"You're lying to me Jared, you're lying like you always do!"
"What the hell do you want me to tell you then since you think everything that leaves my mouth is a damn lie!?"
"Screw you!"
Malcolm walks into the house early from school due to a stomach ache. He was anticipating peace, quiet and a long nap but the way his parents are screaming at each other upstairs tosses that idea out the window. He closes the front door softly and drops his book bag on to the couch. He creeps over to the stairs and strains his ears to listen in on the conversation. His parents have been very secretive lately resulting in heavy tension and quiet dinners. Malcolm and Ty know something isn't right but Sevyn hasn't picked up on it yet. She's too busy up in the clouds with her boyfriend and winning all these volleyball games to really notice what's going on at home.
"What do you want me to tell you Christine?"
"The truth!"
"That's what I've been trying to do for the past couple months now but you always have to add your two cents."
"Because you're lying Jared, I know when you're lying. But you're lying to me, to your kids. Do you know how stupid you're making yourself look? Just come clean!"
There's a long silence and Malcolm holds his breath so he doesn't miss anything.
"I'm not going to put up with this." His father finally says and Malcolm can hear footsteps thudding from upstairs.
"Jared! Jared don't you dare walk away from me!" His mother screams. "You walk around here like you're the worlds #1 dad and you're nothing but a phony liar!"
The footsteps stop, "Where's the damn proof? You're here accusing me and yelling at me for shit you can't prove. I'm tired of this shit. You've lost your damn mind and until you give my some cold hard proof I don't wanna hear you mouthing off again."
There's another long silence before Malcolm hears the loud sound of breaking glass. He puts one foot on the step, ready to investigate the noise but then stops his self when he hears his fathers voice. "Are you fucking crazy?"
"I'm not the crazy one Jared, you are!" His mothers voice is filled with hurt as she screams. The heavy footsteps come closer and Malcolm quickly runs to the front door. He waits until he hears his father walking down the stairs before he opens and closes the door like he just walked into the house. His father pauses on the last step. "Hey, what are you doing home?"
"My stomach has been acting up and I didn't want to throw up on one of my teachers so I came home." Malcolm replies, "Is that ok?"
"Yeah, go lay down and rest." His father replies. Malcolm nods and grabs his book bag, watching as his father walks over to the key rack and grabs his car keys. There's stress and anger on his face and his body sags like he's tired.
"Where are you going?" Malcolm asks.
His father looks at him and Malcolm can tell in his eyes that he's looking for an answer. "I'm making a run to the store. You need anything?" He shakes his head no and his father opens the door. "I'll be back later, feel better."
The door clicks shut and Malcolm watches through the window as his father hops into the car and speeds out the driveway. Going in the opposite direction of the stores. Shaking his head, his climbs the stairs to the second floor and heads to his parents room. The hallway floor is littered with broken glass from what looks like the flower vase his mother kept on the windowsill. Glass crunches under his feet as he walks to the master bedroom. When he reaches it he's shocked to find his mom sitting on the floor with her head in her hands crying hard.
"Ma?" Malcolm's voice is barely above a whisper.
She jumps and looks up at him, quickly wiping her eyes and nose. "Malcolm, w-what are you doing here?" She stutters trying to pull herself together.
Malcolm offers her a hand and pulls her to her feet. "Stomach ache," he replies taking in her clothes. She's wearing an over sized t-shirt with ripped jeans and a sloppy hoodie, which is weird compared to how nice she usually dresses. "Did you go to work today?"
His mother shakes her head, "No I had some errands to run." She tells him.
"Like what?" His eyes wander over to the bed where a stack of papers lay, some of them looking like they came from the bank. His mother snatches up the papers quickly before he can read them and stuffs them into a drawer on her dresser. Malcolm blinks, "Ma if you and dad need some help with money me and Ty can get a job or something, Sevyn too."
