Not So Complicated

Chapter fifteen

Arlo's POV

My brother practically jumped on me like as if I were a lost treasure.

He had grown taller, of course, puberty had began to work its way into him.

"It's a beautiful picture." I told him when he decided to get off me.

"Yeah, it was the last picture of the four of us before you and I left for Castelldefels, right?" He reminded me.

We headed downstairs and told the lady to take leave since the both of us were there to manage if the tots ever created chaos.

"When's mom coming back?" I asked him, barging into the kitchen, looking for some junk.

"She and Phil are going to be home in an hour or so, they have the same shift timings today." He informed me.

My body stiffened slightly but I recovered almost instantly, not wanting Adrian to know that I dreaded the moment of meeting Phil.

The kids were playing with clay and they were in their own world. We decided to cook for the night, so that mom could rest and spend time with the kids.

"Listen, Arlo. Please have a good talk with mom, okay? I haven't told her that you'd be coming here. So, it's a surprise for her."

___________________________________________________________________________

Adrian received the main door at around eight in the night and the first person entering the hallway was Mr.Stepfather.

I was in no mood to glare at him or start an unnecessary argument, so I just decided to flash a smile at him.

But that didn't mean that I had made peace with him or was okay with him being my mother's husband. Its just that if at all any of the arguments started because of me, it would affect the tiny kids, Adrian and my mother, so I chose to refrain myself from saying something that gave rise to a storm. Well, technically, not a storm. But you get it.

"Hey, mom. How's it going?" I shrugged and buried my hands in my pockets.

She didn't look any different but there was some kind of unexplainable guilt in her eyes every time she saw me. For obvious reasons.

"Arlo! What a surprise? I didn't see it coming!" She over came her shock and quickly paced towards me, with a warm smile.

Somewhere in the corner of my heart, I felt like running and hugging her, but then, that feeling was soon masked when my feet froze on the ground and I just watched my mother taking steps towards me.

The moment she wrapped her arms around me, the feeling was familiar but it didn't last long in my heart. I wasn't cruel to push her away as well, so I just returned her hug half-heartedly.

"So glad you're here, honey." She spoke into the hug and I could feel her smile into my chest.

"Yeah, mom. Me too."

 And then came the infamous Phil. He was standing there all that while, waiting for me to go and talk to him.

I shook my hand with his and gave him a curt nod.

"How's it goin, doc?" I asked, keeping it short.

"I'm good, Arlo. Hope college's treating you well." He smiled at me.

"Yup. College is good."

Not to make it any awkward, he gently pulled away from the handshake, he made his way into the living room, hugged Raelyn and River, fist bumped Adrian and headed straight to his bedroom.