[ two : my name’s not Adeline ]
“Are you kidding me!?” I screeched, pacing back in forth in my dad’s bedroom. I was beyond angry. I was furious. I wanted to just rip my hair out at the thought of a ring on Beth’s left hand. This could not be happening. He could not be marrying Beth. Out of all the women in this world, he chose her. Her.
“Adrienne, calm down,” Dad eased. “Sit down.”
“Calm down? Don’t you dare tell me to calm down! How low can you go, Dad? Proposing, really? Without even asking me first?” I sighed, letting my hands fall limp by my sides. I let the next words slip. “I bet you don’t even love her.”
Wrong choice of words.
“Excuse me?” I didn’t look at him. “Who are you to be telling me that, Adrienne?” Great, now I made him mad, too. I got my temper from him, but his was ten times worse than mine. “I know that Beth isn’t your mother. I know that she isn’t perfect. But you jumped to conclusions when you first met her!”
“Dad, look at her! She’s a―”
“No she isn’t! Look at you, you’re still jumping to conclusions!” he yelled at me, already knowing my assumption. I crossed my arms over my chest. “She is a nice, sweet, and funny woman. You don’t know her. You haven’t even tried to begin to get to know her, for Christ’s sake. You can’t even get passed the fact that she isn’t Andrea. Do you know how hard she’s tried for you to like her?”
I scoffed and let out a dry laugh that had everything but humor in it. “Nice, Sweet, Funny? Yeah right!”
“You just can’t see it! Adrienne Clark, I swear, sometimes I just don’t know what to do with you.” Dad stopped and closed his eyes, pinching the skin in between them. That’s one of the many signs that he showed when exasperated, along with pacing, continually running his hands through his hair, “If I didn’t love her, I wouldn’t have proposed to her.”
“You could’ve at least told me, Dad! Do you know how hard it is for me? My mother died, and now I have to see you move on with Beth,” I said her name like it was poison on my tongue. My mom’s death was the hardest thing I ever had to endure.
“Well you know what, Adrienne? Andrea was my wife. I was in love with her. But she died seven years ago. I’m over it.”
“Bull!” I screamed at him. My hands were clenched tightly into fists now. I could bet that my knuckles were even turning a pale yellow.
“I know you don’t want me to move on, but it’s about bloody time you did!” I was already walking out of his master suite. He was yelling at me. “She’s dead! Get over it already!”
Salty, hot tears were brimming my eyes. I slammed his door shut loudly behind me. How could he say that? I walked/jogged down the hall and into my room where I knew Eli would be waiting for me.
I burst through my door and ran to my bed where Eli was waiting. I sat in the middle of the king sized bed with him and let the tears spill onto his shoulder. His arms wrapped around me and held me comfortably. I know he had heard the fight between me and my dad. Heck, I bet everyone in this household heard it.
“Ade, it’s okay... he didn’t mean any of it, I promise.” He rubbed soothing circles on my shoulder and hugged me closer to him.
“I don’t care if he didn’t mean it,” I said truthfully, “It’s that he had the nerve to even say something like that.” He acted as if he doesn’t even care about her anymore. Like she was just some girl he dated in the past. She was more than that, and he knows that too well to just toss words like that into my face. How could he tell me to move on and get over it? How would I ever be able to get over my mother’s death?
What’s wrong with him? I knew he was just said it because he was angry at me, but still. He should’ve known better.
My father knows that I’m still not over it. He shouldn’t expect me to get over it anytime soon, either. I told him to give me time to heal, and he said he’d be able to respect that because he, too, needed time.
“Do you want me to spend the night?” I nodded into his shoulder. He already knew the answer without the confirmation. “Okay. I wouldn’t have left you anyway.”
* * *
I woke up with a slight stir. Eli was in bed next to me, facing the other way. We’d been sleeping in the same bed since we were kids, it was no big deal. I looked at the alarm clock on my table. 1:05 AM.
My throat hurt when I tried to say Eli’s name. I decided against it though, and went to go get some water instead. It would be best to let him sleep.
Walking down the stairs in complete darkness was a challenge that I somehow managed to succeed. I turned on the lights to a dim setting as I entered the kitchen. My bare feet padded against the tiled flooring as I made my way to the designated cupboard that had cups in it. Grabbing my glass, I went to the sink and turned the tap on, running the cup under it. I turned it off and made my way back to my room.
A faint sound was heard that sounded like it was coming from the direction of the living room. Was I too tired and out of it to notice that at first? Weird. I turned the kitchen lights off as I walked to the room I heard the noise coming from.
Upon entering the living room, I saw a figure sitting on the couch, watching TV. “Who the hell are you!?”
