Chapter 40: Step-Family
Not having to go to school was actually taking a toll on both me and Grant. Going to school every week day gave us something to do for six hours, sometimes more if it was one of the days we had rehearsals for the musical. And when we were occupied for that long, chances are we didn't have to focus too much on our cravings.
I was doing a lot better, thankfully. Ever since Grant went into his coma, I tired my best to stay away from alcohol. It was the cause of our argument and I really didn't want to hurt Grant like that again.
Everyone was telling me not to blame myself or my alcoholism for what happened to Grant. Even Grant was telling me that but I couldn't help it.
At least it was keeping me away from alcohol.
So far.
Now that it was officially winter vacation, Grant and I had way too much free time on our hands.
And with the holidays inching closer, Grant was feeling a lot worse. He knew he was more than welcomed to spend Christmas with my family but that didn't mean it was going to be easy for him. It would be his first Christmas without his dad.
To make things worse, he wouldn't be able to spend it with his little brother either all because Grant wasn't really Cora's son. She was the one who basically made Tara give Grant up to Cora and her husband.
She still raised him for sixteen years. She should have grown to love him, even if he wasn't her own.
Vikram had a stepdad who still loved him as if he was his own son.
For some reason, Cora was incapable of loving Grant and it was completely ruining Grant's life.
We had been trying to find things to take our minds off our own problems. One of the things we both tried was turning to music. We were constantly practicing the music for the school musical.
Hennessy and Vikram were over at my house right now, so Grant and I were rehearsing with Hennessy as well so she could practise singing the songs. Well, I was the one helping Hennessy practise by playing the piano. Grant claimed he was too lazy to play the violin right now.
But apparently, he wasn't too lazy to jump into the song, pretending to be part of the ensemble while Vikram did Gaston's parts.
The best part was when the Bimbettes' part of the song came and Grant tried his best impersonating them, singing in the highest pitch he could. I was trying my best to hold in my laughter otherwise I'd end up messing up the chords.
When the song ended, Hennessy threw a pillow at Grant. "You almost messed me up," she said though she had a smile on her face.
"Hey, you would have been messed up if nobody sang the ensemble," Grant said. "Then you wouldn't know when to come in so if anything, I was helping you. You're welcome."
Hennessy just rolled her eyes as the front door opened. I was a bit surprised to see Mom walk in behind Dad. "Hey, Mom," I said. "What are you doing here?"
"I need to talk to you about something," she said. "Alone."
I furrowed my eyebrows as I got up from the piano. "Uh, sure," I said. Normally when Mom wanted to talk to me alone, it wasn't a good thing.
I just hoped she wasn't getting back on the whole me going to a music school thing.
I followed Mom outside of the house and when the door closed behind her, she said, "I still need to wait a bit before telling your father but I think out of everyone, you deserve to know first."
Okay, so it didn't sound like she wanted me to go to boarding school.
I was still a bit worried about what she wanted to talk to me about.
"Deserve to know what?" I asked.
"Would you be okay with me getting married?" Mom asked.
Married.
Mom wanted to get married.
"To Jaime?" I asked.
"Yeah," Mom said slowly. "I wanted to know how you felt about it because you're my son. It would affect you a lot."
I didn't even know how I felt about it. I wanted my mom to be happy, of course, and I did think Jaime made her happy. Ever since she started seeing him, she was also less controlling to me. She stopped with the whole music school ordeal. She tried to support me with my alcoholism.
It was a good thing for my mom to be with Jaime.
But it was still going to be a bit difficult for me to see my mom marry someone else. For fifteen years of my life, she had been with my and. It was going to take some getting used to.
However, just because it was going to be hard for me, it didn't mean I should immediately tell my mom I didn't want it to happen.
There was at least one very bright side to Mom marrying Jaime.
"Well..." I said slowly. "I still don't know Jaime that well but it's not like I hate him or anything that would make me mad that you'll marry him. And it's not like I hate his children. In fact, I'd be happy for Shaw to officially be my older brother."
"I feel a but coming," Mom said.
