit, but you can't just force her to give her baby up!"

"Listen here young lady. You have no right talking to me-"

"You have no right to come here and tell us how to act. You lost your rights as a mother. You tell us what we do wrong, but what about you huh? What about the fact that we barely see you! Or the fact that you're not here for anything! You're a horrible mother! A real mother wouldn't leave their kids for weeks at a time just to come home and work some more. You're never around! I swear to god I could have a thousand piercings in my body and you wouldn't even notice until it was convenient for you!"

I feel the hot tears rolling down my face at this point but I couldn't care less.

"Every since dad left, it's felt like you have to. You've made it your job to work nonstop, when your actual number one job is to be our mom. The company makes thousands of dollars every hour that you shouldn't have to barely work any, but you still do. And you expect us to be okay with it! We needed you, we needed our mom. So before you start to judge us on what we've done, how about you take a good hard look in the mirror first. Because I'm done. I'm done fighting with you, and I'm done fighting to be your daughter."

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