The person ignored me and flipped through the channels. It was dark in here. The only light source was the television. I flicked the lights on. A relieved sigh left my lips. It was just that freak, Luke.
“What do you want, Adeline?” Luke paused whatever he was watching and looked at me, making it clear that he was annoyed.
“What are you doing down here!? It’s one in the morning!”
“Sorry, do I have a bed time now?”
I gritted my teeth against each other. “No, but some people have the decency to actually go to bed at a reasonable time.”
He resumed the TV show. “I’m not tired.”
“Why aren’t you watching TV in your room?”
“The TV isn’t turning on.” A deep sigh escaped his mouth. “Could you leave?” Luke changed to a different channel. “You’re quite annoying.”
I stared at him, utterly baffled that he said that to me. “Do you have any kind of manners? Seriously, first, you called me stuck up, now you’re calling me annoying? You should be grateful that my Dad’s letting you even live here!” I said, nearly shouting at him. Luckily, though, I kept my temper at a minimum, not wanting to wake anyone.
“I was just telling the truth. You’re stuck up and annoying.” He looked at me, then said, “and I didn’t choose to live here. I would rather live on the streets than be pampered by your rich family.”
“Ungrateful, little bastard,” I murmured. “You’re such a prick.”
“And you’re still here... when are you going to leave?”
I cut my eyes at him. I’m losing time I’d rather spend sleeping. Why should I stay up to talk to someone who’s not even kind enough to say thank you to my father? He was living in my house, and he’s treating me like crap. Well, now I see that he’s a very kind and generous person. Note the sarcasm. I spun on my heels and exited the room. I didn’t have to deal with him and my father’s madness in one night.
I heard Luke let out a pleased sigh behind me.
Prick.
* * *
I stepped down onto the floor from the last step of the staircase. I had just taken a shower, and I’d say that I couldn’t feel any better if the fight with my father didn’t happen last night. I still couldn’t get over it. He proposed to her, Elizabeth Hendrickson. My mind just couldn’t comprehend it, no matter how real the fact was.
“Adrienne?” Speak of the devil. I ignored her and went to pour myself a glass of orange juice. “Adrienne, would you please talk to me.”
I looked at Beth with a bored look on my face. She stood across the kitchen on the other side of the island.
“What do you want?”
“Could you wake Luke up, please? Breakfast is ready.”
I let out a sigh through my nose. I couldn’t stand Luke. “Sure. But that’s not what you wanted to talk about, and you know it.”
Beth placed her hands on the countertop in front of her and leaned forward. “About me and your father―”
I cut her off. “―you’re getting married. Yay. I’m ecstatic.”
“I’m sorry that’s it not want you want, honestly.” I sipped at my glass and pulled out my phone. “Are you even listening?”
I gave her a short nod. I really didn’t want to be here. I had to go wake up Eli shortly. She continued. “I hope you know that I love James so much.” Bull. “It’s been hard for him too, since I was the first woman he’s seen after Andrea. You know what I mean. It’s a slow process, and it makes it about a million times harder when you dislike me. I want you to be happy with me being a part of the family.” She sighed, a smile on her face. I’ll bet she was happy with her little speech. “So what do you say, do you think we could work things out for your father’s sake?”
“We can try, Beth, but just because he’s my dad, and I want him to be happy.” I finished my juice and put the empty cup in the sink. I made my way to the stairs. Before leaving the room, I looked over my shoulder and said, “And even if your last name changes to Clark, you will never be a part of this family; I think it would be better if you accepted that sooner rather than later.”
I proceeded up the staircase and went to the room across the hallway from mine. Luke’s room. I rapped on the door and waited, crossing my arms over my chest. When he didn’t answer, I knocked again. What is wrong with this boy? I put my hand on the doorknob. Would it be wrong to just open the door?
Desperate times call for desperate measures.
I opened the door and walked in. He was standing in the center of his room, buttoning a pair of shorts. He was shirtless. I felt a blush brush over my cheeks. “Oh, it’s just you. What do you want, Adeline?” he asked, as if I wasn’t looking at him half naked.
“Could you at least get my name right?” I snapped. “And breakfast is ready.”
He raised his hand and scratched the back of his head. I couldn’t help but notice when his muscles moved at the simple act. My eyes trailed down to his fit abdomen. Six pack.
“Could you not stare?” he asked me. He pulled a shirt over his head. What was I doing, staring at him like that? The blush on my cheeks reddened. He pulled a shirt on and gave me a weird look before brushing past me to get out of his room.
I saw him descend down the stairs. I wanted to slap myself for that. What was that? I went to my bedroom, shaking my head at my stupidity.
