Breaking Down

Chapter 25:

"She's washing dishes. Whoo. Then she scrubs them off." My Dad crooned while he stood next to my Mom strumming his guitar with vigor. We were heading into the big crescendo to the bridge.

"She scrubs them off." I sang back in echo on the other side of her as I leaned into her ear.

My Mom was absolutely furious with us. We had made up lyrics about what she was doing around the house for the last two hours. We set them to the tune of popular songs from the past four decades.

The first song happened when she stood at the kitchen island and opened the mail to read it. She furrowed her brow looking at one of my many medical bills that she was legally obligated to pay. Her face was screwed up in deep concentration as she studied the explanation of the amount line by line.

My Dad and I ran into the room, catching her off guard. She jumped high in the air calling us every curse word she could come up with. She even made a few new ones up when she ran out. "Herflumperall" was the best one that came out. I wasn't sure what it meant, but it had a nice ring to it.

We called the first song we played "What's this bill for?". We played it four times while she went through each piece of mail. She smacked my Dad exactly seventy-two times as he circled around her, singing into her ear.

My favorite song that we came up with was when she was trying to call my Grandma to check on her. She kept getting disconnected because of the poor cell service in Indiana. We called that one "I Can't Get No... Cell Reception."

Even Jax jumped in on the revelry when he finally emerged from behind his gaming system. He sat down at the kitchen island and began drumming to the beat. Little dude had some rhythm. Jax would have made one hell of a drummer. Who knew?

There was a light knock on the door when my Mom was scrubbing the last pan.

Jax jumped up and ran to go answer it. He came back a few seconds later with Cam strolling in right behind him. I looked at him and smiled as I continued the climatic ending to the dish song.

"What's going on here?" Cam asked, amused.

"They are driving me insane." My Mom said, slamming her dishtowel down against the counter in frustration. "Please arrest them and take them to jail. I will pay you."

"What are you doing here?" I asked Cam, finally deciding to give my Mom a break. My Dad frowned down at me when I aborted the mission.

"I was just wondering what you were up to tonight. Some of the guys from work wanted to hang out for a bit and I was just checking to see if you wanted to tag along." He said nervously. "If you don't want to go, that's cool. I just thought you might want to get out of the house tonight."

"That sounds like fun. Mom, do you mind if I go hang out with Cam?" I asked.

Here I was, twenty years old and asking my Mom if I could hang out with a boy. These meds must be doing something this time around if my mind was telling me to be considerate of other people's feelings for once.

"Please take her." My Mom said at the exact time my Dad said. "I mind."

"Riley." My Dad huffed.

"Ezra." My Mom bit her lip after she scolded him back.

My Mom shot him the end of conversation look and he raised his hands in the air in defeat. He grabbed the guitar out of my hand to take it back upstairs. I could hear him grumbling under his breath about still being the man of the house.

My poor Dad lost his balls every time my Mom put him in his place. She had him trained properly. She owned that man. I was curious how that tiny woman had become such a force to be reckoned with. I envied her for it.

"Go enjoy yourself, Jessa." She smiled victoriously.

"I'm going upstairs to change." I said back to Cam. "Be back down soon."

I ran upstairs and searched through my closet, looking for something to wear. Cam had on dark blue jeans and a button-up shirt. I was assuming if I matched with something similar, I would be dressed appropriately for wherever we were going. I should have asked him what we were doing before I came up the stairs. I was just too glad to break away from the monotony tonight. I was in a really good mood for a change. It was a nice solid one that didn't include excessive amounts of sex, drinking, or drugs. Things were looking up for me.

I pulled my hair out of my messy bun and let it fall. I fluffed the wild mop over my shoulders and decided it didn't look too bad. The top was a little straighter than normal, but it was falling perfectly. I grabbed my skinny jeans and decided on a khaki green top with cutouts that crisscrossed along the back. I was completely covered up front, but the back was still a party. It was the mullet of shirts. I grabbed my boots and pulled them on over my feet.

I glanced back in the mirror and decided I needed a little eyeliner. I grabbed the pencil and drew a thin line at the bottom and a little thicker line at the top. I had naturally long eyelashes, so I didn't need to add mascara. My light eyes already popped without much effort, thanks to my dark hair. I was at least blessed with some excellent genes to go along with all of the bad ones. That was what made me so dangerous. I was the perfect blend of beautiful and crazy. I could turn a man on with one wink and then I would slash his tires in the morning.

I did a final twirl in front of the mirror and then turned around to check out how my butt looked in the jeans. It wasn't bad. I was with Cam; it was not like it was going to get touched. It would probably be buried on a chair or on his couch the whole night.

When I came back downstairs, I must have passed the sniff test. Cam was looking at me, smiling. He was wearing the cheesiest, dimpled smile I had ever seen on his face.

"Are you ready?" I asked, readjusting my bag on my shoulder.

He nodded and lit up a bit when he saw I had packed my things to stay over again. I knew I didn't even need to ask him. When we hung out together, it was just automatic. We always lost track of time and it would be inconsiderate to stroll into my parent's house at 3 AM in the morning.

I walked back into the kitchen to tell my Mom goodbye. She was busy fussing over Jax's desperate need for a haircut and a shower. She was rubbing her hand in his hair and complaining about him looking like he belonged in a grunge band.

"You look gorgeous, Sweet Pea, have fun tonight." She walked over and gave me a hug.

"I'm staying at Cam's tonight, so I won't be home." I said, squeezing her back.

"Behave tonight, Jessa." She snorted. She pulled back from the hug to look at me.

"Mom, I'm hanging out with Cam." I rolled my eyes at her insanity.

"Exactly. Behave yourself." She winked at me and gave me a devious smile.