Family Ties

Chapter Two

I caught up to him quickly, considering how much smaller he was compared to me. The street lights had turned on at this point, and if you were to look up at the sky, you would see that the sunset was brilliant. The colors were bold, rich, and vibrant; with vivid reds, oranges, and golds spreading far across the sky, and the bright yellow sun at the horizon. All of the trees and leaves that were in the distance seemed black as it had turned to twilight, and the warmth of the colors above us largely contrasted the bitter chill of the night air. Soda had slowed his walking pace to look upwards, his lips slightly parted and his eyes widened a little with amazement. We hadn't had the chance to walk peacefully at twilight for longer than usual, as I'd taken up one of my coworker's hours for the week while they were away. So, I think that he was especially appreciative to have been there with me. I stopped beside him and admired the sky for a moment before smiling down at him and kneeling with a cheery grin.

"C' mon, you can get on my shoulders. I'm well aware that if you keep walking while staring up, you're going to end up tripping over something again, so we might as well save your knees from skidding while we have the chance, yeah?"

He smiled excitedly, nodding, and getting behind me before carefully sitting himself down on my shoulders. "It's seriously been forever since we've done this, I've missed being able to come all the way out here and watch the sunset with you. Do you think that you could try to do this with me more often?" "--But," he continued quickly, adding; "I can totally understand if not, though, don't worry. You're really busy, I get it."

I stood up, and he held on a little bit tighter, enjoying the better view of the sky, and not having to walk himself. "Same here." I smiled sympathetically before I continued, trying to hide the tinge of worry in my voice. I knew that getting more work was a good thing because it meant that we'd be able to get out of the house sooner, but I was terrified of something happening to Soda-pop while I was gone. He was a smart kid, who tried his best in school, but he was always fighting between using his head too much, or not enough, with both being bad for him in their own ways. "I'll do what I can. I hate being away from you just as much as you do me, but there's not too much that I could really do about it right now, Pop."

He understood, as he said he would, and always did. He gave a gentle nod and ruffled my hair, speaking certainly "It's okay! Soon, we're gonna have everythin' we need to pack our bags and get up out of here."

Without even looking at him, I could tell from his tone of voice that he was grinning with a more determined expression than before, which is a smile that he wears well. Hearing him sound so strong is always something that made my day, and, it always would. I'm usually the only person that he's ever happy around, or feels like he can be himself around, anymore. He used to feel like that with our mom, too ( though, still never as much as with me ), but more recently Soda'd been saying that she was acting even more off than usual. I didn't want to believe it, but he was right about her being less stable than before. Everything that she'd been going through had slowly been messing with her more and more, from her husband's worsening behavior, to the financial situation getting worse. He'd been talking to a lot of women behind her back, and when she brought it up, he harassed her for looking through his things. He told her that it was her fault, that if she had been a better wife, he wouldn't feel the need to see other people. After that 'disagreement', she ended up feeling even more terrible emotion-wise. Of course, she started taking it out on me more, and on top of that, I had to help clean up all the wounds with things that we had around the house. I'd gotten very skilled at patching people up over the years, and I think that if I had had the money for it I could've been able to make a pretty great doctor, officially.

"Yeah, and that's gonna be worth all the time we've had to wait. I can already taste the freedom!~" He spoke up, interrupting my thoughts.

I smiled at his cheery, determined tone, and kneeled again in front of the door to let him step off of my shoulders. When I stood up I took out the house key from my jacket pocket, and I unlocked the door, walking in first to make sure our parents weren't fighting before I let Soda in, and then when I didn't hear any yelling I held the door open for him. Soda walked in, his grin fading to a soft and nervous smile. After I finished locking the door again, I set my hand on his shoulder to reassure him a little without saying anything. When I looked back up from him and to the hallway that led to the kitchen, I could see our mother standing there, leaning over a counter, wearing a skirt that showed the bandages that I had wrapped tightly around her legs only a few days prior. I didn't let myself show how scared I was for her, instead, I put on a calm smile and walked into the kitchen with Soda following next to me, a little behind me due to his own fear. Though it wasn't because he was scared for her, he was more scared of her. 