"What? No, there isn't one," I said. "I'm not going to lie, it's going to be hard for me to get used to the idea of you being married to someone else and me having a step-dad but if he makes you happy, I can't be mad. Like I said, it's not like I hate Jaime or anything. He seemed good enough when I met him."
Mom smiled. "I know you will get to like him the more you get to know him. He's a great guy."
"He does seem like it," I said. After all, he was the one who was able to convince my mom to support me with my drinking problem. Without him, I didn't know if Mom would ever try to support me through it. "When are you going to tell Dad?"
"Soon," Mom said. "I just wanted to tell you first. I still have to figure out how to tell your father without an argument breaking out. That's part of the reason I wanted to know how you felt. If you're okay with it, then your father should be."
"I think he will," I said. "He was okay with you seeing Jaime. It will probably be weird for him but I don't think he's going to be mad at it. And if I were you, I'd just rip the band-aid off and tell him as soon as you can."
"Yeah, you're probably right," Mom said. "I'll do that now while I'm here."
Mom and I went inside and I went back to the piano while Mom told Dad she wanted to talk to him so they then headed outside.
"So what was that about?" Grant asked as he he sat down beside me. "Is she back on the music school thing?"
"That's what I thought it was going to be about but no, she's not," I said. "I think she's finally over it, thankfully."
"What's this music school thing?" Vikram asked.
"I was supposed to go to the LM Conservatory or Music," I said. "But I did something stupid so they wouldn't let me attend the school. My mom was mad and was very keen on trying to get me to go to a music school so she was constantly hounding me to choose a school, no matter how many times I told her I was happy here. She finally realized that I'm really happy here."
"So if it's not the music school, then why did it seem like such a serious thing to talk to you about?" Grant asked. "She's not... She doesn't want you to go live with her, do you? Because if you don't live here then I don't--"
"Grant, you have nothing to worry about," I interrupted. "She doesn't. She knows it's better for me to live here with my dad and she knows you live with us. She just... Wanted to know how I feel about her getting married."
"Really?" Grant asked. "And how do you feel about it?"
"I've got mixed emotions," I said before looking at Vikram. "When did your mom marry your step-dad?"
"When I was five," Vikram said. "And I don't even remember my actual dad since he left when I was one so sorry I can't give you any advice."
"It's okay," I said. "I'm not upset about it or anything. It's just going to be weird."
"Wait a second," Grant said. "Unless she got another boyfriend, isn't it Shaw's dad?"
"It is," I said. "So that's a bright side. A very bright side. Shaw has always been like an older brother to me so he's actually going to be my brother. And like I told my mom, I don't hate Jaime or anything. I just don't know him well enough yet."
"Want my advice?" Grant asked. "Because you do remember that I have a step-dad too, right?"
I furrowed my eyebrows. "You do?"
"Uh, yeah," Grant said. "Lawrence." I was still confused. "Holden's dad, you dummy."
"Oh, right," I said. "So what's your advice?"
"That step-parents are willing to be bribed," Grant said. "If they want your trust and respect, they'll do anything since you're their spouse's child. So you can get Jaime to buy you a bunch of things, especially if you tell him you don't trust him yet."
"That's horrible advice," I said. "Don't tell me you do that to Lawrence."
"I've only done it once," Grant said. "But he was smart and caught onto what I was doing. Mainly because Shaw told him. So then it probably won't be best to do it to Jaime because Shaw will catch on..."
"Even if Shaw wouldn't catch up, I'm not doing that," I said.
Grant shrugged. "Your loss."
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oof ollie and shaw will actually be brothers soon
and that moment when you realize shaw's (soon to be) step-brother and brother-in-law are dating OOF
i use oof too much but it's my favourite sound effect lol.
ANYWAY the book is ending soon BUT FEAR NOT, there will be a Spruceworth 6.2, meaning it's after this book. i'm still deciding who gets it though. it will either be ollie or grant. i really want to give grant a pov but i don't want to let go of my baby ollie's pov. should i just do dual pov so they alternate every chapter?