“So, are you going to…hold on a minute.” There was a slight pause and then: “Darren, would you turn that shit the hell down! I can’t even hear myself!”
I barely managed to grasp the response of: “sorry, sweet pea” that followed her yell, as it was drowned in the heavy metal song which was blasting loudly in the background. And a moment later, all that could be heard was the stillness of silence.
Satisfied, she blew out an exasperated breath and returned to the call. “So, are you going to your dad’s for the summer break?”
“No.”
I could imagine her nodding her head slowly as she said, “makes sense.” But I knew her well enough to tell that wasn’t the end of the matter.
Hence, I wasn’t surprised when she added, “who would want to be with him and his Mrs. Prim and Proper wife? I’m telling you, that woman might have that whole goody-goody act going on, but I’m not buying it.”
I drew out a breath, already aware of all that would follow. She did this every single time – right from when I was a kid. She’d proceed to say how Kelly, my dad’s wife, wasn’t as nice as she seemed; how she tried to turn dad against us; and how she despised the fact that her husband had a child outside of their marriage.
With all the things she’d told me, I remember my five-year-old self being terrified the first time my dad asked that I spend the weekend with his family. As we inched closer to his house, with me riding shotgun in his sleek black car, my little hands wound tightly together, dreading our imminent arrival.
In my head, I envisioned Kelly to be this coldblooded witch, with horns growing out of her head, and spiky teeth ready to lounge at me in attack.
Hence, imagine my surprise when we arrived, only to be welcomed by a bright-eyed, smiling redhead, who held me in a long hug, after which she proceeded to show me the room she set up for me, face beaming all the while.
It turned out the scheming Kelly that had been described to me, and the one who was always eager to treat me to lots of cookies and ice cream, were two entirely different people. And of course, my five-year-old self dabbled between which version was true.
I’d stand at the doorway, sneaking peeks at her as she played with the baby who dad told me was Bella, my younger sister.
To be honest, a little part of me was watching to see whether her evil fangs would suddenly pop out. But if she did have them, they never did pop out.
Instead, she’d turn to me with a gentle smile on her face, saying, “hey, Aria. What are you doing standing out there? Come in.” Then, she’d ask if I wanted to play with Bella.
And when I’d timidly nod, she’d lay Bella on the mat, and I’d watch with childish glee as her little hands reached up for my pinky.
By the time of my third visit to my dad’s, I was eight, and wise enough to know for certain that Kelly was anything but the two-faced person she was painted out to be.
But twelve years later, and my mom still hadn’t changed her opinion of Kelly; her recent rants were proof.
“Ok, mom, that’s enough please,” I mused, fingers reaching to gently massage my temple. Hearing mom go on her Kelly rant never got less tiring. “And my not going to dad’s place has nothing to do with Kelly. You know she’s a really nice person.”
“I never should have let your dad take you on those weekends; she’s got you trapped under her spell too.”
The eye roll couldn’t be helped. But of course, I knew better than to try to argue with her on this. “Mom, let’s just drop this,” I stated placidly. And hoping to win her over once and for all, I used the magic words: “I really don’t want to talk about Kelly right now.”
Knowing her, the context in which I said it didn’t matter. The fact that I said I didn’t want to talk about Kelly was good enough for her. My mom has always been like that.
Although she would never admit it, I knew mom’s dislike for Kelly was borne from disappointment at the fact that dad decided to stay in his marriage with her, rather than leave her for mom as she’d hoped he would.
But I wouldn’t be the one to tell her that. So, for now, I was content with the fact that she seemed pacified. “You’re right, munchkin,” she sighed in resignation. “I called to talk to you, who cares about that woman?”
I wanted to tell her that she’s spent the last ten minutes talking about ‘that woman,’ but for fear of another Kelly rant, refrained from doing so.
“Anyway,” she started. “How about you come home? You could get to meet Darren. He’s so excited to meet you, you know.”
“Yeah, I can imagine,” I remarked dryly – not like she noticed though.
She was already saying, “it would be nice. He’s a really great guy; I bet you’ll like him.”
As much as I liked John, Bo, Trey, and the other two men she’s been with in the past three years?
But again, I didn’t voice the thought.
I instead said, “as nice as that sounds, I think I’ll just stick around here for the break.”
“Really, munchkin? Are you sure about that?”
“Yeah. Besides, it’d give me time to start prepping for the next semester.”
“Oh, ok. If that’s what you want then.”
“Yeah, mom. Ok then, by—”
“And hey, won’t that friend of yours be there?” Always one for the details, she added, “you know, the really handsome one. Damn, that boy is fine! They don’t make many like him anymore.”
Oh god, not again.
But it was too late. My mom had already gone into another of her Aiden praise chants. And I, on my part, had to endure the torture of listening to her describe him as ‘a sweet fine delicious specimen of a male.’
I know – my cringe levels were rising too. It’s one thing when your mom jokes about getting it on with your best friend, and it’s another when you know she’s totally capable of doing so.
In the end, all I could manage was: “mom, please stop being gross, and honestly, slightly creepy too.”
