It's Better to Burn Out than Fade Away-Kurt Cobain

Chapter 71

"I'm sure that is alright."

"Thanks, Mom. I have to go now. Bye. I love you."

"Love you too."

I set the phone down and told Kurt that she agreed to watch them. "But now that means that we need to figure out where we're going to be staying."

"Our manager is taking care of all of that," Kurt said. 

"What if I don't like it?"

"Then suck it up, buttercup." He walked away into the bathroom. 

"How are things between you guys?" Krist whispered. 

"Um, they're alright," I replied. "They're not as great as they used to be. Well, things have never really been great. They're going back to how things used to be. He's been acting...off."

"Yeah, I get it. He's been that way with us, too. Have you guys talked about marriage at all?"

I scoffed. "Fuck no. I don't even think he's ready for that kind of commitment. I want to get married so bad, but I don't think he wants to."

Just then, the door opened.

"Kurt, I have a question," I told him as he sat down on the couch. "Will Frances be coming with us?"

"No," He quickly responded. 

"Okay," I heard Melissa started to cry and I groaned. "That kid does not stop crying!"

I ran upstairs into our bedroom and saw that she had a blanket covering her face. I rushed to her and pulled it off and saw that she had lipstick all over her face and her outfit. I panicked and picked her up, rocking her back and forth. 

"Shh, it's okay," I said softly. I went downstairs, grabbed a washcloth from the kitchen and wiped her face off. 

"Everything alright?" Kurt asked me, but I couldn't respond. 

Did Lorelai do that to her? I hoped that she was breathing and wasn't fucking suffocating. She stopped crying after I put her binky back in her mouth. 

"Kurt, take her," I handed Melissa to him and rushed upstairs. "LORELAI!"

"Ooh, she's mad," Dave chuckled to himself. 

I stormed into her room and saw that her feet poking out underneath the bed. I pulled them out and she came out under the bed. 

"WHAT THE FUCK?!" I screamed and she covered her ears. "DID YOU PUT LIPSTICK ALL OVER MELISSA AND PUT THE BLANKET OVER HER?!"

"No," She started crying, so I walked out and slammed the door. I sat down and took a deep breath in, then out. She hated yelling and I didn't blame her. I needed to calm down before I talked to her. 

"You're in time out!" I shouted and locked the door from the outside-Kurt did that so that she wouldn't be able to escape. 

She started yanking on the door handle and screaming for me to let her out. 

"Hey, what happened?" Kurt asked me as I came downstairs. 

"Lorelai drew all over Melissa's face and outfit with lipstick and then pulled her blanket on her face."

"Are you serious?!" Kurt grew angry. 

"Don't talk to Lorelai; I'm handling it."

"I'm going to change her," Kurt walked upstairs and I sat down. 

"I could hear you yelling from down here," Dave said. 

I then noticed that Shelli was sitting next to Krist, so I said hi. "When did you get here?"

"Just now," She chuckled. 

"Oh my God, you heard me yelling," I sighed. "Kurt and I don't yell; we're not yellers. But goddamn was I so pissed off at her. I had to leave because she started crying-Lorelai. I was yelling too much."

"Do you spank your kids?"

"No. I got spanked when I was younger, so-"

"WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!" I heard Kurt shouting. 

"What the fuck?!" I ran upstairs and saw him yelling at Lorelai. I yanked his shirt and pulled him away form her. "I told you to leave her alone! I said that I was handling it! Go downstairs, Kurt! GO!"

He walked downstairs with Melissa in his arms and I shut the door and went inside of Lorelai's room. She was crying shaking. I opened my arms to her and held her, rocking her back and forth. 

"It's okay, I'm right here," I said softly. After she stopped crying, I forced her to stand up and face me. "What the fuck were you thinking Lorelai, hm?! You drew all over your little sister and pulled the blanket over her face!"

"I-I-I don't know, Mom," She said and looked around. "I'm sorry."

"Do you know that if you put a blanket over someone's face that they can stop breathing?"

"What?"

"If you do that, then no air can get in and they won't be able to breathe. If you don't breathe, then you can die. When you pulled the blanket over Melissa's face, she probably couldn't breathe."

"I didn't mean to do that," Her face fell. 

"I know. But you're going to be in time out for a little while because you know not to do that."

"Okay."

I shut the door and then walked downstairs. "What the actual fuck, Kurt? I told you to leave her the fuck alone." I grabbed Melissa and handed her to Dave. "Kurt, let's go talk outside."

We walked out back and I slammed the back door. 

"She almost suffocated my daughter-"

"Your daughter? Kurt, you are raising Lorelai as your own, you do realize that? Ever since Melissa's been born, you've been treating Lorelai like shit. You've been treating her like she's your stepdaughter, which she technically is, but we had a fucking agreement."

"I should be able to scold her, then, right?"

"I TOLD YOU THAT I HAD IT HANDLED!" I was starting to get so angry to the point where I was going to hurt something. "YOU DIDN'T FUCKING LISTEN TO ME AND YOU YELLED LIKE THAT WITH MELISSA IN YOUR ARMS!"

"I'm sorry, okay?! I won't do it again!"

"Good. You better not."

We walked inside and saw that everyone was playing with Melissa. I turned around and saw that Kurt was still outside. He was sitting on one of the chairs with his head in his hands. I walked back out and heard him crying. I took his hands and put them around my back and hugged him. 

"I'm sorry for yelling," I said. 

"I forgive you. I'm sorry for doing that, I really am."

"It's okay. I'm just really protective over her."

"And I'm really protective over my daughters. I don't want Lorelai doing that stuff. I need her to understand that it's not okay."

"I had it handled, Kurt."

He stood up. "I'll back off next time, okay?"

"Thank you."