𝐌𝐚𝐝𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 ⇀ 𝗍𝗌

four

// CHAPTER FOUR:: fumble of words //

"A party?" Roxanne asked her daughter as they sat in the kitchen, "You want to go to a play and then to a party?"

"I might go to the party," Audrey assured, watching her mother chop up pepper for the spaghetti, "I just wanted to let you know if I made up my mind."

"Audrey, I don't think-"

"I'm not going to put myself in a situation where I relapse." She quickly stated, "I know how to control myself."

"A party itself is a situation," Her mother huffed, "Everyone is going around drinking and doing drugs. How can you avoid that?"

"Harry's party isn't like that," She tried to convince, but her mother shook her head.

"Audrey, we lived across from the Bingham's and that boy for a very long time. I think I know what kind of parties Harry likes to throw," Roxanne stared and grabbed the onions, "Harry is a terrible influence-"

"You never thought that before."

"Yeah, because he wasn't like that. Not until-" Her mother stopped her movements and glanced up at her daughter, "Not until you left."

Audrey bit her bottom lip, "I'll only be there for thirty minutes if I go."

"Yeah, 'if you go'. What are you even going to do? Harry is going to be your only friend at that party and what if he leaves you by yourself?" She asked and shook her head again, "I can't leave your life in his hands. Not again..not anymore."

"Mom, please." She begged, "I'm trying to be normal again-"

"Then go to the park," She exclaimed and slammed the knife down, "Go paint like you used to, go bike riding or something. That's normal, but going to a party with drunk teens and loose girls is not," She then sighed and eyed her child as they locked eyes, "You, Audrey Stewart, are not normal and you're not going to that party. I do not need to lose my daughter again."

Audrey hesitantly nodded at her mother, "I'm going to be late for the play."

"Wait," Her mother said before holding up her key, "I'm sorry about this morning, okay?"

"It's fine," Audrey shrugged and took the set of keys out of her mother's hands, "Thank you."

Roxanne hummed as her daughter walked out of the kitchen, "I'll see you after the play, right?"

"Yeah," Audrey answered as she grabbed her windbreaker and headed out of the house. It took hours for her to decide on whether or not she wanted to go to the play, but as she sat in her room, staring at the same four plain walls, she made up her mind. She needed to get out of the house and she knew the party would be a stretch, which is why she agreed to not go, like her mother insisted.

Audrey rebelled against things her mother would tell her to do or not to do, but for some reason, she chose to listen and that's because she knew that she might relapse tonight if she went. She didn't want to go back there, to the rehab or down that dark path. She didn't believe she could handle it a second round.

She walked down the porch steps and saw Harry's car was gone, assuming that he stayed after school for the play before she got into her mom's car. She decided to turn the radio to prevent her mind from wondering to a weird place which was Harry.