Chapter 3: Battle lines drawn
2178 Words
Ivy
The TV was on in the console, a couple of meters away mum and I were seated around the lacquered chocolate dining table surrounded by four dining seats. We were occupying two of them both at the far end, enjoying the meal in silence, between us felt like a void, our eyes were yet to meet although I could feel hers on me. It was down to who needed the talk more than the other. And that wasn’t me, she was the one who owed me an explanation and not the other way around.
“How long are you planning to keep up this madness?”
The fact that she didn’t feel like she owed me an explanation forced me into talking, my plan was to remain tight-lipped for the rest of the evening and only allow in the well-prepared chicken, rice pellets and sips of fresh apple juice.
“You don’t see anything wrong with what you were doing?”
“Hell no!” she dropped her spoon and our eyes locked, “Last I checked am the parent, the adult here you owe me an explanation for staying out late or doing something you’re not supposed to do. I get to ground you”
“What happened to being friends mum?”
My tone and facial expression were perfect and they passed the right message of disappointment, heartbrokenness and lack of trust. She constantly cleared her throat and that spark of authority in her eyes disappeared, she was back to looking away and tacking her hair behind her ears, drooped shoulders and fidgeting on the comfy chair. All of it meant one thing, I was right.
“How long?”
“None of your business Ivy, I’m your mother for Christ’s sake. An adult of sane mind allowed to hook up with anyone of my choice”
“You’re a hypocrite mum. I thought you said we tell each other everything”
“Your reaction alone shows how much you were not ready for this conversation”
Maybe she had a point. But wait a minute, did my mother expect me to clap and congratulate her for finding out that she was seeing another man and if that was not enough bringing him over to our house…secretly. One that dad built and he was dead. I suppose she didn’t imagine how that was supposed to make him feel.
“Childish? That’s what you called me? At least now I know who among us really loved dad”
“Take that back ivy” she hissed seething with venom, that one got under her skin and no apologies, it was supposed to.
“No am not, you’ve been pretending all this while about missing my father when in real sense you wanted to replace him”
“Ivy!”
“I’m not hungry anymore”
That’s how the dinner ended. So unusual because no matter what any of us was going through we left the dinner table smiling and hoping for a better day. Mum did not bother coming after me but I could hear her click her tongue in anger while warm salty tears kept knocking in my eyes, that was going to be another night of hugging my fathers’ picture and wetting my pillows. For me it was too early for mum to start seeing someone else. My phone buzzed and like a psychic my super woman came to my rescue, we were linked telepathically like twins.
“Are you okay Ivy? I’ve been trying to reach you”
“I’m good”
“You don’t sound like it, whats going on? Come on, we don’t keep things from each other”
“Mum and I are fighting”
“Why? Last I checked you were best of friends”
I lay comfortably on the bed ready to get everything off my tiny chest that was almost bursting with held-back emotions, unlike my mother she was going to give me a much-needed listening ear. Ivy was like my personal therapist except she didn’t get a paycheck for it, listening to me whine about my problems from time to time was more than I could ask from a friend.
“She has been seeing coach Watson. Walked on them kissing in the living room”
“No f*****g way!”
“I’m telling you and upon confronting her she said she doesn’t owe me an explanation…”
“Technically she doesn’t, she is your mum but that doesn’t give her the right to hide such grave matter from you. I’m sure she was planning to tell you, she just didn’t know how...”
And when I craved for her affirmations she turned her back on me and took mums side. I was officially having a terrible day. Then I realized she was not going to help as long as I wasn’t going to be straight with her about my feelings towards Ethan. One thing was for sure, my anger was partly because of him. How he was ignoring me, how much I hated him for being too handsome and yet arrogant and how he could get any girl he wanted hence looking down on the likes of me who were nowhere close to being future super models.
“Is this about Ethan? Ooh my God now I get it”
“Get what, you psych-hoe” my tears had dried, my heart was still weeping through its own misery but as usual I was going to be just fine on my own.
“Father and son seeing Mother and daughter…weird”
“For the last time I’m not seeing Ethan ”
“Then why are you mad at your mother for going out with his dad”
Damn she was good.
“They are not going out, they were just kissing”
“Like you and did and now you’re intrinsically afraid the two of them might go public before you and Ethan hence ruin your chances of being with him. I’m sure your reaction would have been different if it was someone else and not Watson”
Yap, she cracked it. No surprise there. Words evaded me like a plague, Ophelia had just paid me a reality cheque and I must say it didn’t feel so good to have someone read me like a book, seem to understand my feelings more than myself. For f***s sake they were my feelings how on earth wasn’t I able to understand them? Did I really want to believe we stood a chance so much that I was willing to overlook the fact that he was ignoring me and was probably going to hook up with someone new the next day? Maybe sometimes we don’t know what we really want and deserve to have people to help us decide.