She turned to us, setting down the knife from where she had been chopping vegetables There was a pot of soup on the stovetop, already filled with a richly scented, deeply-colored broth. She had a sleepy smile, and her eyes had dark, tired bags underneath them. She had her brownish-blonde hair pulled back into a loose, messy bun, and visible bruises just about everywhere that she was showing skin, speckled about on different areas of her body, including her neck, and a couple on her face. She hugged me gently after smiling at me, kissing my cheek softly. "Hey, Sweetie."

She moved back away from me and leaned down to hug Soda, around his shoulders instead of his waist as she had done with me. It only lasted a moment before she stood up again, and I rested my hand back on Soda's shoulder to remind him he wasn't alone. I felt him get less tense when I did, and he took a slightly deeper breath in.

Our mother spoke up with an exhausted smile, folding her hands together. "How are you two? Was it cold out? I don't want either of you to get sick. And, it's dangerous out here at night, you both need to remember to be careful."

I nodded, keeping up my smile and taking another glance around to check for our father, see if he was there. "It was a little cool, but not too bad. We're gonna be alright; nothin' too bad's ever happened to us out there before."

Soda was getting increasingly more uncomfortable standing there, and it was clear as day to me that he was wanting to leave. I pat his back gently and gave a quick nod toward the stairs to let him know that it was alright, and he could go. He didn't hesitate before nodding in return, giving me a quick hug before heading upstairs, his footsteps light.

"That doesn't mean that it's too late for anything to happen, Lemonade. You're a beautiful boy." She spoke with a deceptively gentle tone in her voice, putting on some false sympathetic smile.

"I can still take care of Soda and myself, mom. We're going to be just fine; You don't have to worry, I'm stronger than I look. And, so is Soda-pop. He's a tough kid." After I finished speaking, I noticed that she had been taking a long look at me from head to toe, chuckling sweetly to herself before she turned back to face the vegetables that she had been cutting when Soda and I first walked in.

"I think you look pretty strong and powerful yourself, mister. you're very well-built. Athletic, a fit young man.. I'm surprised that you haven't ever mentioned any girls from your school, by the way. I'm sure that you must have tons of gorgeous young women following you around everywhere, drooling over you."

I narrowed my eyes and thought of something to reply. I'd never really paid the girls that flirt with me any attention. I'd always had much more important things to do; it's not like I had time to waste, especially while I was at school. But, I always felt like I might try to find someone to be with once I was out of high school and had a place for me and Soda to stay at. Even then, I never considered it a priority. I felt like my only real purpose was to be there for Soda, and at the moment; I didn't even know how to do that right, so anyone else was definitely out of the question.

"Oh, not really. I try to keep quiet; I prefer keeping my grades up during class over chatting up teenage girls. Do you know when dad will be back?"

She giggled and rubbed my arm gently, smiling, replying in a playful and happy tone of voice. " ""chatting up teenage girls"? Oh, please, I know that you teenage boys aren't any better than them. Or, are you saying that it's because they're too young, and you'd like to wait until you're older? Either way, I'm sure that anyone who looks like you do gets too much attention to not have flirted with anyone. And, your father won't be home until sometime tomorrow night, or after then. I'm not really sure," she sighed, pouting. "Not like it really matters, anyway, sweetheart. As long as your here, I'll be more than okay."

I wasn't completely sure how to tell her that I genuinely just didn't have the time or money to be able to waste the school day fooling around with random women who only like me because they found me physically attractive. To me, that had always just seemed like a waste of time. Even if I did feel like having a relationship, at the moment I wouldn't be able to provide any support to them. If they were someone whose company I did genuinely enjoy, I wouldn't deserve to be with them. Or be friends with them, at that. If I were to date them; I wouldn't be able to provide any emotional or financial support, and I would barely be able to talk during the school day. Even if we were just friends; between my schoolwork, my jobs, and my family, I would never have any time to get to have any meaningful conversations with them about anything.

"Ah, well, not really. I would like to wait, but not because I think that I'm too young. I'd just like to wait until I find someone that I really do love."