That earned a throaty laugh from her. “Ok, I’m sorry. You’re always so defensive about him. You know, you should really consider getting together with him. Believe me, there is a scarcity of good guys out there…”
“Jesus, mom,” I cried. “We’re just good friends, can you please stop this craziness?”
“Fine,” she drawled. “But listen to me, Aria.”
Oh Lord, why?
“You might think it’s weird or whatever, but dating a friend is actually really great because you both already know, love and understand everything about each other. The dating part would simply be like an extension of that friendship.”
Though I was still dying with cringe from my mom’s absurd advice, I found myself stopping to mull over that last part. But of course, it was short-lived with her addition of: “it’s just an extension with lots of sex.”
Just great! I was officially living in a nightmare. And all I could do to save myself from it was declare, “ok, I’m hanging up now. Thanks for calling. Love you. Bye.”
“Love you too, munchkin. Bye, bab—”
At the beep that followed the end of the call, I finally drew out a long, frustrated sigh – the kind only my mom could elicit from me. Drawing out another breath, I reached for the door handle, and a moment later, I was in my tiny sitting room, slumping on the couch beside him.
“So, I’m guessing that was fun,” he remarked lightly.
My groan was enough of an answer. “If you’re talking hearing her complain about Kelly, wanting me to meet her new boyfriend who’s like five years older than me, and oh, advising me to have lots of sex with you because apparently, guys are scarce out there, then yeah, it was fun,” I finished in one exasperated breath.
“Ok,” he started with a soft chuckle. “First off, breathe. And second, can we go back to that part about us having lots of sex? Because I, for one, am really interested in parental wisdom.”
That earned him a well-deserved whack on the arm, the both of us chortling, with mine coming out between bursts of: “you are such a perv!”
“I was just saying,” he answered oh-so-innocently.
In the absence of the throaty sounds though, his voice sliced through, its earlier playfulness gone. “Are you okay?” He asked, genuine concern clouding his features.
“I don’t know,” I admitted, dropping my head on chest, one arm draping around him, to which he wrapped an arm around me in response, leaving me nestling in its warmth. “I guess I’m just tired of dealing with the same old thing.”
“Hey,” he called softly, to which I hummed a response. “Sometimes, the whole family thing can be really crazy, even suffocating with all the drama and stuff. But at the end of the day, it is what it is – there’s no getting away from it. So, all we can do is to try and ignore all the messy stuff and focus on the good parts; on those moments when it’s not all shit.”
For a moment there, I thought I sensed something like nostalgia in his voice, but I dismissed it as imagination.
“Maybe you’re right,” I mused. “But wait, how do you know all this? Oh my god, don’t tell me rich people also have family drama.” I finished with an exaggerated gasp, a sly grin remaining on my face soon after.
That earned an eye roll from him. “Alright, that’s it.” His words were accompanied by a playful shove which left me falling over the couch and landing butt-first on the floor – much to his amusement.
“Aiden, you’re so dead” I flared, but if anything, that just made him laugh more. However, the sounds were soon cut off by the ringing of a phone – specifically, his phone.
But the sound was as fleeting as the unreadable look on his face when he stared at the screen. And a moment later, he was pocketing the device.
“Who was that?”
“Oh, it’s nothing,” came his hurried response. A little too hurried if you asked me, which only heightened my curiosity. I knew for a fact that it wasn’t Elle – thanks to the stunt I pulled earlier today, I’m pretty sure she wouldn’t be calling him anytime soon.
So, whose call could he possibly be ignoring?
Plus, this wasn’t the first time this had happened tonight.
Hence, the meaningful look I threw at him when I said, “Aiden.”
“Ok, fine,” he sighed dramatically. However, his answer wasn’t quite what I was expecting. “It’s my grandma.”
“But why would you not want to take your grandma’s calls?”
“Because I know she’s going to say the same old things – that I party too hard, and that I sleep around.”
“But you do both of those things,” I stated matter-of-factly.
But in the face of his mock glare, I made a show of zipping my lips, to which he betrayed a small titter. However, the humor was short-lived.
“Yeah, I do those things, but that doesn’t mean I want to be reminded of it every time. Besides I know my grandma, she must be up to something for her to decide to call me,” he mused, eyes thoughtful.
Anyone who saw him right now, would probably think he was a detective trying to figure out the next move of some dangerous criminal.
But in the two years I’ve known him, I’d come to see that like most things involving his grandma, Aiden was prone to overthinking. Well, that’s when he did decide to talk about her – which wasn’t a lot.
It didn’t take a shrink to realize that he and his grandma didn’t exactly get along. I wasn’t really sure why though, as from my first meeting with his grandma around the time when freshman year was coming to a close, she didn’t seem so bad.
Yes, I would admit she had this aristocratic elegance about her, and that she intimidated the hell out of me when those sharp blue eyes of hers bored into mine as she questioned my relationship with Aiden.
Although to be fair, after explaining we were just friends, she did tone down the intensity a little. And as strange as it sounds, she seemed somewhat impressed as well.
Anyway, the point was that she didn’t seem so bad to me. Plus, Aiden told me later that she admitted to liking me – so yeah, I wouldn’t consider her to be Godzilla or something.