His mother grabs a pair of shoes off the floor and stuffs her feet into them shaking her head. "No, you're young I don't want you working. And what did I tell you about sticking your big nose into grown folks business. Me and your father are handling things just fine."
"Yeah? Well by the way y'all argue everyday and keep away from each other tells me other wise." Malcolm snaps at her with an attitude. "What is going on ma? Something ain't right in this house."
"Malcolm just let it go."
"No! Y'all are our parents and we deserve to know if something is wrong."
His mother glares at him, "Malcolm..."
"I'm sick and tired of y'all keeping us in the dark. And Im damn sure tired of hearing y'all go back and forth at night when I'm trying to sleep. What the hell is---"
He's cut off by his mother slapping him. His words die in his throat and he stares at her like he doesn't know who she is. His mothers eyes are dark pits as she glares at him, "Did you forget who I am? I am not your little hoodrat friends from the street I am your mother and you will not talk to me that way." She says pointing her finger in his face. "Now you listen and listen real good Malcolm. I am the adult and you are the child, if I find it necessary to tell you about me and your fathers disputes then I will but for know you will pretend like everything's just fine. Do you understand me?"
Malcolm licks his lips and puts his hands in his pockets. His mother crosses her arms and arches her brow, "I know you're not testing me. I said are we clear!?"
"Yes ma'am," he mutters.
"I expect this kind of behavior from Ty, I don't know what's gotten in to you." She says grabbing her purse. "I'm heading over to Lorraine's house for a little while. Get some rest and drink some tea or something."
Malcolm sighs as she walks past him out the room. He follows her and gives her a wave goodbye as she goes down stairs. He walks into his room and flops down face first on to the bed. He listens as his mother walks to her car and backs out of the driveway. His stomach flips again and he sucks in a deep breath to keep from throwing up. Feeling exhausted, he lets sleep take over his body.
"Aye nigga!" Malcolm is woken up by loud mouthed Ty barging into his room. "How you leave school and leave a nigga without a ride to get home? I had to take the funky ass bus."
"I don't feel good man, shut up." Malcolm groans, putting a pillow over his face.
Ty sucks his teeth, "Shut up, you complaining like a female. Mom and dad aren't here let's raid the basement for drinks."
"Nah man my stomach is messed up," Malcolm says then realizes what Ty just said. He sits up and looks at him, "Hold up, mom and dad aren't here. Where's Sevyn?"
"She has a game tonight, why?"
Malcolm remembers the papers in his mothers drawer and stands up. He begins telling Ty about the argument he heard earlier and how their mother had gotten so worked up when Malcolm started answering questions. He also tells him about the papers he saw on the bed. "Man Ty, you think we're about to go into debt or something? You think dad got laid off and isn't telling us?"
"There's only one way to find out." Ty gestures for Malcolm to follow him and the two of them walk down the hall to their parents room. "Where did you see ma put those papers?"
Malcolm walks over to her dresser and opens one of the drawers. He takes out the papers and begins skimming them. Just as he suspected, they're letters from the bank. As he reads through them, Ty looks around their parents messy room. Of all the times he's been in here he's never seen as untidy as it is now. There are clothes all over the floor, the bed is a mess, tissues with mascara stains strewn across the floor and shoes thrown in every direction.
Ty walks closer to the bed and his foot hits something. A shoe box is peeking out from underneath the bed and Ty crouches down to pick it up. E sits on the bed with the box and glances at Malcolm who is still reading the papers. Ty lifts the lid from the box and peeks inside of it, moving tissue paper out of the way to reveal tons of photos. They're pictures of his dad, some of them dating back to last year. But there's also pictures of a women with him. At first glance Ty assumes its his mom but with closer inspection he notices the lady has long brown hair compared to his mothers naturally kinky curls.
As he shifts through the pictures he begins to feel resentment towards his father. Each picture shows him with the lady, laughing, hugging, talking, touching affectionately. Ty grits his teeth together when he notices the dates written underneath the pictures. The dates are as early as January 2013.
