Chocolate Chip Cookies And Pink Nails | A Coming Of Age Story

13 | Family

Copyright of ButterflyFingers

This chapter nor any other chapter is edited unless indicated otherwise.

This chapter is a little on the shorter side but I wanted to end it organically.

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Chapter Thirteen: Family

After a good scream and cry into my pillow I turn to my side and called Zack. He picked up by the third ring with a slurred hello. "Zack, I really need to talk to you. Please come over." I whisper cried into the phone. "I will be right over." I could barely hear his voice over the noise in the background. "Where are you even?" Zack hung up before I could get my answer but I shrugged. I will see him in a bit anyway. A soft knock pulled me out of my thoughts and Dad, the villain of the hour, poked his head through the crack of the door. I crossed my arms and shot him my best glare. "Look, let me at least explain." I turned my head and chose to ignore him. I don't want to hear his excuses. Dad however ignored my body language and entered my room anyway. "It was an accident. A mistake really. I was drunk one night and in a really bad space after your dad and I fought and-" I jumped up from my bed, my blood boiling with anger. "After a fight with dad? You cheated on him?" I screamed, tears rolling down my cheeks. My heart broke into tiny little pieces at the thought of the pure betrayal and heartbreak my precious Daddy Dearest must be feeling. "Get the fuck out of my room!" Dad scowled and instead took a step towards me. "Hey now, that's no way to speak to your father." Oh how I wished he would've left when I asked him too because my next words cut deep. "You're not my father!" My heart shattered at the look on his face, before I could utter an apology, Dad turned around and left the room. What did I do? Why did I have to say that? My body shook as uncontrollable tears rolled down my cheeks. Why did I say that? Zack found me a good twenty minutes later, sobbing on my bedroom floor. In my distress, he picked me up and laid me down on the bed. He climbed in next to me and held me close towards his body. He didn't say anything, he simply played with my hair and held me close. My body so exhausted by the turn of events of the day, I didn't think to ask why he smelled so strongly of alcohol at 6pm.

Zack woke me up around dinner and we all sat around the table in a very tense silence. Dad sat at the head of the table as always with a grim expression on his face. Daddy Dearest ignored his usual seat and instead sat at the opposite end of the table. He wouldn't even glance at Dad. In his mind, Dad didn't even exist much less seated at the head of the table. Next to Dad sat his son who I have yet to learn the name off. I felt faint but as Zack tightened his hold on my hand underneath the table, I took one deep breath in before I finally broke the tension. "So, what is your name?" The boy shot me a surprised look before answering. "My name is Mason." I smiled and leaned over to shake his hand. "My name is Melissa but everyone calls me M." Mason simply nodded before returning his attention to his dinner in front of me. "Zack, my boy, how is your family?" Dad spoke up and the tension in the room returned full force and then some more. Zack laughed awkwardly before taking a sip of water. "Well, Sasha just announced that she's pregnant so not so great?" I bit my lip to bite back my laughter but one look at Zack's face, a small chuckle escaped my lips. Zack shot me a glare which only fuelled my laughter even more. "I mean it's pretty funny. You saw the exact moment your little niece or nephew was created." I snorted in between laughter which eventually infected the others at the table. "It's not funny." Zack hissed and shot me his ugliest glare. I choke on my own spit as I laughed. "I literally have no other information to this story and it's even funny to me," Mason mumbled which only fuelled the roaring laughter even more. I poked Zack's side and he shook his head before chuckling. "You suck, M."

"Mason, why don't we take a walk and get to know each other?" I said which caught the boys by surprised. I shrugged in response. "Well you're kind of family now and we should at least get know each other. Also, it will give the two dads some time to talk." Mason paused before nodding. I got up, gave Daddy Dearest a peck on his cheek before leaving the room with Zack and Mason trailing close behind me. I refused to glance at Dad's side on the way out. After grabbing out winter clothes, we opened the door and started to walk down the street. "So, Mason. How old are you?" I broke the silence after a few moments passed. For over an hour we just talked about the basics before we headed back to the house. Zack waved us goodbye when he crossed his house and for the last few streets, silence filled the space between us. Mason was a troubled fifteen-year-old teenager, that much was clear. Apparently, he has been living with his grandparents for the last five years after his mom passed away from cancer. They were, however, getting too old to raise a teenage boy and reluctantly shared that his father was just one town over. A father that has been sending checks these last fifteen years. A father who clearly knew he existed but never bothered to meet. A father he met up two months ago who was reluctant to tell his family. A father who was sounding more and more like the biggest dick in the world. I couldn't stop myself as I hugged the boy only two years younger than myself who have suffered so much pain in his short life. "From now on you have me." It was a promise that I never intended to break. We might not share blood but his family now. It came to absolutely no surprise that when we came home, Dad's car was gone and Daddy Dearest was crying in the living room with a bottle of Jack as comfort. I instructed Mason to get the ice cream while I got the winter blankets from the closet. Quite naturally we all huddled up on the couch in front of the TV under the blanket. The rest of the night we didn't talk, we simply just watched mindless TV and ate ice cream.