Chapter 7: United by Hypocrisy
1679 Words
A week later it was another beautiful morning in the Miller manor, the family was walking downstairs for breakfast one after another after being summoned by the butler, the last one to walk down the flight of stairs was Audrey in an oversized Yellow tee that had the word smile inscribed in black, two dots represented the eyes and below them was a curve that was either of the lips probably the lower. Grey sweatpants and a black and gold bandana on her head, on her feet fluffy slides.
"Good morning there beautiful, you look different" Rose was the first to notice her change of attire.
"Thank you, mum, Good morning, everyone"
"Morning" David mumbled sipping his tea in one hand he had a copy of the fort canon daily paper, for men like him the entire paper was useless only the business section caught his eye.
As for Lucas, he was not interested and he didn't hide that fact with that side look of disdain on his face. Not that she wanted his compliment, Audrey had given up on the hope of Lucas ever treating her nice, created room for disappointment such that nothing he did to her surprised her anymore. She took her seat and served her plate pancakes and honey, poured a glass of mango juice all that while Lucas had that angry look that Audrey could only feel, Rose was trying to restrain her son with a counter look. Perhaps her actions were just different from her words, she wanted the kids to co-exist and love each other as though they shared a womb. You don't believe it?
"Lucas, don't look at your sister like that"
"Is there a problem?" David raised his gaze.
"No, nothing you should worry about"
He looked around at each of them before he went back to reading. Lucas felt betrayed by his mother who for long he knew would always take his side even if the entire world was against him. Poor boy, he had no idea that at the right circumstances anyone can betray you, yeah even your mother. He chose to leave the table instead of watching his pig of a step-sister stuff four pancakes down her wide throat to a bottomless pit of a belly.
"Stay right here"
"Let him go, what's wrong with you?"
"Stay out of this David...I said sit back here don't test my patience"
In most homes, the mother's word carries a lot of weight, David zipped and Lucas had no option but to sit back. Audrey who had no idea why the always fighting mother-son duo was fighting about kept enjoying her meal, licking her chops and sending sips of mango juice down her throat. For mother and son, the war was not over yet.
"Let's go out" David said out of the blue keeping the newspaper away.
"Where do you have in mind?"
"Kids"
"There's a new joint in town, literally everyone in school has been there except us" the new topic of discussion seemed to spark Lucas's interest, he didn't look like someone who wanted to walk away from the table some few minutes back.
"Audrey"
"Anywhere there's a serene environment to read"
The parents looked at Lucas. After all he knew the place more than any of them. Probably like the back of his hand. Chances were, he had been there before.
"Of course, there is"
"Are you sure? As a family everyone needs to be comfortable"
"Positive, can we prep?"
"Yeah. Go ahead"
Lucas happily left his seat, it took a glare from David before Audrey followed but not without a take away pancake. Rose could be seen smiling on her sleeve.
"What's funny?"
"Nothing"
"You take her side. Pampering her too much"
He should have known how hard she worked to ensure he had no time for his daughter. At a personal level, their father and daughter bond was severed and none of them was working too hard to fix it. That was because someone was pulling the strings with each of them tearing the very fabric of their connection they once cherished, making them feel they didn't need it in the first place. Both were stuck in the allure of their perfect lonely lives.
"Well, he is also my daughter"
"I know. Just be hard on her sometimes"
"As you wish just don't be the one complaining I should ton it down again"
"Trust me, I won't" he assured the two of them going upstairs too.
Audrey had no idea what to settle for in terms of dress code. She was the kind of a girl who didn't know what to wear for different occasions, as long she was not stark naked or something that left her feeling uncomfortable, something like a dress or a high waist skirt. When she opened her wardrobe, it was all beige and baggy, what a pity. Her phone rang and she could already tell who it was.
"Girl"
"Good morning Tina"
"No need to be too formal, what are you up to? I had something in plan"
"Definitely not free. My dad is taking us all out"
"That's great have fun, will you?"
