The 4th of July was always amazing at the house. Susannah decorated the whole house, Jeremiah usually helped her. They both had an eye for that sort of a thing. Conrad, Steven and I would steam clams and then we would all shoot off fireworks. The dads came up for the weekend.
Dad has always been my favourite parent. I'd always felt a bit guilty about it. But after the divorce, I found myself really missing his presence around the house and would never miss a chance to meet him. His new apartment was really depressing though. I mean a 40- something man in a bachelor pad is sad in its own right. Plus, now he was dating some grad student.
This year was different obviously. I stood outside the kitchen, trying to gather myself. I was about to face Susannah for the first time since- you know.
"Morning Mads," Jeremiah called out.
"Morning," I said back.
I must've looked nervous because Conrad walked up from behind me and whispered in my ear, "Don't worry, you're doing great."
I looked up to see Mom and Susannah smiling at us sneakily. Great, so Mom knows. I stepped away from Conrad but whispered, "Thanks."
He then left to clean the clams.
"I still don't understand why you invited Dad's girlfriend," Steven complained.
"Wait, Victoria's coming today?" I asked. Mom nodded.
"Why do you know her name?" asked Steven.
"I asked dad. And I follow her on Instagram. She's cool," I said. Steven still looked disgusted. I huffed in annoyance, "Look don't think of her as Dad's girlfriend, just as some random girl he knows. And as random girls go, she's pretty cool."
Mom smiled at me, "This is why you're your dad's favourite." I smiled back.
"Speaking of dads, yours called," Susannah said to Jeremiah. "He's in London, he can't make it."
Jeremiah looked pretty disappointed, I felt bad for him.
Conrad walked into the kitchen, "Did you say Dad can't make it?" When Susannah confirmed it, he just leaned against the counter, smiling to himself. I raised an eyebrow at him, and he shook his head.
*****
"She's hot," Jeremiah said. Mom and Susannah were talking to Dad and Victoria outside.
"Yeah, I told you," I said.
"Dude ew," said Steven.
"That could be their future stepmom," Conrad said, grinning at me.
"Dude what the hell," Steven said. He and Conrad started a play fight.
"C'mon they're coming in," said Jeremiah, and he and Conrad left the room.
"Hey, come give your old man a hug," Dad said.
I grinned and hugged him.
"This is Victoria," Dad introduced.
"Hi guys, its really great to meet you. I've heard nothing but five-star reviews," she said.
I smiled at her. Yeah, she was alright.
*****
"Shayles!" I yelled, running up to hug her. I missed her. She was always off with Steven. Or Gigi. Ugh.
"Alright can you release her from your death grip? I wanna introduce her to mom and dad," Steven said.
I rolled my eyes, but pulled away.
Shayla was really good at this sort of stuff. Meeting new people, leaving a lasting and unique impression. I had always admired it. But she once told me that the first time she met me, she thought I was one of those people she would never forget. It was the best compliment I had ever received.
Shayla was talking to mom and dad, while I just nodded along. Jeremiah and Belly then walked up with Victoria, just as Gigi called out to Shayla saying she had to read a text. I rolled my eyes "You should really pull the scheme," I said to her.
"Shut up," she said. "Duty calls. But it was so nice to meet the both of you. You have really raised an incredible son. He's extremely respectful. Don't know about her though," she said, pointing at me. I flipped her off.
"What scheme?" Steven asked me.
"Give Gigi terrible advice and watch her fall on her face," I replied.
Jeremiah laughed. "You mean all this time she was acting on good advice?"
"Hey let me see you do a better job," Steven defended.
"Okay, if I had a sure shot way of impressing Jeremiah," I paused and looked at him. He looked back with a soft smile. "I'd sell it by the dozen and pay for college," I finished. He laughed.
"Okay but I like Shayla, Steven," Mom said. "She's confident, knows who she is. I'm surprised a girl like that would want to a deb."
I raised my eyebrows. Damn, mom. Shady.
*****
I walked into the kitchen to find Belly, Jeremiah and Conrad making some sort of a drink. In Mr. Fisher's blender.
"No way," I said. "I haven't seen that thing since the Kool Aid debacle." Everyone laughed. "What are you making?"
"Victoria's pomegranate margaritas," Belly said. "But with a twist."
I watched as she dumped tequila into the mixture. Good, I needed it today. I hadn't gotten a quiet moment to myself, but I knew I would just cry over Susannah when I did. Drinking would help.
