The Hooded Figure

FORTY

When I got home, my parents were sitting on the couch. At first, I couldn't tell if they were waiting for me or not, but when they shut off the TV as I entered, I knew that they were. My dad stood up, followed by my mother. They were holding each other's hands and it looked like my mom had been crying. I sighed.

I knew I shouldn't have been so harsh on them, especially because they were just trying to keep their love life alive. Plus, I'm a teenager, I shouldn't want to hang out with my parents, right? I mean, this is like every teenagers dream... right? I opened my mouth, ready to apologize, but my father spoke first.

"Amy," he started, his eyes flickering to a spot on the floor before looking back at me, "you were right, yesterday."

I frowned, looking down at my shoes which I hadn't taken off yet. I hadn't meant to make them feel bad about it, but at the same time, I wanted to make them realize how I felt.

Unfortunately, I didn't do that very well.

"We don't really know what to say," my mother continued, sniffling as she spoke, "we've been talking about this all day and still couldn't find a way to apologize properly."

"So where were you guys this morning then?" I blurted, mentally facepalming myself. Why can't you just take the apology and get it over with?

"At the travel agency," my dad replied quickly with a smile.

"To make up for all the time that we've lost, we bought tickets to Disney World!" My mom said excitedly, bouncing on her toes. When she saw my dumbfounded expression, she continued hurriedly, "I know it's supposed to be for little kids, but you've grown up so fast, and there are rides for teenagers too! Obviously if you didn't want to spend time with us you could go on your own a bit - of course you'd have to stay relatively close, but otherwise you can do whatever you want! I mean, you're eighteen for crying out loud, we wouldn't blame you if you didn't want to hang out with us. It's perfectly-"

"Where did you get all this money?" I asked out of the blue. I was saying all the wrong things, asking the wrong questions, but I couldn't help myself. My mother laughed a little.

"We do work, honey. Plus, we've been saving for a while, we just didn't know what we were saving for."

"What about university?" I questioned, wanting to slap myself in the face for not accepting their apology right away.

"We can handle that. In fact, we've been contributing to your RESP fund for years now. Probably before you were born, actually." I gaped at them. I've been applying for scholarships, working at Marco's, still stressing about money, and they didn't tell me that they had money saved?

That's not your main concern right now, Amy.

"Look, I'm really sorry for the way I spoke to you guys yesterday, but you really didn't have to do that. It was just a long day, and having you guys pounce me as soon as I got home made me snap. Yes, I felt neglected, but you didn't have to buy a vacation to make up for it," I finished, finally getting something decent out of my mouth. Only then did I realize that I sounded ungrateful. "But thank you," I added, trying - and failing to appear grateful.

"Sweetheart, we didn't have to, we wanted to. Besides, you were right. We haven't been spending nearly enough time with you recently and the best way we can think of to make up for it, is to go on a vacation together," dad explained, smiling at me then kissing my mom's hand gently. The smiled at each other for a moment before looking back at me. I wondered for a moment, how could a relationship so loving involve several partners?

I guess everyone has to find a way to keep the romance alive.

I said nothing and neither did they. The silence grew awkward and we just stood there, staring at each other. "I love you guys," I blurted, not cursing myself afterwards because I meant it. Even if I hadn't meant to say it, it was true.

A big smile grew on my mother's face, so big she could hardly contain it to her checks. "We love you too!" She cried, running at me with her arms wide. It was actually kind of frightening.

My dad followed as she wrapped her arms around me tightly. I tried my best to hug them back, but my arms were trapped under her embrace. Instead, I settled for snuggling my face into their shoulders.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. Three to be exact. We broke apart, frowning at each other.

"Are we expecting anyone?" My dad asked my mom, looking at her with confusion.

"Not that I know of," she replied with the same look of confusion. I thought they were joking; that this was another part of their apology. Some gift at the door or something. Therefore, I was definitely not prepared for what greeted me at the door.

Or rather who.

"Alex? Jamie?" I asked, my eyes widening as I realized that neither of them had a hoodie on. In fact, they were both showcasing toned muscles in tight short sleeved shirts.

"Isn't that-" my dad was cut off by my mother.

"Oh my gosh, is that Alexander Marauder?" My mother screeched, covering her mouth with her hand. Alex looked over at Jamie with a cocky grin. The only way I could tell them apart at this point, was the fact that Jamie was about two inches taller than Alex. My mom ran to the kitchen and came back with a camera, grabbing Jamie by the arm and snapping a picture with him. Alex gaped at Jamie, then looked over at me and pointed to him.

"Wrong one," I whispered to my mom.

"What?" She asked, suddenly realizing that Alex was there too, "there's two of him!"

"That's Jamie," I said with a laugh, "Alex's twin."

My dad cut in, "wait, you know these two?"

Unfortunately, I held back.

"Yeah, they go to my school. I'll explain later, alright?" I said, hoping they'd just let it go for the time being. They both looked at me for a moment before looking at each other.

"Okay," my parents said in unison before turning around and heading to the kitchen where they were surely going to spy on me.

"So, what are you guys doing here? And without a hood?" I questioned, crossing my arms over my chest. They looked at each other for a moment before Alex sighed.

"After you told me that our dad was here, we figured that he'd already found Alex and that there was really no point. As for why we're here, we have to talk to you," Jamie explained, glaring at Alex who was smiling sheepishly. Looking behind me, he added, "in private."

I looked behind me just in time to see my parents duck behind the wall. I smiled to myself, "alright, let's go."