Eli was practically dead to the world, sprawled across the bed, snoring softly. I walked up to him and kneeled next to his face. “Eli,” I said, “it’s time to wake up.” I poked his cheek and gently shook his shoulder. “Come on.”
He stirred awake. “What?”
“Wake up. Breakfast is ready.”
“Food? I’ll be right down, give me five minutes.” Typical boy. He pushed the duvet spread away from him and slipped off my bed, and then sprinted to my en suite bathroom. Eli could live here if he wanted to. Once he had to stay here for two weeks when his parents went out of town. He had two drawers of my dresser filled with his own clothes, and he kept an extra set of his toiletries in my bathroom. It was like that for me too, just at his house.
I waited for him on my bed, and when he came out, we went downstairs and joined everyone at the large dining room table. I sat next to Eli and Camille (it was the only seat open, otherwise I wouldn’t have sat next to her). I looked at my dad. His gaze met mine and he scowled at me. Beth told him what I said.
Of course she did.
My gaze dropped to my hands in my lap. I bet Dad was pissed.
Food was placed all along the table on different plates. There were pancakes, eggs, bacon (thank The Lord for that), biscuits, toasted bagels, sausage, and a variety of fruit and drinks. God, I was hungry. I hadn’t eaten that much at dinner last night.
I loaded my plate with two pancakes, eggs, bacon, and some fruit. Look on the bright side, Adrienne, I told myself, you’ll be able to live with Beth’s cooking the rest of your life.
Nah, that’s not enough.
I avoided any eye contact with Beth or Dad for the rest of the meal. It was almost as awkward as last night’s dinner.
Eli and I had been sat upstairs in my Room #2 (that’s what I like to call my little extra, private room) when my name was called over the intercom. Dad had an intercom system set up all around the house a year after we moved in, and once Beth moved in with us.
“Adrienne,” my dad’s voice said. Sadly, there was a speaker in my Room #2, too.
“Yes, Dad?”
“Come to my room. Now.”
I shared a look with Eli. Oh no. Dad was still cross with me. I didn’t reply to him, but said a quick bye to Eli. “If I’m not back in ten minutes, just know that I love you.”
Eli laughed. “Don’t expect the worst. You’re dad isn’t that bad.”
I frowned. “I don’t know, I pissed him off pretty bad.”
“What did you do this time?”
“This time?” I asked. “Ouch.”
He laughed again. “What’d ya do?”
“Beth said she wanted me to be happy with her being a part of our family and I told that even if her last named changed, she would never be part of our family.”
“Aw, dude. That’s low.” Eli chuckled though. “He has a friggin’ good reason to be pissed.”
“I know. I’ll be back in a few.” And with that, I went down to my father’s room.
“Hey, Pops,” I greeted nonchalantly upon entering the room. “What’s up?”
“Have a seat, Adrienne.”
I obeyed and sat at the bench at the end of their bed. Beth and Dad stood in front of me. It looked like one of those cliché lecturing scenes in movies, if you were to ask me.
“Beth told me what you said to her this morning.” I rolled my eyes. No dip. “But you probably already knew that. Ade, I know you’re not okay with this, but it’s about time you get used to it. I am marrying Beth, and I really do love her.”
“Are you sure, Dad?” I wanted to ask. I kept my mouth shut. I motioned for him to carry on. “Beth even asked you nicely. You know I don’t like to be mad at you, and I don’t like it when you’re mad at me either. So can you apologize to her?”
I glared at my crazy father. Has he gone mad? Is he taking some kind of new medication? He sighed. “Adrienne.”
“Sorry...” I drawled.
“Excuse me, what?” Dad said. Could I slap him? “I can’t hear you.”
“Sorry, Beth.” I kept my glare on my dad.
“For?” he pushed.
“For saying that you’ll never be part of our family.”
“And?”
“And for being mean to you all of those times.” I huffed and crossed my arms over my chest. “Are we done here?”
“No. Come and give me a hug first.” I bit back the grin that tried to come on my face and gave him a short hug. “I’m sorry for what I said to you last night, Kiddo,” he said in a low voice. “I hope you forgive me, and you know I didn’t mean any of it. I promised you that I’d give you time to heal, so that’s what I’ll do. Beth and I decided that we won’t get married until you’re ready.”
I pulled away, surprised by his change of mind. “Thanks, Dad, really. That’s better than nothing. Do you have anything else to add?”
He smiled. “Yes, give Beth a hug before you go.”
I looked at him as if her were crazy. “Let’s not move too fast, now, Dad.”
“Maybe one day, honey,” I heard my dad say to Beth as I left their room. “Maybe one day...”
Author’s Note: This story’s starting off semi-slow, but just stick with me here. :) x ♥