Love, Winter (an AJR Fanfiction story)

36. Winter

~•The Next Day•~

  
"We're gonna stay home today." Dad tells me as he wakes me up.

"What? Why?" I say, rubbing my eyes.

"Everything's happening at once, and we need to take a break, okay?"

"How?"

"We're just gonna relax at home."

"O-ok..."

   We walk downstairs. Everyone else is awake.

"Dad?" Ava asks, "Will I still get to go to basketball practice?"

"That's up to you." Uncle Jack replies. "Do you want to?"

"Yeah."

   Uncle Adam's eyebrows lower, "So Ava can go to basketball practice but not go to school?"

   Uncle Jack ignores him.

   Dad pulls me away from the two, taking me to the living room.

   I look up to him, "What exactly are we gonna do today?"

"I don't know." He shrugs.

"Should we just... talk?"

"About?"

"I don't know..." I sigh. "Mom?"

"What do you want to know about her?"

"Where did you guys meet?"

"A store."

   I laugh.

"What's so funny?" He starts to laugh a little, too.

"Out of all the places... a store?"

"...Yeah?"

   I start cracking up.

"What's going on?" Uncle Jack says from the kitchen.

"He's laughing because me and Ally met at a store." Dad replies.

   My laugh starts to fade away, and the silence from the kitchen invades the entire house.

"Is... something wrong?" I whisper to Dad.

"I don't know." He looks over to everyone. They're not talking to each other. Ava looks extremely uncomfortable, noticing how mad Uncle Jack is with Uncle Adam, and none of us know why.

"What's happening, Dad?" I ask him.

"From what I know, they're not getting along. Uncle Jack wanted Sam to find out about the baby, but Uncle Adam didn't. So now that she knows, they've been kind of..."

"Pissed off?" I ask.

   He frowns because of the words I chose.

"Sorry." I shrug.

"It's fine, and yes, they're pretty mad."

   I realize how Dad wasn't whispering. They could hear everything.

"Well I wouldn't have done what I did if Adam actually spoke up." Uncle Jack said.

"I thought you guys were done arguing. What happenedm" Aunt Mackenzie asked.

"He had to bring the situation up again." Uncle Adam said, raising his voice.

   I walk away from everyone, back to my room. Dad follows me.

"They won't stop fighting, huh?" I ask him.

"Yeah." He looks back. "That's not the Jack and Adam I remember. Sorry you have to listen to them bickering."

   I shrug, "It's not a big deal."

"He's not really setting a good example for Ava, either."

"Nah. But I bet she knows right from wrong."

   I can hear them arguing downstairs, and Aunt Mackenzie and Emma trying to calm them down.

   This is a mess.