I Don't Love You

003

When Julia got home her mother was still passed out on the couch. She sighed and put the shopping in the kitchen and

un-packed it. She then returned to the living room and threw a blanket over her mom, switched the TV off and gathered

up the empty mugs and glasses discarded on the coffee table and dumped them in the sink.

"Julia?"

She sighed and turned to go back into the living room to see her mother sat up, looking groggy and just plain pissed off.

She always looked like that when she woke up, much to Julia's disappointment. But then again, who actually did ever

wake up all perky and happy? She knew she certainly didn't.

"Yeah?" she mumbled, not meeting her eyes.

"Why didn't you wake me up?" she demanded, glaring at her daughter. It failed to look menacing because her make-up was smudged and one side of her hair was matted and clinging to her head from where'd she'd been lying down.

"I didn't know if you'd want to carry on sleeping," she explained.

She shook her head, muttering to herself how useless her daughter was sometimes.

"Did you do the shopping?" she asked as she stiffly got to her feet, tugging her clothes into place and stretching.

"Yeah. I just got back," she answered and then started to head for the front door.

"And where do you think you're going?" she asked, hands on hips, still glaring at her.

"I'm going to meet Matt," she replied, frowning and crossing her arms over her chest, holding her ground as she and her

mother stood there, glaring each other down.

"No you're not," she stated firmly. "You don't think the house keeps itself clean do you?"

"Can't you do it yourself for once?" She asked flatly. "All I ever do is act like the parent. I do the cooking and cleaning and shopping and you just complain and order me around."

She gaped at Julia. "What makes you think you can talk to me like that?!"

"Since you made it clear you didn't care anymore! Since you stopped making any effort to actually act like my mother! I

don't have to respect you like that if you're not going to the responsible adult!"

"Do I have to remind you who it is that earns the money around here? I'm the one with a job; you'd have nothing

without me!"

"I don't care who earns the money! We both know that it would be me who had a job if it wasn't for the fact you only

work so you can hook up with people! I know you only work at that bar so you can mess around with other guys! It's like

you don't even remember your husband!"

She stared at her, lost for words.

"Don't bring your father into this Julia."

"No, I'm going to do what I God damned want! You act like you were never even married to a guy that loved you!"

"That whole marriage was a mistake Julia!"

"Are you saying that I'm a mistake too?"

"No! I'm just saying that I wish I'd never married your dad, not that I don't regret having you."

"Well it feels that way," Julia spat, her fists clenching.

"You're just being pathetic Julia! I'm not arguing with you anymore, now go and do your chores!" she snapped and

headed for the stairs.

Julia stared at her, not really believing her mother was acting like this. She watched as her mom disappeared upstairs and walked straight over to the front door and left the house as quickly as possible, slamming the door behind her and

stalking along the road.

She decided she wasn't going back there tonight. She was sick of her mother.