Ok so this chapter is a bit longer than my other two, I just couldn't cut it down without feeling like I was cutting important stuff out. Please tell me what you think, cause after I wrote this chapter I wasn't too sure if I liked it. Be honest now! :)
Chapter 3
"Sweetheart, your getting married!" The sentence resonated inside my head over and over again, but for some reason I couldn't comprehend its meaning.
I cocked my head to the side and looked at my mother puzzled, kind of like when you try speaking to a puppy but they don't understand. Yup, at the moment I was definitely a lost puppy.
"Huh?" I asked, still confused, my head started to buzz, as I tried to make the connection between the words that were coming out of my mother's mouth and what they meant. I mean, usually I don't really pay attention to what she says so it took a lot of effort to actually go against my natural instinct and focus.
"What do you mean 'Huh?', I just said your getting married, don't you have anything to say?" She kind of screeched towards the end.
I know it was stupid, and at that moment there were probably a lot of better questions to ask, for instance "WTF?!?", but all that came out of my mouth was, "I thought you said that I wasn't allowed to date?" Cara just giggled at that, evil biotch.
Slowly comprehension started to form in my mind, but it still didn't make sense. Me? Getting married? To who? And I'm sixteen!
My mother suddenly snapped me out of my psycho babble, "Well your definitely not allowed to date now, your getting married Carmella, that would be sooo inappropriate." I just raised my eyebrows, still ridiculously confused, I felt like Cara when she tried to do math.
"Sweetheart, its going to be an arranged marriage." My father finally spoke up. Oh, so now he's feeling brave, too bad he couldn't experience this rush of chivalry, oh I don't know, like 27 years ago when my mother shredded his man card!
Wait. Oh. My. God.... they're being serious, aren't they? They're marrying me off, me, their sixteen year old daughter. Carmella, thats me, they said that I'm getting married. I gazed up at my mom who had since risen from her chair and was levelling me with an expectant look.
And at that moment all I said was, "Oh" and passed the hell out right in my seat and hopefully not into the plate of mashed potatoes I had yet to eat. Mmm, mashed potatoes.
I woke up with the biggest headache I have ever had in my entire life, no forget headache, migraine. Even bigger than the time when my sister and her slob got into a fight and she moved back home for two weeks, and my parents decided to let her share my room with me!!! Well, lets just say I convinced her that she rather move back in with her garbage disposal than share a room with me for one more second.
I slowly sat up. Hmm, I was on the couch, but the last thing I remember was eating dinner, strange. As I got up completely, a wave of vertigo washed over me, and the dizziness just intensified my migraine. "Aghh", I grumbled. Why is it so bright? Don't they know that lights make migraines worse?A strong hand grabbed my shoulder, I looked over, it was just Eitan.
"Carmella, are you ok?" he asked, kind of nervous.
"Umm, yea. I just have a bitch of a migraine. What happened? How'd I get on the couch?" I replied, finally being able to see straight.
"You mean you don't remember?" Eitan asked, his eyes widening in shock.
"Remember what?" Ok, now I was definitely confused.
"Oh no! No frickin way. There is no way in hell that I am going to be the one to tell her!" He shouted at my other brothers before crossing his arms and pouting. Seriously, what the shit was going on? I looked at my other brothers, but they just turned away, refusing to meet my gaze. Bastards! I was really starting to get annoyed.
"Would you like me to tell you, little sister? That is, what is mom and dad's big secret?" Cara purred at me from the other couch, where she and her enlarged self sat next to her husband, who was now digging around in his mouth with his finger for food stuck in his gums. I think I just vomited a little in my mouth.
I swallowed slowly. At least he wasn't using our forks to clean his teeth anymore, like he did at dinner........ and that's when everything came back to me, and I mean everything.
"What the fuck, I'm getting married?!?!" I screamed. Everyone in the room flinched at that, except for my sister, of course, who just sat there grinning at me. I twisted my head around to look for my parents and saw my father trying to sneak up the stairs without me noticing.
"Oh no you don't." I yelled before flinging myself over the back of the couch, snagging my right foot on a pillow before falling flat on my face and pulling the entire couch down with me. FAIL.
