CHAPTER Twenty-three
• CHARLIE •
The anger had cooled off slightly after a night's sleep. I'd spent the night talking to Joe and Taylor on the phone about the Lakewood brother's, Jack and Billy.
Taylor reassured me she'd be by my side throughout the dinner party. I also told them I hadn't spoken to Billy since before the game and how he hadn't responded to my texts. Joe told me not to overthink the Billy situation too much. He said Billy's just like that, whatever that means.
I was a bit disheartened by my lack of contact from Billy. He know's my stepbrother's had seen us kiss. He knows that. He knows my stepbrother's hate him and that I don't have the best relationship with them. Yet, he hadn't checked in with me about the aftermath of both of our actions. He'd left me to deal with it all.
Despite my friends' reassurance, I found myself today sat on the window seat in my room just staring at my phone waiting for the dinner party to start. I was basically watching over nothing. It was depressing.
"Charlotte." Someone said, entering my room. I looked up and saw my mother stood in the doorway.
"Yeah?"
"Just checking on you, you're the only one that hasn't come down yet." My mom replied, looking at my me curiously. I saw her gaze avert to my lit up phone screen. "Talking to someone special?"
I sighed, feeling the urge to want to talk about Billy again. Despite talking to friends, it wasn't enough. I wanted to know why I'd heard nothing. I was getting tired of feeling like I was being left alone in the dark.
Knowing my Mom was been aware I'd been texting someone, I figured I could be slightly honest about it with her. In the past, she'd always given me good advice about boys even though we don't always get along.
"Unsuccessfully." I admitted, looking at her.
"How so?" She asked, her interest increasing. My Mom closed the door behind her and walked over to my bed. She crossed her arms and perched on the end, letting me know I had all her attention.
I sighed, switching my phone off and chucking my phone on my bed. "I've had no reply. Since yesterday."
My Mom nodded, registering the situation. The glimmer of interest in her eyes faded into empathy. Lately, I wasn't sure she had it in her.
"Is this the boy you've been seeing?" She questioned.
"Apparently."
My raised her eyebrows. "Apparently? Did something happen?"
"No clue. I haven't spoken to him since yesterday." I explained, glancing out this window to look at the view of the back garden.
"Ah, honey. I'm sorry." She said, pursing her lips at the end of her sentence as she had more to say, but she fell silent as if thinking through what exactly she was going to say to me.
"It's fine. The relationships complicated anyway." I admitted, shrugging my shoulders slightly. I knew she couldn't understand the complications attached to Billy, but I realised she could grasp an idea of my situation.
"Complicated?"
I twisted my body to face her. She was looking at me with kindness and reassurance for once. Her features were softer, making her seem more approachable to me now now she had been for a little while.
I didn't know if I was making a mistake in trusting her, but for some reason I felt myself wanting to be honest with her. I wanted her to understand my situation so she could somewhat understand what I was having to deal with right now before the boys told her the story from their filtered point of view and completely changed the reality of how much they disrespected me.
"Tommy, Harry and Sebastian don't have the best history with him."
My mom raised her eyebrows. "Oh?"
"He plays for the opposing team - Longview High."
"I see." She nodded, clearly getting the picture here. "And how do the boys feel about you dating him?"
"They're not exactly pleased." I sighed, thinking back to our confrontation in the parking lot and how they were with me when I came home last night. "I didn't really want them to find out, except they did."
My Mom's eyebrows lifted slightly in understanding as she put together what I was telling her.
"How did they take it? Are you four okay?" She looked at me, the concern evidence in her tone. "I've noticed recently you have been getting on better."
"I don't know." I shrugged.
My mom raised her eyebrows and looked at me suspiciously. "You didn't go out with billy to get under the boys skin did you?"'
I huffed, feeling a tinge of regret for giving her my honesty. Her reaction is exactly why I don't tell her anything.
My jaw dropped. "Like I would do that." My Mom narrowed her eyes at me as if she didn't believe me and I sighed in defeat. "Okay, it didn't help that when I first met Billy, I didn't get on with any of the boys at all, but that's not why I pursued it. I like Billy."
Billy and I weren't together, it was casual and it was nice. So far it was fun and that was all I wanted right now. We were barely dating and this has already happened. It's making me think maybe none of this is worth anything. What's fun when it leaves me feeling alone and clueless?
My Mom nodded with surprising understanding washing over her face. She pursed her lips as if she was hesitating, but a moment later she caved and decided to share with me her opinion anyway.