But it wasn’t quite the same for Aiden. Hence, my saying, “come on, you never know. She might just want to check up on you or something. You shouldn’t ignore her like that.”
He seemed like he wanted to say something else but, changed his mind at the last minute and instead opted for: “fine. I won’t ignore it if she calls again.”
As if on cue, his phone lit up – but with a message notification this time.
“It’s my grandma,” he stated, in response to my unspoken question.
“Oh. That’s good I guess.”
But when he was still staring at his phone with that same unreadable expression from earlier, I began to suspect that I might have guessed wrong.
“Aiden,” I called, voice cautious.
“She’s having her birthday party next week.”
“That’s great,” I gushed. But in the face of his steely silence, I found myself adding, “right?”
“She wants me to come home.” I didn’t fail to notice the slight hesitation at the last part, as though the word felt alien to his lips. But I chose to focus on the pressing question at hand.
“And you don’t want to go?”
“It’s a little more complicated than that, Ri. It’s…I don’t know. It’s hard to explain. I mean, it’s one week with my grandma. I barely managed to make it through one day with her, and now I’m expected to be with her for the week.”
“But won’t your mom and sister be there too?”
“Yeah, they will. That’s pretty much the only good thing in all of this.” I caught the trace of a smile on his face – that kind that always followed whenever he spoke of his mom and sister.
Strangely though, as much as he seemed to care for his mom, the number of times he’d brought her up in a conversation were even lesser than with his grandma.
But yet again, it was one of those things I chose not to probe into. How could I? Given how far away my family was from the semblance of what could qualify as an ideal family relationship, I was the last person to question someone else’s family life.
What I could say though, was: “see? You won’t be alone with her. Trust me, it’s always better to have other people, or at least someone in situations like these.
Take my Aunt Kate for example, she always gets badgered about her job whenever she comes around for the holidays. So, each year, she brings a friend with her. No one wants to start nagging her in front of her friend. Plus, I’m pretty sure the idea is to limit making conversation with the rest of the family as much as possible.”
“And it always works?”
“Well,” I drawled. “Let’s just say about 98% of the time.”
He cocked a knowing brow, and I found myself conceding, “ok, maybe 90%”
“Really?” he questioned, his amusement clear.
“Fine,” I sighed dramatically. “Let’s just leave it at 50%,” I chirped, earning a small laugh from him.
“50% success rate or not, that isn’t actually such a bad idea if you think about it.”
“So, what? You’re going to take someone with you for the week?” I asked sarcastically.
Hence, imagine my surprise when he nodded, saying, “yeah.”
I was pretty sure my mouth hung open a little longer than it should. I knew I suggested it, but the thought of Aiden being open to the idea of taking someone to spend a whole week with his family, was almost unimaginable. It was just so…un-Aiden. And that was precisely why I came to the conclusion that he must be joking around as usual. So, I decided to play along with it.
“Yeah, right,” I quipped between chuckles. “And who are you going to take with you? Elle? Amanda? Joan? Tammy? Or wait a minute…” The sly grin came even before the words slipped off my lips. “Is it Crazy Jessica?”
He shot me the look that always came with the mention of that name – pure horror. “Sometimes, I really think you hate me or something.”
“I was just saying,” I offered, feigning meekness.
“Of course, you were,” he said lightly, obviously seeing right through my act. And I found myself betraying a chortle. “Anyway,” he continued, the earlier lightness fading out his voice. “I kind of have someone else in mind. Someone who is, you know…cooler, more fun and totally awesome in every way.”
“That sounds like something you’d say when you’re trying to butter me up to do something for you,” I remarked blithely, only to find him staring back at me with that look that…
No way!
“What?” I cried. “You really want me to go with you to your grandma’s? Because that’s the craziest thing you’ve ever suggested, and that’s counting the Halloween costumes you chose for us last year.”
“Ok, first off, those costumes rocked. And second, you know you’re the only one I can feel comfortable enough bringing to something like that. Plus, my grandma really likes you, and it’s just for a week. Come on, Ri. Please.” He finished with those damn hard to resist pleading eyes of his.
Still, my apprehensions remained. “I don’t know,” I drawled. “A week with your family is a bit…you know I’m not the most sociable person out there.”
“Trust me, they’ll love you.”
“And how can you be sure of that?”
“Because I love you. And I know they’ll love you too.”
“Is this another of those lies you tell to butter me up?” I asked, eyeing him with exaggerated suspicion.
“Is it working?” He asked back, lips upturned in a playful smirk.
“Oh well…maybe a little more praising my brilliance, and of how you can’t live without me.”
“Ok, there’s a limit to how many lies I can tell,” he quipped, earning himself a light shove, to which he let out a mock cry. And despite myself, I couldn’t help the giggles that escaped my lips at his antics.
“Fine,” I sighed dramatically. “I’ll do it.”
“Really?” The grin that lit up his face left me betraying a small smile of my own. But to him, I simply shrugged.
“It’s just one week after all. What’s the worst that could happen?” But even as the question left my lips, I could not help thinking about what could possibly happen.
I guess I’d just have to wait to find out. For now, though, I could focus on the one thing that was certain – I had plans for the summer break.
How it was going to turn out, was still left to be seen.