𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘈𝘭𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘥 𝘛𝘳𝘦𝘦

Chapter Nine: Soda

I wiped my tears from my face, and while I was in the bathroom, I didn't realize how long I was in the bathroom for. The reception was over, and people were roaming around the lobby area. The food table had some small children, and some kids closer to my age surrounding it, picking at slices of cheese, brownies, and cookies. There was another table with different types of wine on it. Most of the adults surrounded that table.

My mom was having a conversation with Julias teacher, while my father was on the other side having a conversation with my uncle and a few other people. My dad has pulled himself together somewhat, while my mother was crying hysterically into Julia's teacher's fabric on her shoulder.

I decided to turn to my father, and have a conversation with him and my uncle, my aunt, and my cousins. My cousins on my dad's side, which are really the only ones I really see, are around my age and all dudes. I have three. One is named Chris, he's the oldest, and about to finish college. He has a girlfriend of almost five years, and they plan to get married soon. I argue he is also the most handsome out of the three. I wish I had his life, his life was so perfect, and my life was like some fly stuck in a spider web up in the unreachable corner in your room. When you think about trying to help it, but then you realize you can't no matter how hard you try. Then there is Wyatt and Darnell.

They are twins, and look almost exactly the same. I can't even tell them apart. They are a little bit older than me, starting their first year of college. Wyatt is five minutes older than Darnell, and always held him accountable for that when they were younger. I would have to deal with their bullshit constantly. They roughhouse around, even today, during the worst times. I saw them nudging each other with their elbows during the ceremony. Chris broke them up eventually. All three of them were dressed in the same black suit, purple tie, and yellow pocket square, just like their father. My aunt might have spoken after my uncle, but I wouldn't know. I ran into the bathroom for what didn't seem to be long, but apparently it was.

My uncle was trying to cheer my father up by cracking some "That's what she said," jokes to cheer him up, but even from thirty feet away, you can still see the same pasión in their dark brown eyes.

"Hey kiddo," My uncle directed his voice to me. I walked a little closer into the little circle they had made.

"Hey," I replied,

"Listen kid, I really know this is hard for you, but if you ever need anything, you know your Aunt and I are always here for you,"

"T-thank you Uncle Bob I say, my cousins just looked down when my uncle said that. Chris had a tissue in his hand, so he may have been crying a little while ago. Or now. I haven't seen him cry since he was ten, when he lost to Uncle Mike at football, when he insisted he would beat him because he was the best in the family.

Uncle Mike tackled him to the ground.

My aunt piped up to say something "So... I didn't see John around here, are you guys alright?"

"Oh- yeah — we're okay," "I haven't really had him on my mind lately,"

"That's alright sweetie, I think Chris wanted to see him again. He hasn't seen him since Thanksgiving of last year! Gosh has that boy grown at all?" She slapped Uncle Mike's arm lightley.

"Yeah, he has been really busy with basketball lately, his coach won't give him a break, it's his last year to try and get a scholarship to play at Penn State,"

"Of course — of course," My aunt trailed off, then Wyatt piped up. "Maybe we can travel down there sometime to watch him play, that would be pretty cool, wouldn't it?"

"Oh of course!"

"They usually don't let freshies play though, so we may just be watching an interesting game from the bench," Darnell said.

"Yeah, true," My father said.

There was a silence between us in the circle.

I could hear other people chattering away in the background. Some were blowing their noses and crying, but my mom could be heard from miles away. She sounded like a literal banshee. She was still screaming, sobbing uncontrollably into Miss Clay's dress. She offered her a tissue, but my mom refused, shooing her hand away and continued to cry into her dress. It looked like it was straight out of a movie.

"I-I'm going to get a drink," I say, breaking the silence.

"That's a good idea, sweetie," My dad replies.

I turn quickly to the drink table. There were some people staring at me. Some were holding their cups to me as a cheer, for sorrows, others were whispering to the person next to them and subtly pointing.

I grabbed a soda from the table, and walked a few feet away from it to let other people through. The soda was flat and unsatisfying, it was just sugar,chemicals, and water. I stuck my tongue out in disgust without even realizing it until I realized I looked like a lizard. The trash can was right next to the drink table, so I turned around to throw away the soda.

Suddenly a dude just appears in my path, and I bump into him. I spilled what was left of my drink on his shirt. It took me a moment to realize what just happened, and I imagine it looked like I lagged out of a video game. He was a decently handsome dude, and I felt really embarrassed, standing here like a frightened cat. Blonde hair slicked back with minimal gel, pale skin, about 6'1 or 6'2, and he looked around my age, maybe slightly older.

"I-I'm so sorry-" I started to say. But as soon as I started speaking, he bolted out of the nearest door.

Unusual.