Peter began looking forward to afternoons at Megan's house. Her house was unlike any he had ever been in before. The family room was probably bigger than his entire apartment. The view was incredible with huge plate-glass windows looking out onto the beach and the ocean.
Some afternoons they walk on the beach, but the wind would make it brutally cold. Megan pointed out how the winter beach was different with less berm and vegetation. By January there was also snow on the beach, but not where the tide came in.
He liked it inside her house. It was warm and smelled of fresh-baked cookies. He wasn't sure why, but her mother, Marie, liked him. Harmony's mother didn't like him. One day, she had come home from work early and caught them in Harm's room with the door shut. They hadn't been doing anything too much, but her mother assumed. Truthfully she wasn't wrong, because they'd been having sex since just after Homecoming. He was definitely not her first, but she was his.
She started pitching fits the days he went to Megan's house. He started going once a week just to study. It was his only chance to eat a good dinner. At his house there wasn't usually a lot of food. Most nights he had cereal for dinner.
In November, he started working at Mario's Pizza. It wasn't the best job, but they would be flexible with his hours when lacrosse started in the spring. Harmony was furious when she found out he would be at her house even less. He liked sex, because truthfully what seventeen-year-old boy didn't. With Harmony there wasn't much between them except the sex. He honestly knew more about Megan than his own girlfriend.
He announced at the dinner table that he had a job.
"Wonderful!" said Marie.
"What are you working towards son?" asked Ed, Megan's father. He had also embraced him.
"I need to get my license and then I need a car. Driver's education class is pricey."
"Sounds like you have a plan. Stick to it. If you need someone to take you out driving, we can. We taught both our kids and they're good drivers," her father explained.
Peter bit his tongue, but he wanted to ask if they'd adopt him. Megan complained the next day in the library.
"Jeez Bren! My parents like you more than they like me."
"No. I just make them feel good. You know like charity work."
"No, you're wrong."
They agreed to disagree about her parents' motives.
Changing the subject, Peter started talking about Harry Potter.
"I have the movies on DVD. Maybe we could watch together."
"Yah, maybe." He smiled at her, because she had a faint blush on her cheeks.
He didn't know why she would blush. She didn't like him. She never had, not like that. He liked their friendship, because he didn't have a lot of real friends. Sure he had the guys, most of which were teammates and also jerks. None of them cared about what was bothering him or even his plans for the future. So the pink on her cheeks in the background of her freckles, made him nervous. He was with Harmony, even though they didn't get together as much as she would like.
His older sister, Becka was in college. She received a scholarship and was in Boston on a full scholarship. She was studying to be a teacher. Peter couldn't understand why she would choose a career that paid so little. He knew she liked little kids, but there were plenty of better-paying jobs that involved kids. Still at least she was the first person in their family to go to college. His other sister, Liz was not as fond of school as he and Becka. She was talking about cosmetology school, but he didn't think she started saving yet. He was afraid she would end up working two or three jobs like his mother.
Peter loved his mother and worried about her. He tried to be a good son, so she didn't have any added stress. She was exhausted all the time, but she still never seemed to have enough money to make ends meet. Peter couldn't remember the last new piece of clothing he owned, aside from his underwear and socks. He always bought his clothes from a thrift store.
Growing up, his mother only worked one job on Sundays, so that was the day they lugged all the dirty clothes to the laundromat and washed and dried them. When he was younger, he always helped. Sometimes he would let his mother stay home to rest. He had to work on Sundays, so he started getting up early to take the laundry. There was not as much with Becka gone. Liz had to do her own since she was an adult. She had graduated from high school the previous June and she turned eighteen two weeks later.
Most of the time, Liz was off at her new boyfriend's house. He was a lot older than her and Peter wasn't sure if he was good for her or not. It's not my problem, he said to himself, but as the man of the family, he knew one day it could become his problem. It wasn't easy becoming the man of the family at age seven.
His goal was to make life easier for his mother, that meant picking up after himself and even cleaning the apartment, so she could rest more. The only thing he kept from his mother was his relationship with Harmony. She wouldn't like it, because she taught him to treat girls with respect. There was nothing respectful about the way they were behaving. He wasn't respecting her, and she wasn't respecting herself either. Peter knew if he broke up with her, she would just find someone else to come to her house after school. He suspected that she was looking for something that she would never find through sex.
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Shattered Hearts (TP1)
Romance(Complete) Peter isn't prepared for the reality of another man spending the night with his ex. He should be, but his heart has never let her go. Peter, who was abandoned by his father as a young boy, will do anything for his kids. He won't stop unt...
