Other Half

Resent

"We also fixed up all your clothes into the closet and decided to let you decorate the rest however you'd like" Stef said hugging her again.
"It's perfect! I totally didn't think I would get this" she said smiling. She remembered Brandon had walked to his room looking upset and slammed his door.
"I think Brandon is jealous" she said her smile slowly fading.
"I'll go talk to him. You enjoy your room" Mike said smiling and then walking out of the room.
"I agree you can look around and start planning your decor" Stef said raising her eyebrows excitedly.
Callie nodded,
"I can't wait to sleep in here for the first time today!" She said. Stef decided to leave her alone and headed into Brandon's room. The rooms were connected with the bathroom so they had easy access to each others room.
"I just feel like Callie gets whatever she wants" Brandon said crossing his arms.
He was sitting on his bed talking to Mike.
"What? Why would you think that? That's not true. You both got your own room out of it" Mike said tapping his shoulder.
"That's true yeah? You both have a new room" Stef said sitting down with them.
"Well yeah but she got the new furniture and everything and I got our boring old room" he said scowling.
"Well" Mike started but he interrupted,
"And when she is rude to me like throwing stuff at me, I'm the one that gets in trouble!" He said more angry.
"Okay... I understand why you're frustrated and yeah I guess it can seem unfair but that's only because you are the older one and you have more emotional control" Stef said and Mike nodded,
"She deals with her anger differently than you would" he said and Brandon looked confused.
"How?" He said.
"Well, when she's upset she likes to hide, run away, or use physical force, like throwing or hitting. But you tend to avoid these situations all together or use your words, and even then you know your limits. When you continued to argue even after I told you both to stop you ignored me because you wanted to get a reaction out of her. We do ground her too and punish both of you when we feel it is necessary" she said and he looked down,
"Look, I know it might be hard for you to understand but just know we would never be unfair to you. Also you get a lot of special treatment" Mike said smiling at him and he smiled back.
Stef let out a small laugh. Of course he does when he's Mike's favorite she thought. Stef was just glad Mike was going along with it and was not contradicting her again.
"How about later we go shopping and you get to pick out new things for your room now that you have all this extra space?" Stef said and he smiled again.
"I would like that" he said hugging her.

~

"I'm glad Callie liked it" Mike said laying on their bed. It was a long day and they were both super tired and decided to go in to bed early.
"I am too" she said climbing into bed next to him. She didn't have the heart to tell him that she wasn't comfortable sleeping next to him anymore. She did her best to hide her negative feelings until she could figure them out fully.
He reached his arms out to wrap her in a hug and she resisted,
"Sorry I just.. I'm tired" she said and Mike rolled his eyes,
"Stef I don't know how much longer I can keep doing this. This is hard trying to constantly wonder what you're thinking" he said frustrated and she sighed,
"You just need to give me time Mike. I already told you what I needed" she said annoyed.
Callie slowly backed away from the door and headed to Brandon's room. He looked at her confused and she sat on his bed while he combed his hair. They were both already in his pajamas.
"It's so weird not sharing a room" he said laughing. He stopped when he noticed her serious face,
"Do you think mom and dad are going to get divorced?" She said sadly.
"Uhh I don't know. Why would you think that?" He said sitting down next to her.
"Because they argue all the time and never get along"
"They seemed to get along when they talked to me earlier" he said shrugging.
"Well, they seem different lately" she said looking down.
"It's okay Callie, they're not going to divorce. It's normal for couples to fight. Also, they have been married for a while and over time it probably gets harder. They're probably going through a rough patch" he said and she nodded.
"I guess you're right.. and it is weird not sharing a room" she said smiling.
"I kinda miss it"
"Me too" they both laughed.
"But I'll get used to it" she said and he wrapped his arm around her in a hug.
"I know I don't tell you a lot but I love you" Callie said hugging him back.
"I love you too" he said. They had such a strong bond and always were there for each other when the other one needed them.
She went off to her room and they all soon drifted off to sleep.

~

"Mike don't forget to pick up the twins from daycare today" Stef said over the phone. Mike just finished downing his 6th beer and sobered up for a minute to answer her call,
"Yes, I am going to be on my way now. No worries!" He hung up the phone and stumbled to the vehicle.
He started the car and by some miracle arrived safely at the twins daycare. They were both 5 years old and almost starting Kindergarten.
The teacher brought them over to the vehicle noticing how Mike looked,
"Everything okay?" She asked him.
"Oh yes everything is fine" he said waving at her. He was a good liar. Very manipulative.
The teacher believed the facade and smiled as they drove off and back home.
"My teacher put my drawing up on the board today!" Brandon said smiling big.
"That's uh awesome bud" Mike said now starting to swerve slightly on the road causing several cars to honk at him.
Callie looked out the window and wondered why the cars did that. She looked over at her dad and noticed he was sweaty and looked like he was struggling to keep the car straight.
"I'm scared" she said holding onto her seat belt that went around her chest in the car seat.
"Why? We're almost home" Mike said. He took a different turn that he usually didn't to avoid traffic. He realized he was more drunk than he thought and didn't want to crash.
"Okay" she said nervously then quickly forgot as Brandon pulled out his rubik's cube he got from school. He seemed calm compared to his sister.
Mike rubbed his eyes and tried to keep them on the road as he once again swerved in and out of the lane.
Another horn honked at him. There were barely any cars though the few that there were still managed to honk.
He shouldn't have left the house like this but he didn't want to hear Stef complain anymore. He decided it was best to stop as he realized he wasn't going to make it home.
He pulled the car over as best as he could onto the side of the road. Thankfully there was just dirt and a few trees to the right.
The car hit over the curb pretty hard as he didn't realize how fast he was going. This caused the twins to hold onto their carseat tightly and close their eyes. He quickly hit the breaks which sent the rubik's cube flying as the car came to an immediate stop. Both twins were absolutely frightened and confused.
Mike slowly climbed out of the car. Everything was so blurry and he was extremely dizzy. He grabbed out his phone and dialed Stef's number so she can come get them. He didn't even have the focus to check on his twins in the backseat.
Callie started crying from the seatbelt hurting her neck and Brandon held her hand to calm her down.
"Stef" Mike slurred his words on the phone.
"Mike? What the hell" Stef said now panicked.
"You need to uhh come get the twin twins and me" he said barely audible.
"Are you drunk?" Stef said her breathing uneven.
She couldn't believe he was driving drunk and with their two little children in the vehicle. Every emotion washed over her but mostly fear. Fear and resentment.

~

Stef woke up abruptly in a cold sweat. She tried to catch her breath as she looked around the dark room then back at the time. 3 am.
"Are you okay?" Mike said looking over at her.
"Yeah I just.. had a bad dream" she said wiping her forehead. She got up and took a few pills for her headache and headed to the kitchen.

She suddenly was mad at Mike. Though, it was just a dream she remembered Brandon telling the story to her a few years ago. She was now able to feel the emotions her children did and it made her feel disgusted at Mike and what he did in the past. She was glad he was better at least but still not great. She grabbed a glass of water and sat alone in the silence for a few minutes.
It must have been her vivid dream or the night taking advantage of her emotions, whatever the reason she grabbed out her phone and decided to look up Lena Adams on social media. She scrolled through her photos and saw that she too had a daughter. Though, she didn't have many pictures only about 10. Even just from those she could tell she was a great, fun, and adventurous person. She didn't see any pictures of a husband, this made her hopeful and happy. She decided to take a chance and follow her. It wasn't long before Stef got a notification,
Lena followed her back.