The Letter

Chapter 15: Meet My Friends, and My Mom- Pt 2

Everyone headed for the dinging room, including Marshall who I felt bad for leaving alone. He watched me as I rushed over to mom, but I nodded for him to continue on with the crowd while I talked to mom in private. 

"Mom," I whispered, as I motioned her towards me with my hand. She looked to the people heading into the dining room, like she was unsure which direction she should go in, but eventually walked over to me.

"Yes, Abby?" she asked. She seemed annoyed with what I was going to say before I could even get the words out.

"I just need you to hold out on the questioning of Marshall until the girls leave please? I don't want him to be put on the spot." She nodded slowly as if she was considering everything I was saying.

"Abby, do you think I'm going to give him the 3rd degree? Everything is fine. We're going to have a nice conversation and things will be-" 

We were cut off by a crash in the dining room. I shuttered as I thought of all the things that could be going wrong. Mom and I rushed in where we found the table settings in the floor, in pieces. Ashley and Rebecca were in the corner looking scared out of their minds, and Marshall was standing over the broken dishes, where he was getting ready to knock some more off the table. Mom was pretty pissed, as I'm sure this was her 'good' set of dishes.

"Marshall?!" I kind of yelled. I didn't mean to but my anxiety was already cranked up on high with everything that was going on this evening. He turned, and the anger I saw on his face disappeared like a magician. Now I could tell he felt bad about everything. I walked over to him and took his hand. I led him out of the back door and out onto our patio. 

"Marshall, what's going on?" I asked him. He started to fidget, and I could tell he was sorry.

"Its okay," I said again. "But you have to tell me what happened."

"Those bit-, girls." he corrected. "I'm sorry Abby, I tried to be nice. But they are the most 2 faced-" I mimicked his move from earlier in my closet by putting my finger up to his lips. I couldn't help but notice how soft they were. 

"What did they say?" I asked him. 

"They were talking shit about my career and how I fell off. Then saying stuff about me and drugs. Just repeating the stuff they've heard." That was all I needed to hear. I stormed back into the house where mom and my 'friends' were picking up the broken dishes. Mom stopped when she saw me come back inside. By the look on her face, she knew I was about to explode.

"Rebecca, Ashley." I called. They turned to face me. I'm sure they knew they were busted.

"What is this shit I hear you're saying about Marshall?" I heard the back door open and heard the soft footsteps of Marshall walking back inside. "I'm gonna go," he whispered into my ear. "No, no you're not." I said. He attempted to slide past me, but I grabbed his hand and prevented him from leaving. He turned around and said "I think  it's best. I have fucked this whole thing up for you. I didn't mean to stir up anything."

He started off for the door. I wanted to go after him. But I had to stick up for him properly. No one only a couple months sober should be knocked down for getting it together.

"You should be ashamed of yourselves," I said, turning back to Rebecca and Ashley. "You both come in my house and pretend you're my best friends when you know good and damn well you don't give a single fuck. You're only here to snoop in my personal life."

They both were looking down at the floor. Mom showed up beside me. "Okay, Abby, I think they get the point. Let's just calm down now, okay?" I heard the front door shut and ran after Marshall before he had the chance to pull off.