"Jack, honey, I want to talk to you."


Hiding out in my room had been effective. Now, thanks to Ember, I was on Rian's last nerve and Alex was determined for me to be nice to her just so he'd have a better chance of getting into her pants. Even Zack said something to me about how hard this had to be on both of us, and we should talk it out rather than attack each other. What did they know? They couldn't possibly understand how hard this was.. On either of us, I guess.


I hadn't come to dinner, or breakfast, or lunch or the next dinner. Apparently Ember hadn't, either. She hadn't even left her bedroom from what I've gathered. But then again, I could be wrong. Home Alone was playing constantly to drown out the sounds of everyone else in this house.


None of that changed the fact that I was hungry and couldn't fight it anymore, so I left my bedroom around midnight to dig up a giant snack to take back with me to my bedroom. Mom knew me too well. She was waiting for me with the stove light on and a glass of wine in her hand.


"What?"


She sent me a glare for my bitterness and shook her head. Of course she didn't care how I felt about this, she had Carl and Carl had Ember. I was just kind of here now. If I had known accepting Carl meant I was getting a new sister, I would have tracked down my piece of shit dad and moved in with him.


"It's about Ember. Carl talked to her and it seems that you two are..."


"Ready to rip each other apart?"


"Well, yes."


I laughed to myself and started making nachos. Cheese and salsa were overflowing the plate as I slid it into the mircrowave and hit the button. Might as well get this talk out of the way before my food is ready.


"I just don't like her, mom. She's a mouthy bitch."


"Oh, and you're such a rainbow."


"You know, it wasn't very fair of you to throw this on me all at once. I mean, a little warning that Ember was going to show up would have been nice. I know I came across as a dick at the reception because she was just kind of.. There, boom. And now we hate each other. You can Carl can blame this on us all you want to, but you're supposed to be the adults here. Ember and I both have a lot to take in right now. You kind of emotionally screwed us both in this situation. It was a crappy thing to do."


Mom sloshed her glass around as the timer went off of my food. Dragging my feet across the floor, I slid the plate out and placed it on the counter. Not wanting to burn myself, I let it cool while I grabbed a drink out of the fridge.


"Jack, I'm finally happy." Mom looked at me with sad eyes, which made me feel bad. "You know, for so long I didn't think anyone would ever love me because that's how your dad made me feel about myself. Carl is a bit of a character, but he has a good heart. Now, I can't say much or do much about Ember because she isn't my child, but I tried to raise you better than this."


It was obvious by the frown on my face that mom hadn't made a difference. Because of this, she came over to where I was standing and wrapped her arms around my body. I hated it when she got like this.


"We have a chance to be better, Jack. We can learn to love and trust people in a way we never could with your father. I'm not asking you and Ember to be friends, but I am asking you to be mature about this. Carl and I want to go away and celebrate our love. Can I do that? Can I trust you, as a young man, to be the bigger person in this situation?"


"Mom, no matter how hard Ember tries, I'll always be bigger than her."

Mom stiffed a laugh as she realized I was making a joke about Ember's height. She shook her head and hugged me as tightly as she possibly could. Being realistic, we both knew Ember and I wouldn't get better over night and honestly I still wanted her to leave, but my mom did deserve the chance to go on her honeymoon.. Not to mention, when I had the house mostly to myself, I could do whatever the fuck I want.


Kissing mom's forehead, I grabbed my plate and drink and left the kitchen. I nearly dropped my food as I entered the dark room because of a short figure standing not too far from the door. So she likes to listen in on private conversation, huh? Shit. That means she heard the part where I actually said something to defend her. I grumbled, giving her a simple nod of the head as I ventured back towards my room.


If I can just make it through a few more days of this, I won't have to bit my tongue anymore. At least not until the honeymoon is over.

Notes

Yay for votes and comments! You guys ROCK!
-Jess.