"Based on these papers, we're far from going broke Ty. These papers show that mom and dads bank account is actually increasing almost every other month." Malcolm says, "How could mom be mad over this?"
"Maybe it has to do with the bitch he's fucking to get that money." Ty responds. Malcolm turns and looks over Ty's shoulder at the picture in his hands. It's one of his father touching the cheek of the long hairs lady, who's dressed in a business suit and smiling warmly at him.
"We don't know that for sure." Malcolm tries to reason.
Ty sucks his teeth and places the picture back into the box. "It's all clear Malcolm, dad is cheating on mom and she knows it. The dates are written in her handwriting. This has been going on for a whole year now."
"Well why do you think she waited so long to confront him?" Malcolm places the papers back into the drawer and Ty shrugs as he puts the box under the bed again.
"All I know is that if dad doesn't come clean soon then mom is gonna have a mental break down." Malcom says as they leave the room, closing the door behind them.
Ty shakes his head. "Of all people I thought dad would be the last person to be unfaithful. I hate niggas that mess around like that."
Malcolm stops walking and turns to look at his twin, "Ty you break girls hearts all the time. You use them for their body then you throw them away. That's doesn't make you any better than dad."
Something changes in Ty as Malcolm's words sink in. "I've never cheated and I don't plan to. That's the difference between us."
"One night stands are just as bad. Girls are sensitive, be careful with them or you're gonna get dissed over and over again just the way Talia did." Malcolm warns as he heads goes to his room. "And don't mention this to Sevyn, she's been through enough and doesn't need anything else to worry her."
Ty nods and rests his back against the wall. He hears a car pull into the drive way and looks out the hallway window as his dads car pulls into the drive way. He hates the fact that he can't confront his father about something he isn't supposed to know about. It makes him sick to see his father pretending like everything's ok when everything is falling apart. He glances at the glass on the floor and decides to leave it there so his father knows the grief he's putting his family through.
The next couple days is nothing bus a blur to Ty. He's taking the discovery of his father cheating really hard, harder than anything has ever impacted him before. Around school he's a zombie and at home he stays in his room. To everyone else besides Malcolm it's weird seeing him this way. He keeps his headphones in his ear most of the time and he no longer makes the student laugh with his jokes during class anymore.
Malcolm assures his friends that he just needs some space right now but everyone can see that the usually vibrant Ty is going through something emotional. Ty usually pushes people away and blocks people out when he's dealing with internal issues, that's his way of getting through it.
"Ty," At the sound of his voice being called softly, he looks up from his phone to see Talia walking over to him. He hasn't spoken to her in weeks after she dissed him and just when he thought he was moving on, here she comes up the bleachers. He's sitting at the top watching as his friends play basketball on the court at the park. Talia bounds up the stairs and walks over to him, "What are you doing up here instead of in the game?"
"I don't feel like running around today." He replies, taking one headphone out his ear.
Talia nods and glances down at her shoes. She's wearing shorts and a red crop top, her hair is pulled back in a high bun and her skin is bronzed from her summer tan. "Malcolm told me what's going on with your parents."
"Now why the hell would he do that?" Ty frowns, glaring at across the court at a shirtless Malcolm who's running after Shaun.
"Because I can relate, alright?" Talia snaps, "I know what you're going through its not easy to cope with, especially since you're not entirely sure what's going on at this point." Ty doesn't say anything, he simply stares off into the distance.
"I thought you were done with me. I'm nothing but a player remember?" Ty says bitterly.
Talia's brown eyes flash and she sighs, "I'm here if you want someone to talk to Ty."
"I'll keep that in mind." He responds with a bored voice before putting his headphones back in and turning his volume up to the maximum, loud enough for Talia to hear it. She bobs her eyebrow and turns to walk down the bleachers and runs across the court to her friends.
Ty closes his eyes. He doesn't need anyone to talk to. He doesn't need anyone period.
**
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