enough for you ⇒ the summer i turned pretty

TWENTY!

TW: talk of substance abuse

when they got to the country club it was empty, as expected. cam unlocked the doors with his mom's code.

"what are we supposed to do now?" taylor wondered.

"i will be scavenging through the kitchen" skye said, "i need something other than sugar in my body."

"allow me to escort you to the kitchen!" cam offered.

avalon went over to mateo who was still fuming. he wasn't too focused on the summer house. all he could think of was just seeing his dad again.

mateo never really loved the beach house as much as everyone else did. mostly because he was never really there.

"let's go talk." she whispered to him. the two siblings walked out of the room to find somewhere to talk.

henry plopped onto one of the couches and got comfortable. niki sat on the end on one of the couch arms.

"what are you doing?" she questioned him.

he put his arms under his head and stretched out, "i'm chillaxing. what else are we supposed to do?"

"go comfort our friends." she nodded at him.

all he did was shrug which resulted in an eye roll from niki.

mateo and avalon found one of the dressing rooms that was used at the deb ball. being in that room reminded avalon of susannah, and how everything went downhill after the ball.

they both took a seat on the chairs in front of the mirrors. avalon rolled her lips, "so... dad's back."

"yeah..." he sighed deeply.

"what... are we gonna do?"

"there's nothing TO do, avalon. i'm just hoping we don't see his face again." he squeezed his hands out of anger.

"but he has to be here for a reason, right? he knows we come here in the summer. it can't be a coincidence." she explained, playing with her fingers nervously.

"i fucking hope it's just a coincidence." he huffed.

avalon looked over to her brother. she hadn't realized how much their dad affected him too. she had always thought of her dad and her brother as the problem. but now that her brother was really trying to better himself, their dad was the monster to both of them.

"if we happen to see him again," she spoke slowly, "how should we handle it?"

he knew what she meant. she didn't want him getting all angry again.

"i won't fuck it up. i know you want answers from him so i won't take that from you." he looked up at her with sincere eyes.

she could feel tears building up in her eyes. the more she held them back, the worse the pain was in her throat.

"teo, what was he like... the last time you saw him? besides today."

"a shitty father." he replied quickly.

she just nodded.

he sighed, getting ready to spill his guts out. "when mom kicked us out, i didn't care. all i cared about was getting more alcohol. being with dad meant i would get exactly that." he explained, "i didn't start to realize how bad he was until we left you guys. he wasn't just addicted to alcohol, avie." he looked down at his hands while tears started to form in his eyes.

it hurt avalon so much to see her brother like this. she had realized that their dad had put mateo through way more shit than her. she never thought of it that way until now. mateo wasn't a monster like their dad. he was a good kid until their dad fucked him up.

"i'm so sorry i wasn't there for you." she said with tears rolling down her face.

"hey, no. don't even go there." he patted her on the shoulder. "don't ever blame yourself for that. i was the one that should've been there."

the two stared at each other with looks of empathy. the last time she had a moment like this with her brother was when they were in middle school. after that, their relationship went downhill. he began to hangout with the wrong group of people with the influence of their dad.

avalon thought for a moment. "what- um- how long do you think he's been with a new family?" she wondered.

"honestly, i don't know. i haven't seen him in like three years." he told her.

"how far in did he leave you?" she questioned.

"after about a month. throughout the year he would come find me again and fuck everything up. not like i wasn't doing that on my own already..." he sniffled his nose. "after the first year went by, he stopped showing up. he wasn't looking for me anymore. i wasn't looking for him either."

"during that time, was he ever with anyone? did he mention anything?" she asked him.

he rested his arm on the table and cupped his face with his hand. "i was fucked up half of the time. i don't remember."

she bit down on her lip and began to think. "i wonder how he treats stella."

"who?"

"stella. the girl that was there with him. she's his step daughter apparently."

"how the hell do you know her name?" he sat up, intrigued.

"ironically, we met just before i saw him. i was um- having a panic attack..." she paused. "she was there to help me. i remember when we were in the bathroom she mentioned something about her step dad wondering where she was. never in a million years would i have thought it was our dad."

"panic attack?" he asked.

"yeah."

"you get those often?"

she shrugged.

"well, did she know you were his daughter?" he wondered.

"it didn't seem like it. when i ran into him outside he told her. she seemed surprised. i guess she could've been faking it or something."

"maybe, maybe not." he began to stand up. "let's just forget about this tonight. you guys have bigger problems with the beach house."

she stood up with him, "yeah, but our problem is just as important."

he shook his head. "he doesn't get to be more important than that house. it means a lot to you. he doesn't."

the two smiled at each other in understanding. they walked out into the hallway in search of their friends.

A/N: woah look at me being active!!! i've had so much motivation to write recently and i hope it stays that way lol

THANK YOU FOR READING 🤍🤍

things are getting crazyyyyy