“Too much for just stupid kiss, girl work on your feelings see you tomorrow at school”
“Goodnight”
“Goodnight”
Like she instructed I spent the better part of the night working on my feelings until sleep started stalking me, sadly, there was no breakthrough. There is enough a tired mind could take and so I gave in and let myself rest, after all there was a lot of time to figure out things.
******
Ethan
For the first time in a long time the alarm found me awake doing push-ups and seat-ups in the state of the art gym with everything from weights to treadmills, dumbbells, the floor made of rubber, ceiling painted green with a football stadium, walls decorated with mirrors and football related images. Yeah, one advantage of having an ex NFL star as your dad, we had a gym in the house that was surely too big for the two of us. Anyway, after staying in bed for quite some time having lost sleep, working out seemed like the only way to help me think straight. After thinking comprehensively, I had decided to take the house keepers advice and finally shoot my shot. It had always been easy for me but not this time. Apart from the fact that I had ignored her since that kiss she had this defiance and boldness that I had never experienced, the kind of alpha female confidence…to cut the long story short, I was scared of being rejected. Ivy looked like that girl who would have told me to go to hell straight to my face.
“Morning dude, you’re up early” said dad joining me in his training kit.
“Morning dad, wanted to clear my mind a little”
“Is it working?”
Our conversation the previous night had gone well and laid a foundation to some level of trust from my end. All of a sudden, I felt like we could talk openly about other issues apart from football, we could address our fears and ambitions. To take a step further in the right direction I was thinking of asking him for some dating advice.
“Not really could use some veteran advice”
He looked at me concerned, I shrugged as he picked up a dumbbell, “let’s hope it’s nothing I can’t handle, go ahead”
“So, there is this girl…”
“s**t man, you of all people asking for advice about ladies”
Perhaps my reputation had outgrown me, it did not feel so proud to know that even dad was aware of my playboy status. But am sure he was aware that part of the blame was his for not being around most of the time and also, this was not necessary but every kid, especially teenagers, needs that what-to and what-not-to do talk, Authoritative kind of parenting. Mum was too sweet to give it effectively and I was expecting dad to take up the responsibility.
“There is a first time for everything. Besides those days are behind me. Back to the issue at hand, she looks all confident, we had a moment in the elevator…”
“What do you mean a moment?”
“Lights went out and she kissed me”
“I blame those good looks you inherited from me, continue”
“That’s almost a week back and for some reason am feeling her and am” this was so embarrassing to say but we were having a unique moment with my father so I sucked it up, “Am afraid she might reject me”
“So, what if she rejects you dude? It won’t change anything, yes, your ego will be scratched a little but if you don’t try you will never know if she is also into you”
Somehow dad was making sense. I had nothing to lose if she said no and everything to gain if she felt the same way.
“Start with compliments here and there, be friendly and don’t rush to ask her out. Make her feel like you were not ignoring her, you were just buying time”
“Thanks dad, see you at practice!”
Covered with a blanket of rejuvenated confidence from that talk I hit the showers rapping along some old-school hip hop jams. Ten minutes I was ready in the dining taking my breakfast while scrolling through the feed. Dominating the headlines was the previous day friendly game and as usual my name was popping up here and there. While scrolling I just happened to see Ivy looking all sexy in the blue and yellow cheerleader uniform and then it hit me we had been close to each other for quite some time but she had been somehow invisible to my eye. One photo opened the door for a complete stalking mission. I was on her profile.
“Ooh s**t!” a smirk escaped my lips.
“Everything okay” asked the concerned housekeeper.
“Yeah, yeah everything is perfectly fine I got to go, bye, see you in the evening”
She knew me well to realize that marathon of words could only mean I was nervous about something. My stalking mission went up in flames when I mistakenly liked her photo on i********: and then I couldn’t unlike it because she would have realized but still liking it…you know what, never felt so embarrassed in my life. I kept cursing on the way to school struggling to focus on the road. When I got to the gate even the friendly gate man was surprised to see me check in that early. Well, love or just the feeling of it changes people who was I to fight it? With my bag pack on my right shoulder I confidently strode across the jam-packed hallways, shaking a few hands, waving and smiling… to the ladies, dozens of eyes fixed on me, the man of the hour. You could feel the ripples of energy around me as I walked in my black trousers, white shirt maroon tie and a maroon fitting blazer. Smelling nice and feeling good about myself. It was going to be a great day.
- Writer