"Well, from where I'm standing, you shouldn't worry what the boys think on this."
"Huh?" I almost blurted out. "You're not mad?"
"No." My Mom shook my head, making me feel a tinge of relief go through me. "You can't help who you like. And whatever's going on between Billy and the boys is nothing to do with you. Just like you going out with Billy has nothing to do with them."
"Really?" I said, shocked.
"Yes. You can go out with who you want, Charlotte. If I did it, so can you. The boys can't tell you who to date because of some petty rivalry. This isn't the 20 century." My Mom said, rolling her eyes. "But you should talk to the boys."
I knew it, her words were too good to be true. Ugh, she wanted me to talk to them and I wanted an all clear to be done with them.
I rolled my eyes. "They're deranged and they disrespected me so much yesterday. I can't even look at them right now. Mom, I know you want us to get on and be this perfect family and all, but I can't see this working. They said some awful stuff to me."
My Mom's eyebrows furrowed together in concern. "What stuff?" My Mom questioned in a low tone.
I bit my lip. My words had rushed out without me thinking them through. I didn't want to tell my Mom what they said to me in the parking lot or anything. I hated being a snitch. I still cringe at myself when I snitched on them when we first moved in. I knew It was stupid and unnecessary, but the weight of their words were heavy in my mind.
"They sort of disrespected me." I answered, my voice quiet in its deliverance of honesty. Even though, my mind told me not to, I felt myself being lulled into telling my Mom what they had said after the football team. "Some of what they said was out of line."
My Mom raised her eyebrows in fury and examined me like I was one of her clients filling her in on the facts of a legal issue.
"What exactly did they say to you, Charlotte? You can tell me. Despite everything, you are my daughter and I will not stand for someone disrespecting you. I don't care if they are your brothers are not." She said, her tone hitting me coldly.
I swallowed hard when she called them my brothers. Right now, they were nothing even close to that. You don't treat family the way they've treated me. You shouldn't treat anyone the way they've treated me.
I looked at my Mom, trying to gauge what she was thinking. Sometimes, it was like she was never on my side so it was hard to be honest or vulnerable with her without feeling like she'd throw it back in my face. Yet, here she was looking at me with fury brimming in her eyes.
"They sort of slut-shamed me and threatened to ruin my life at school." I admitted, regret washing over me as soon as I let the truth out. This time, I didn't want to snitch, but after the way they had treated me, I felt like I shouldn't care. I shouldn't give them any form of protection because they don't deserve it.
"I beg your pardon?" My Mom, exclaimed looking even more furious than she had a minute ago. "How dare they."
My Mom stood up instantly, making panic rush through me in fear. I wasn't sure what I wanted her to do with the information I had told her. I just wanted her to understand my point of view on this issue and maybe even be on my side.
"I don't want to make this worse." I said, cautiously. The expressive angered look on my mother's face was making me fear what she'd do. "They really hate me right now and I feel the same way about them."
My Mom sighed, "I'm going to talk to Peter about this. His boys shouldn't be speaking to anyone like that, especially you. You understand?"
I nodded, biting my lip as I feared my honesty was only going to make things worse.
"Can you just pretend you don't know? I don't want to cause trouble. Of course, I'd like to make it clear to them how wrong their behaviour has been, but I don't think it will do anything any good if it happens."
My Mom raised her eyebrows and looked at me with a slightly shocked expression. "Charlotte, I understand what you are saying to me, but you're not seeing the bigger picture here. It needs to be made clear to them that what they've said to you was out of line. As parents, we have to make sure our kids understand that so they don't continue learnt behaviour and understand that it's wrong."
I nodded, understanding what she was saying. I didn't want to face the truth of it, but I knew I had to accept it. My Mom wanted the boys called out on it and who was I to stop her? She was right, if someone didn't tell them off now, who would? The pattern would just continue.
"I think they're good boys, Charlotte. It sounds like they've acted rashly and lashed out at you. By no means do that excuse their behaviour, but what it does do is give you a starting point. I will talk to Peter about dealing with the boys' behaviour. In the meantime, you should talk to them and try to get them to understand your perspective on what's been said and done, but also theirs."
"You want me to try to make peace with them? After everything they said to me?" I questioned, frustration rising up inside of me.
"No, Charlotte. I'm asking you to communicate with them."
I nodded, reluctantly. My Mom gave me a small smile before telling me to come downstairs. The guests were arriving in less than twenty minutes.