I sat there, stone-faced watching as my parents barked at each other.
Insult after insult and if I'm being honest, this wasn't anything new to me.
Of recently, alot of their fights centered around me and no, I'm not a bad kid.
I was always wondered if it would've been better if I was.
You see, my parents are divorcing.
I knew this was coming for awhile and even has a young child, I knew they shouldn't be together.
I'm sure at one point they loved each other but not anymore.
"Lydia, you're being unreasonable! What kind of father only sees his daughter once a week?!" My father exclaimed, drawing my attention back to them.
"I don't care, I'm the mother here. You can't raise her like I can!" My mother spat and my father fell quiet for a moment.
"I've been doing a pretty good job so far so that's no excuse."
Now it was my mother's turn to be quiet.
They stared at me.
I sighed, standing from my seat.
"Arden, who would you want to live with?" My dad said now, making me pause.
I thought for a moment.
I could never have an answer to the recurring question because I have this 'gift' as some call it.
I can read minds.
On one hand, if I decide to live with my father, I'll have someone understanding about my gift but the same could be said about my mother.
"Noone, if you two don't stop asking." I said in a dry voice, walking out the room.
"We are making this hard on her." I heard my father say.
I stood in the hallway.
"You're right." My mother sighed loudly."but she needs to live with someone."
"I know. How about this.. we swap." My father said.
"That could be a good idea."
"Exactly and that way, she gets to see both parents still."
I heard movement which made me speed walk down the hallway, making it seem like it wasn't listening.
I thought about what they said.
It was a good idea, at least for now.
I stood in my room, taking a deep breath.
The overwhelming urge to leave the house came over me.
I grabbed my purse and threw on a thick jacket.
"Where are you going?" My father said.
"Out." I didn't even look in his direction.
I was already out the house when I heard him say something.
It was late evening in October, leaves crunched loudly under my boots.
Even though, I had no clear direction of where I wanted, my body took me into a cafe.
The smell of coffee hit me as soon as I walked through the door.
It was fairly empty, only about 6 people.
"Hi there ! Welcome." A child that looked about maybe 10 years old came out of nowhere.
Her sudden appearance made me jump back abit.
"Did I jump you?" She asked.
"Abit."
She smiled at me."So sorry. Table for one?"
I nodded.
"Follow me."
She lead me to a row of booths and handed me a menu that I wasn't aware she was holding.
"I'll be right-"
"-lizza, you know full well that you arent supposedly be out here."
I looked up to see a freakishly hot boy who looked about my age, standing behind the girl.
She rolled her eyes,turning the face the guy.
"Ollie, I'm bored!" She whined. "Let me do something!"
The blue eyed boy bent down to her level, a smile on his face.
"Sounds like a personal problem. Now go, mom is looking for you and I know you dont want her finding you out here." He said.
Jeez, his voice was smooth like butter.
The little girl rolled her eyes once more before storming off.
"Sorry about that, you know kids." He said finally looking at me.
Then he smiled and I felt my heart jump.
He had the prettiest smile, I had seen in a while...
"Er.. its fine." I mumbled.
"So what would you be having?" He asked now, fishing out a note pad and pen from his pocket.
I glanced down at the menu and without really looking at it, I said.
" Surprise me."
He rose an eyebrow. "Are you sure?"
I nodded.
"Alright."
He turned and walked away and I found myself staring after him.
I turned my attention to the window, it was nighttime now and I know my parents are probably freaking out.
"You said surprise you so surprise." The guy grinned at me as he placed the plate on the table.
It was two cupcakes that looked like vanilla and chocolate with what looked like Sprite.
I smiled at him."Thank you."
I expected him to walk away but he didn't.
"What's your name?" He asked now.
"Why do you want to know?" I asked.
"Pretty girls tend to have names."
His reply caught me off guard.
He noticed my quietness.
"Sorry if that was a abit forward. I'm Oliver." He said quickly.
"Its fine. I'm Arden."
"Pretty name. Well I'll let you enjoy, let me know if you need anything else okay?" He said, over his shoulder as he walked away.
I stood up from my seat, a few minutes later, realizing how late it was getting and I walked up to the counter where Oliver was backing me.
"How much was it?" I asked.
"Its on the house." He replied, glancing back at me.
I rose an eyebrow at him.
"Er... thank you?" I was confused.
He turned to fully face me.
"No problem." Oliver winked at me." Hope I'll see you around again Arden."
My name sounded like butter rolling off his tongue and I nodded stiffly before leaning off the counter and walking out into the night.
I only lived like 5 minutes walk away so I wasn't too worried.
On my way back home, I couldn't stop seeing his beautiful smile and big blue eyes in my head.
Do I really have a crush on a guy I barely exchanged a few word with?
I sighed, seeing my house in view but then as I got closer, I noticed a black jeep that I didn't recognize.
"Arden there you are!" My mother rushed forward and hugged me." We were so worried."
I gently pushed her away from me.
"I'm fine, I just went to the cafe around the corner." I said, then my eyes caught sight of the man standing next to my father.
"Uncle Eli, why are you here?" I asked now.
My uncle eli, a 6ft tall, well built man with messy black hair smiled down at me but he looked uncomfortable.
In fact all of the adults suddenly looked really uncomfortable.
"What's going on?" I asked.
My father sighed. "Umm... come have a seat."
My father guilded me into the living room and I sat opposite them.
Uncle Eli still not saying a word.
My parents looked at each other for a moment before turning to me.
"Okay, so we got to talking when you left.. and we decided to take a trip together." Dad said.
"Okay?" I said slowly.
"So Eli is gonna watch over you while we are gone okay?"
"Okay."
Why were they being so weird about this.
Uncle Eli has watched me before so this isn't anything new.
We usually have alot of fun.
"That's it?" I asked, standing.
They hesitated again.
I ran my finger through my hair, messy it up more than it already was.
I was about to walk away from them.
"We're going to be gone for 2 months."
I stopped, my back to them.
"What?" I hissed. "Did I hear you correctly?"
I turned, subconsciously flexing my fingers.
"Yes you did." My mother answered.
I took a deep breath.
"Okay."
They looked dumbfounded.
"Okay?!" They said in unison.
I nodded stiffly, trying my hardest to keep my anger down.
"Yes. Now if you'll excuse me, I have school in the morning." I said in monotone voice, i turned to my uncle." I can't wait for us to spend some time together Uncle Eli."
I tuned on my heel and as best as I could muster, walk normally out of the room and up the stairs.
I stood in my room, taking deep breaths then I started pacing my room.
2 months?!
2 fucking months!
I ran my hand down my face.
In the middle of a divorce, you leave your kid alone for 2 MONTHS!
I felt like screaming.
I go out for not even 2 hours to come back to hear that they are leaving for 2 months.
I flopped back on my bed, kicking off my boots.
How could they do this without any warning?
It isn't like they talked to me about this before.
No, this seems so out of the blue.
I sighed, and I buried my face in my sheets and after a while, I finally fell asleep.
