The Good Hair Family Sitcom

S1 E9.2: Luck of the English

A/N: DO NOT PLAY THE SONG UNTIL IT APPEARS IN THE STORY.

Cyrus's POV

I haven't had much to do all day. I planned to spend it with TJ, but now I'm just trying to find things to do on my own. I sit in the living room while the television plays a movie, the volume low enough for me to hear the creak of the stairs as my daughter descends them and bends over the top of the couch, putting her head beside mine.

"Daddy," she says, "this is, like, the definition of sad."

"I'm just watching a movie," I argue.

"You're watching one of your own movies," she retorts. "This is like a singer listening to their own music. It's weird."

This is one of the movies I helped edit for the small film company in Shadyside that I work for. It was always my dream to make films, but I also didn't want to leave Shadyside, so my job is pretty much as perfect as it gets. I did do a minor in social work in university, but I've never actually done anything with that.

"Netflix was logged out, and I don't know where your dad keeps the password," I justify.

"Why don't you get out and do something fun," Jayda suggests.

"What would I do?"

"I don't know. Go get groceries or something."

"Jayda, contrary to what you might think, parents don't run errands for fun."

"Okay, then what do you want to do?" she questions.

I pause, considering the options, but I don't know what things I could do that are fun that wouldn't make me wish TJ was there to do them with me.

"I guess we do need groceries," I sigh.

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Walker's POV

Cara sips on her third cup of tea while Jonah and I sit around on nearby chairs, watching the content little girl raise her pinky with every tilt of the Star Wars mug. When she finishes that cup, she places it down gently on the coffee table and turns her attention to Jonah.

"Can we have a movie night?" she wonders.

"Sure," Jonah responds. "What movie?"

"The Exorcist."

"Cool, I'll get it set up."

He stands up to grab the remote, but I give him a look that pushes him back down. I don't know a ton about parenting, but I do know that you don't show six year-olds horror movies.

"No," I say. "We're not watching that movie, and we don't have time for a movie anyway. We have to get you to dance soon."

Cara just pouts. "Oh, yeah."

I'm starting to notice that she doesn't seem to be very interested in attending her dance class, but I can't really do anything. I have one job to do, and that's to get her to dance class on time. Considering she only knows eight beats of her routine, she can't exactly afford to miss it.

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Cyrus's POV

I step into the house. Alone. The grocery bags are heavy, so they almost drag on the ground as I walk them into the kitchen. I don't think going out helped me to feel better. Instead, it only highlighted how unusually normal my day has been. It's just another day off, but the chalk drawings of clovers on driveways reminded me that it shouldn't be just another day off. Today was supposed to be me and TJ's day. We have the evening, but one evening is like a match in a deep cave. Its light doesn't even skim the walls. Moments like this are when it hits me again that the world wasn't built for me and TJ. It was made for seven billion other people who also need it to turn round for them. That's why TJ and I can't spend every second of every day together, although I wish we could.