Perspective

Truth Or Dare

"I think it might be a bit less awkward if she actually liked me." 

"I think she does." I said casually. "Maybe you should spend more time with her." 

"Why?" 

"Well, because she's my friend. And we hang out a lot together. I just want us all to get along." 

"Okay. I'll try to get along better with her." He said. "

"Good." I said with a smile. The song suddenly stopped and I glanced at my parents. They had stopped dancing and my father was staring into my mothers' eyes. 

"I forgot how great our wedding was." He exclaimed. She grinned and nodded. 

"Me too." She said. I separated from my friends as they all continued to eat and talk in the dining room and I approached my parents. I glanced back and forth between them and I took a deep breath. 

"Mom, dad, I'm sorry. This was my way of trying to fix things and I'm sorry. For being such a pain in the ass, before. And I'm sorry I made you fight the other night." I said quietly. My parents both turned to me. 

"What?" Dad asked with a confused glance. 

"Charly, we argue a lot. But it's not your fault. We work things out, we work through it as best as we can. But it's not because of you. We appreciate that you did this, we haven't had a romantic dance like that in years but there's nothing to fix." Mom exclaimed. 

"Your mother and I will always love each other, even though we've had really rough patches. A lot of people may not have pulled through, but we promise you we did." My mother's eyes flickered to my dad and he glanced back down at her for a few moments. Suddenly they were the only two in the room and I smiled softly and turned back towards the dining room, my thumbs hooking to the pockets of my jeans. 

When I headed back into the dining room, Joey glanced over at me with a smile.

"I thought that was nice." He commented. I gently smiled. 

"Thanks." 

"You're pretty involved with your parents, huh?" I shrugged. 

"I was just trying to fix things."  I said. He nodded. 

"That's cool." He told me sincerely. I bit my lip and nodded, as I pulled out my cell phone to order pizza for my friends. 

We had to wait thirty minutes for the pizza. In the meantime, we hung out at our dining room table, sitting in our same spots. Mostly we were just talking. Joey tried to talk to Ella more but she still seemed reluctant to get closer to him. It was frustrating me. 

About fifteen minutes after ordering the pizza, the doorbell rang. I got up from the table with the twenty dollars my parents left on the table. I crossed over to the door and swung it open. 

"Hi, how are-" I started, but I stopped as I looked up to see Keith Carlisle. In his regular attire of a brown leather jacket and skinny jeans. His bronze hair perfectly quaffed. Immediately, I pushed the door back to shut it tightly but his hand slammed on the wood to shove it back open and he overpowered my attempt to shut it. 

"What the hell," I growled at him. "What are you doing here?" 

"I just came to wish you a happy birthday. We've spent every single one of your birthdays together since ninth grade." 

"Well not this year." I snarled. 

"You have every right to hate me. I know I've been a jack ass. But I just came to wish you a happy birthday."