Blank Skies

40

Rebecca

Andre holds the door open for the both of us to walk into my parent's house, "Who is it?" My dad yells from somewhere in the house, "Its Becca!" I call out as I hang my jacket up in the closet, "This seems a little sketchy." Andre whispers as he laughs from behind me as he hangs up his jacket too.

He isn't wrong, the house looks more cleaner than usual and there is a smell as if someone is actually cooking-but it smells like its burning. "DAMN YOU!" Kaitlyn yells from the kitchen and I decide that it's best to see what's going on in there.

"Kait?" I round the corner and see the smoke coming out of the oven. I cover my mouth and go to the back door and open it, "I wanted to do one good thing." She begins to tear up and I take a towel and fan the smoke.

Andre carries the smoky dish out the back door so it doesn't set of the fire alarms, "We can come up with something else." I say as I continue to fan away the smoke and she sits on the kitchen floor with her head in her hands.

Andre comes back in and fans the door to draw the smoke out, "I can't do anything." She cries. I look at Andre and he nods towards her, "Stop it okay." She shakes her head, "We can fix something else." She scoffs, "Fine then you make it." She gets up and runs out of the kitchen leaving Andre and I alone with nothing to go on.

"Did she just?" I say to myself putting down the towel looking at an amused Andre, "Well I guess I can come up with something." Andre laughs leaning against the counter.

**

I stand over the cutting board as Andre helps me to cut up some vegetables, "So what are we doing with these?" I shake my head, "Go hang out babe, I got this." I scrape the cut up pieces of vegetables into a saucepan, "I'm not leaving you to do this alone." He says bumping his hip with mine, "I'm fine seriously." I say and he shakes his head, "If you work up too much of a sweat you'll ruin your makeup."

I take a step back and he smiles and dumps his into the same pan, "Have I ever told you I love you?" I put the pan on the stove and drizzle some oil over them.  I her the sink faucet turn on and things moving the water around, "Um what are you guys doing?" Jack says as I turn on the burner.

"Cooking." He laughs, "Since when can you cook?" I shrug, "He taught me." I nudge to Andre. I turn around and watch as Andre turns off the water and sits the dishes into the holder to dry.

He walks to the fridge and gets out a brown paper bag, "Those are the pork chops we were supposed to have but Kait wanted to make something special." Andre nods and then a little bulb lights up and he turns quiet and that's when he gets into what he's cooking. I move out of the way and Andre starts going through drawers and the cabinets.

"So where's Kait?" Jack asks me, "No clue, she almost started a fire and cried running off." Jack sits down on one of the bar stools, "I took it outside, so fair warning don't go in the backyard." Andre says pouring spices over the meat and then into a breading of some sort.

I watch as Jack gets excited, "Fried pork chops?" Jack asks excitingly, "My specialty." Andre smiles, "You know you found a good one Becks, I thought you would've accidentally killed yourself by now." Jack says making me roll my eyes, "Shut up."

Andre chuckles and I lightly smack his shoulder, "Both of you be quiet." Jack continues to laugh as I turn around to stir the dish on the stove, "What are you two doing?" My dad says laughing from the doorway, "You come in here and take over my kitchen." He says and sits down at the bar next to Jack.

"Damn." He mumbles and we watch as Andre cooks the meat on the stove. I turn around to find Jack giving my dad a look. My dad looks at me and gives me a small smile, "Listen Rebecca-" The door bell rings and I nod, "You invited them and didn't tell me."

Andre continues cooking the pork and I stand off to the side, "This was not my idea." I feel my hands begin to shake, "You still could've told me." Andre washes his hands and covers me from the doorway at a angle.

"I'm gonna go away for a minute." I say covering my mouth as I move around Andre, but he blocks me as he dries his hands. "You're okay." He says softly holding my face, "It's okay." I shake my head and wrap my wraps around his body.

He rubs my back softly and rests his head in mine, "You aren't alone this time." He says and kisses my cheek, "This time?" My dad says, "If it's the same people, they were outside my apartment a couple days ago."

"Are you sure?" He asks and I let go of Andre to look at him, "Yeah." He's really starting to get mad at this point at this point, "I'm going to kill your mother." The room falls silent except for the sounds of the food cooking. I listen for the voices and I catch way more than three, including my mother.

I peek around the corner and see a group of people huddling by the door. The lady and the man from outside my apartment were among them along with little kids and people around my age.

I turn around and look at Andre, "Fuck." I mumble and hold the wall for support, "You alright?" Jack asks and I shake my head, "I don't think so." I fan my face and Andre looks over towards me, "Why don't you come sit down?" I nod and walk over to the pulled out chair.

I sit down and tuck some hair behind my ear, "Rebecca everything is going to be fine, you just have to trust me on this." My dad says calmly and I sit in between him and Jack. Jack wraps his arm around my shoulders and moves me from side to side slightly.

"Is this just all a big misunderstanding?" I ask and the boys take turns looking at each other and then back at me, "What do you mean?" Andre tilts his head to the side as my dad speaks, "Are you sure that's them?" My voice is soft as I speak.

My dad turns his body towards me, "I've been keeping in touch with them since you were little sweetheart and we have shared pictures." I rub my arm, "They're your real parents."

Wow.

Rebecca Peterson's life just gets wilder.

I nod and stay to myself as usual, "What are you doing?" My mom says as if she was just laughing and having a good time, "Don't be a cry baby." She saunters to the fridge and grabs a water bottle, "Seriously," she pauses and takes a sip from the bottle, "man up." She rolls her eyes and walks out.

"It's almost as if I never left." Jack chuckles and nudges my arm as my words fill his ears. Andre continues to stir the food in the pan, "Why don't we have a dance party?" Jack says peeking around the corner and I roll my eyes, "Mom will kill you." Dad says laughing as he gets up from his chair, "We should go in there." They share a look and then their eyes move back onto me, "I'm not glass, I'm not going to break."

Or at least I hope so.