"Okay"
"Don't carry books to a family day out, I'll be watching"
"I can't promise" she chuckled a little, "it's the only fun thing I can do"
"No, reading is not fun. Next weekend or whenever you have time I'll show you fun...talked to Mason?"
"No, I don't know what to say"
"Just call and check on him, come on girl. Don't sleep on this chance"
"Okay"
"Okay what?"
"I'm gonna call him"
"Good, I'm hanging up"
Easier said than done, it was not easy for her to just pick up the phone and call Mason whenever he called she barely could stand a conversation as he serenaded her with all the sweet words she only heard and saw on TV leaving her smiling to herself from time to time. He had become an inextricable thread in the fabric of her life, dictating her day to an extent if she didn't see his handsome face she felt a little incomplete. Mason and Tina were taking turns driving her home, and she never asked the butler why he didn't show up that day. The old man was too ashamed to even talk about it.
After much deliberation she settled for a jeans...no surprised there, a T-shirt and a denim half coat, white rubber shoes. Trust me, that was Tina's impact and it was the best she could pull. She admired here self in the mirror. Her phone buzzed again. She picked it up without looking.
"Just a minute I'll call him"
"I think he already called you, hi sugarplum"
"Mason" she asked surprised taking a hasty look at the phone just to be sure, "hi...am... you...how are you?"
"Relax, I had this feeling you want to talk and I called"
"How are you?"
""I'm fine and I think you already asked that. Are you okay"
"Yeah, better. Bye!"
"Bye?”
There was a soft knock on her door. She kept her phone away and walked from the mirror to get the door. To her surprise it was Rose.
"Mum"
"Who was that on the phone you are glowing you must like them a lot"
"He is a friend"
"He got a name?"
"Mason"
"Handsome?"
"If gods lived among humans he is one of them, the god of looks"
"Damn, you like him?"
Okay, now that was weird. She had known Rose all her life but they were not that close even after she got married to her father their relationship stagnated to exchanging pleasantries and throwing compliments. All of a sudden, she was interested in her romantic life?
"No"
"I'm your mum. You can always tell me the truth"
"I'm telling the truth"
"Okay, I believe you. Ready? You look amazing you've been glowing recently; does it have anything to do with this friend" she put friend in imaginary quotes followed by a side wink.
"Yeah, definitely"
"Great company I guess. It's good let's go you know the boys don't have patience"
"After you"
Rose led the way. The expression on her face had changed to a rather unhappy one. Almost as though whatever they had back there were fake necessities and verbal webs of politeness, just a happy face she was putting on. The thing was, Audrey was yet to complain to her or even David about the butler not picking her up and it hurt to see her offence barely scratching the surface.
"What took you so long?" David asked finally getting in the family van, Lucas was already settled in a pair of black shorts, white polo T-shirt and a black cap with white sneakers. David was also in a Tee with shades and a pair of jeans and sneakers while Rose had on a navy-blue dress and black doll shoes. In the driver's seat, David's most trusted employee, the butler.
"Who wants champagne?" Rose asked fishing a bottle from underneath her seat.
The van was customized with comfy leather seats surrounding some sort of a table in the middle. The ladies were seated opposite the gents. From under the same seat she got four glasses, the question was rhetorical of course all of them wanted champagne with the bargain being on Audrey.
"Audrey, I don't think there is soda on board"
"I'll take champagne it's okay"
"For real Hazel?" Asked David a little surprised.
She nodded with a melting heart, David had finally referred to her by the name she enjoyed, her mother's favorite from her obsession with Hazel trees. Maybe deep down he was there and it was just the words he lacked to show her how much he loved and cherished her.
"On me...cheers!" As the head of the family David called for a celebration, their weekend of fun was just getting started.
"Cheers!" They all said in a chorus.
They were not always as perfect as they seemed but for the day they were going to co-exist. United by hypocrisy.
- Writer