"Dad, why are you doing this to me?" I pleaded, with the big puppy dog eyes as two of my brothers helped me up from the floor and righted the couch before my mom could see and throw a tantrum. He started to soften at my gaze, probably because I looke pretty pathetic right about now, and lets be honest, I kind of was. I relaxed a little, I knew I was going to win, I always did with him. He opened his mouth to speak, but of course, was cut off by the destroyer of hopes and dreams, my mother.
"Because, we said so!" She stated matter of factly, while carrying a tray of coffee and cookies into the living room. I saw there was a chocolate cream donut there as well, and assumed she was going to use it to bribe me. So far it was working, mmm... No! Snap out of it, a donut is not worth selling yourself to some complete stranger, maybe if it were a dozen donuts, but definitely not one. I shook my head, must focus!
"Besides, arranged marriages are quite common in our culture, and your Aunt Maya decided to arrange a marriage for your cousin Rafaela, so your father and I decided it would be a good idea for you too." She said the last part sweetly and quickly before grabbing the donut from the tray and shoving in my face with a smile. I was, I'll admit, momentarily distracted by the chocolate- but onl for twenty seconds, I swear! I had not missed the most important piece of information she had just said.
"So your selling me to some perverted, old, fat, sweaty man just so you can one up your sister!!!" I screeched, loud enough to make everyone jump. I knew that was the reasoning behind her decision, my mother is incredibly too easy to read. Just ignore this morning when I completely did not see this coming, I was distracted, remember, by the donut.
"First of all, the man that we end up choosing for you will not be disgusting, and we will allow you some say in the matter. Second of all.." My mother's tone lightened at this, trying to make it sound all sweet and sincere, yeah right. "This marriage has nothing to do with monetary compensation. We are not "selling you". The only thing we will gain from this arrangement is the joy and pleasure we will have from seeing you eternally happy." I snorted, yeah right, maybe if you were a normal, non-psychotic mother.
I took a deep breath and tried to relax. I have to calm down, nothing good will come out of this situation if I lose my cool right now. My mother had said that there was no groom yet, so maybe there was a chance to stop this. Right.
I slowly stood up and faced my mother. Everyone tensed and stared at me, ready to pounce and hold me back if I tried to attack her. I am known for kind of having a short temper, and though I may be only 5'3, I can kick anyone's ass. I lifted up my hand so it was parallel to my shoulder and opened up my palm so it was flat. Again, I heard everyone in the room suck in their breath. It was very annoying, I see how much faith they have in me. And in one quick move, my hand darted out towards my mother and closed around the donut she was still holding in her hand before yanking it back. Come on now, you didn't actually think I would hit my mother did you? I would never, not for just this at least. Everyone let out their breath and relaxed a bit, but still kept all their attention on me.
I nibbled on my donut, mmm, sugar. I looked up at my mom and said, "I'm am most definitely not ok with this arrangement, and I will most definitely continue to fight it. If you want to try and marry me off to some complete stranger, well then that's your prerogative, but please, I am your daughter after all, don't think that I will just give up without a fight. A very bloody and and violent fight." I grinned, I added the last parted just so I could see her grimace.
I then turned to my sister and said, "And by the way," Cara gave me an evil glare, "I see you've decided to grow a double chin, it really goes well with the rolls of your fat ass." Oh, yeah, I definitely remembered our conversation this morning, she so could have warned me. And with that I walked towards the stairs to go to my room and cry into my carebear like the five year old I really am on the inside.
I was almost at the top when I heard my mother call. What now?!?
"Carmella, I forgot to mention that we need you to clear all your plans for this coming weekend."
"What? Why?" Was she trying to break my spirit as well?!?!
"Because, silly, this weekend we are having a party for all your prospective husbands, you know, a meet and greet for you. And, well, I assumed you would want to be there to have a say in who you are going to spend the rest of your life with. However, if you already have plans, I'm sure Cara can help us decide, I mean she is your sister and only has your best interests at heart." God, the way she said that was so sweet it was sickening. Her voice did nothing to hide the false innocence she held. Well played, mother, I will give round one to you but the game has just begun.
"No, no, mother, I'll be there." And with that I ran up the stairs before my mother could throw anymore bombshells on me, stuffing the donut in my mouth to muffle the profanities I was screaming. Yup, my life sucks!