"You know what I miss?" Conrad said. "Watching Laurel put dad in his place. She'd walk in and be like 'Adam'."
"Adam," Mom said walking in. I looked up to see Mr. Fisher come in. "You came."
Jeremiah got up to hug him. I smiled.
Conrad seemed kind of upset though. So did Susannah.
Huh.
*****
Belly suggesting a drinking game was a recipe for disaster. She could not hold her liquor. But I didn't care. I wanted to drink and games are good way to do that quickly.
Couldn't drink too much though. I had a gig later.
After a while, we all walked back into the house.
I watched as Jeremiah and Conrad were playing football. I walked over.
"Hey guys," I said. They smiled back.
Mr. Fisher came in and intercepted Jeremiah's pass to Conrad. Conrad did not look happy about it. He made a comment here and there, and offered Conrad a spot on some football team. I rolled my eyes. Guy could not catch a hint.
"Uh Madi and I are lighting those fireworks you got from Mexico, Dad," Jeremiah said.
Oh shoot. "Umm actually, I have a gig today, up the shore. Sorry," I said.
"What?" "No way."
"Calm down guys. I've seen how the fireworks look Jere, I helped pick them out. You won't even know I'm gone."
"Not true. I-"
"Are you sure you're up to it?" Conrad spoke over Jere.
I smiled softly, "Yeah, I'm sure."
*****
I was right. Belly and alcohol- not a good mix. Mom was pissed about it and wanted to yell at me for letting her drink. She wouldn't with Victoria here, but I knew she wanted to. I felt really guilty too. I hoped to God Susannah was okay.
I had still had a little while before I had to leave and I was already dressed so I joined Conrad outside for clean-up.
"Hey, so what's going on with you and your dad?"
He sighed. "Um I guess I'm just done with his bullshit. I mean he just yelled at me for letting Belly drink too much. I didn't even know!"
"Mom wanted to yell at me too, I could tell. I feel pretty bad actually. I knew she was drinking."
He raised his eyebrows.
"I didn't care. I don't like saying no to her," I shrugged. "But I didn't know it was this bad."
"See its stuff like that. It's not our job to say no."
"Sure it is."
"No, it's not. It's their job. They're the parents."
"I mean I look out for all of you guys. And you look out for me, right? Like you'll check on me at parties or keep track of where I am. You do it because you want to. Its not much different with Belly. Its somewhere between I want to and I have to. I don't mind," I said.
He looked at me disbelievingly, "How are you so chill about this stuff now? I remember you used to like hate your mom when your parents got divorced."
I was sitting with Conrad on my bed with my guitar. We were just talking.
"You know what I hate the most?" I said. "How she seems completely unaffected by the divorce. Its psychotic."
He raised his eyebrows, "Psychotic?" I shrugged.
"Hey kids," Susannah said. "You got a minute for me Mads?"
"Of course," I smiled.
She looked at me. "How are you doing with everything?" she asked. I shrugged, trying to play it cool. "It's alright," I said.
"You're just like your mom," she said. "Keeping everything bottled up."
That struck a nerve. "Actually, I don't get it. Why did she want a divorce? They looked pretty in love to me."
"There are different kinds of love, Madi. They do love each other and they always will."
"But it wasn't enough? I asked.
"They just weren't in love," she said, wiping my tears. I didn't even realise I was crying.
Later, when Jeremiah dragged Conrad and I to swim, I thought of how I loved every person in my life. I suppose Susannah was right.
I shook my head. "I didn't hate her, I was angry. My parents were good at hiding their problems so the divorce sort of came out of nowhere. I didn't understand it and it got expressed in weird ways. I get it now though."
"You do?"
"Yeah, remember when Susannah was talking about different kinds of love? It sort of got me thinking. We put our parents up on a pedestal, you know? After the divorce, I couldn't do that anymore. It didn't fit. I slowly started seeing them as just people- who have problems and responsibilities and make mistakes. I stopped expecting them to be perfect and strong all the time. After that it just became easier to accept whatever they did. You know like get girlfriends or keep secrets or lash out."
He smiled at me, "You're all grown up."
I rolled my eyes and left for my gig.
___________________________________________________________________________
A/n
So that was chapter 5.
Next chapter is probably my favourite one so far. Please stay tuned.
If you liked this part though, please comment and vote!!