Molly talked on and on and on. I'd stopped listening around the fifth time she'd mentioned her after school soccer practice.
I could feel Mom's eyes on the crown of my head, flickering between where my sister sat at the head of the dinner table and where I sat across from her, consistently. Between swallows I prayed she would just continue to listen to Molly's rants and leave me alone.
My stomach was in knots. It had been in knots all day. The closer the sun edged towards the horizon, the tighter those knots became. I popped enough beef, mashed potatoes and gravy into my mouth to keep anyone from thinking I could talk without choking, and then turned towards Molly, as if I had been listening the entire time.
The blond hair, she had inherited from Mom, was up in a very messy bun. One knee was drawn to her chest, clad in sweatpants that proudly displayed our high school's team name, while the the thin tank top she wore barely covered the star pattern of her bra. I raised my eyebrow and chewed slowly. We were going to talk about that.
"-tha says that there is a possibility that the school ahead of us in Roxbury really has a player on their varsity team who was taking steroids. If that's true then there is no way they're going to be able to compete in regionals! We automatically move up the ranks two spaces-"
I could feel my phone vibrate in the pocket of my jeans. I hadn't meant to flinch, but the buzz against my skin sent my heart beating a mile a minute. Molly was oblivious, but Mom caught my eye as I let my fork clank obnoxiously against my plate. My hand reached under the table, fingers digging into my thigh as I attempted to slide the thin body of my phone from my front pocket. When I finally got it out the phone vibrated again, the screen lighting up, reminding me I still hadn't checked my previous message.
ToMMy😎: the ihop on denten's and christy lane in 10
Shit. How was I going to get out of here in ten minutes? My thumb slid across the screen, finding the circular home button, and feeding my finger print to the sensor, before typing a quick reply and blacking out the screen again. I looked back up, feeling as if I'd been sucked back into an alternate reality with sound and movement, the black at the edge of my vision receding into warm lamp light and fire light from the gas fireplace.
Mom's gaze met mine. Molly took this exact moment to end her story, and take a drink of water, before happily going back to her meal. Well done Molls.
Mom cleared her throat lowering her fork. Chewing slowly, she eyed me warily.
"What are you up to tonight, Cole?" she asked finally.
I picked up my own glass of water and took a mouthful, wanting to wash away the raw taste that had suddenly crept up the back of my throat.
"Nothing much, I was going to go meet the guys down at the basketball courts." I winced as the water squeezed its way down my throat, traces of guilt and beef still lingering in my mouth.
"Good idea. Your free-throw sucks." Molly quipped, looking up at me through her bangs, grinning deviously.
A smirk tugged at the corner of my lip.
"Smart ass."
Mom made a short and sharp sound of disapproval. I glanced at her, seeing that she was more than a little put out.
"Do you have any homework? I don't want you going anywhere until you have that all done."
I inwardly rolled my eyes, a bristling annoyance curling in the pit of my stomach.
"I finished my homework in free period today."
"Who are the 'guys' then?" Mom repeated.
"Nathan, Tommy and Mac-"
"And where there is Mac there is also Haley." Molly snickered, her fork stabbing blindly at her food.
"Molly. Shut up."
Her face contorted in aggravation as she stuck her tongue out at me.
"Real mature."
She regarded me cooly around a fork full of food.
"Would the two of you quit it? Molly you're not 12 anymore. You want me to treat you like a young lady, you start acting like one. Stop taking jabs at your brother."
The gloat that rose in my chest was quickly diminished into only slight satisfaction as Mom turned back to me.
"And you. I don't like you hanging out with Mac-"
I groaned. Not this again.
"Mom, Mac-"
"Is a delinquent, a troublemaker with a penchant for finding authority to defy, and a 19 year old with a 16 year old girlfriend. His reputation far precedes him darling, you don't have to say a word."
My reaction to her words were involuntary. Anger washed over me in a wave of heat that I could feel stain my neck and cheeks a blotchy red. My chair creaked as I sat forward, my left hand curling into a vice grip around the wood of the seat rail, so that it was biting into the flesh of my palm, as, for the first time that evening, I met Mom's gaze head on.
"Really? We're going to talk about reputations based on stupid rumours now?"
When she flinched, she looked stunned. Something inside me snapped, the urge to start screaming at her building in my throat. But I wouldn't. I couldn't utter a sound. Not after everything... After everything, how could she sit there and pass judgement about things- about situations, she didn't know?
"Cole." Molly's voice always got higher when she was nervous, and right then she all but squeaked.
"I won't apologize for being concerned." Mom's eyes stayed fastened on mine, and that's why I could see it. That flickering emotion that clawed at my insides and put resentment in my stomach. It sent my head spinning, a memory knocking at the door I had locked it behind. It wouldn't get out.
"No you're not one to really apologize." I spat, sharper words dancing on the tip of my tongue. At this point I couldn't control the edge to my voice, the pressure it caused on my lungs. I felt trapped. I felt overwhelmed. I needed out. I pushed my chair back from the table, ducking my head, trembling.
"Don't you dare move!"
When I looked back up she was stood leaning over the table.
"You are not leaving this house."
I should keep my mouth shut. I should walk away. Don't say a word.
"I said I was going to meet the guys and I am!"
"You are not going to be out till all hours of the night, doing God knows what with those boys! Where I can't see you, where I can't know what you're doing-"
"The fact that after all this time you still don't trust me, is sickening mom! You never have!"
"How can I? You haven't done anything to earn my trust!"
"I'm not Dad, Mom! Shouldn't that be enough!?"
The words were out before I could stop them; I couldn't help myself. I had my father's temper, if nothing else.
I looked at her face quickly, but regretted it. Her eyes had glazed over, the rims becoming blood red. The colour was gone from her face, her lower lip quivering, and the sad thing was, at that moment a big part of me didn't care. And that terrified me.
Molly made a sound close to a whimper. I whipped my eyes towards her and all she did was gaze up with me with this look that had that sickening feeling of entrapment begin to squeeze away at my insides again.
The room felt as if it were closing in all around me, and my temples pounded under the invisible pressure. I had to get out.
I stood too quickly, knocking over my chair. They both jumped, startled, as I fled from the table. I got my sneakers on, grabbed my wallet and keys and opened the front door, letting the storm shutter slam behind me, hearing the windows rattle throughout the house.
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The image above is a representation of our protagonist Cole Martin
YOU ARE READING
Just Bent
Teen Fiction"Something so completely beautiful shouldn't hurt you so completely. Sometimes it just does. I met her when my life was falling apart. She was falling apart too, but she picked up my pieces instead. Being good with words helps. Being bad with feelin...
