Runs in the Family

I stare at myself in the bathroom mirror, I was starting to freak out. Prom’s tonight and I still had no idea as to what I was going to do with my hair, or make-up. I groan and walk out the bathroom and drag my feet towards my room. I stare at my blood orange dress trying to think of something.

I groan again unable to think of any ideas, I was starting to think that I should just go wearing the dress and not even worry about the hair and make-up.

“I think it’s time for plan B.” I hear Ryan say from my door way.

I turn around and look at him with a raised eyebrow and ask, “what’s plan B?”

“Ashlee,” he says and takes out his cell phone.

“Thank god,” I murmur, and wait for Ryan to finish talking to Ashlee.

“Here’s the deal, I’m going to take you to Bronx’s house and you’re going to get ready there, so you need to call Jerry and tell him to pick you up there, and then all three of you can go pick up Lisa.”

“Okay.”

I grab my dress and shoes and hand them to Ryan so he can put them in the car, I then grab my comb and all my make-up supplies.

“Are you going with the towel on?” Ryan asks.

I touch my head and realize I still have the towel wrapped around it, I take it off and let my wet hair hang loose.

“Okay, lets go.”

* * *

“No peaking,” Ashlee tells me as she leads me to the mirror.

“I’m not, can I see now?”

We take a couple more steps and then stop.

“Okay you can look now.” Ashlee beams excitedly and uncovers my eyes.

My mouth drops open, “wow, you are amazing Ashlee.” I tell her as I stare at myself in the mirror, my hair was up in loose curls with an orange flower on the side of it, my eyes popped from the black eyeliner, and mascara, the smoky orange eye shadow with some glitter gave my skin a pop of color, and my red lips match perfectly with my new shoes.

I look at Ashlee, and I notice the frown on her face, “what’s wrong?” I ask her as my excitement washes off.

“Nothing,” she shakes her head, “it’s just… you look just like your mother.” She says in a low voice.

“I’m sure she’s looking at me from above.” I whisper and smile.

“Yeah, I think so too.” Ashlee says and gives me a motherly hug.

I grab my purse from the bed, and follow Ashlee out of the room and head downstairs to the living room, I smile as I notice Bronx’s eyes on me.

“You look great.” He says as he stands up from the couch.

“It was all thanks to your mom, you look too bad yourself,” I say with a small laugh.

“I need to take a picture!” Pete shouts as he walks down the stairs holding his camera.

Bronx places his on my waist making me blush a bit, I do the same and put my hand around his waist.

“Say cheese!”

“Cheese!” We say at the same time, causing us to laugh.

* * *

“Thanks for coming with me.” Jerry tells me as we dance to a slow song.

“I’m glad you asked me to be your date.” I reply with a smile.

As we continue I notice Jerry turning around and glancing at Tom, who was sitting by himself looking at me and Jerry. “My feet are starting to hurt, I think I need to sit down for a bit.” I lie, and drag Jerry towards where Tom is sitting at.

“Hi Jerry.” Tom says as he notices us approaching.

I sit down next to him and give him a small smile. I look at Jerry and give him an encouraging smile.

“Uh, would you like to dance Tom?”

“I-I would love to.” Tom replies and takes Jerry’s hand into his, with a big smile on his face.

I smile big as I watch them slow dance. I could tell how much they cared about each other, and how much they loved spending time together. Even if they were in love with each other they couldn’t be together because of one person, and that was Jerry’s mom, and I know how miserable Jerry was because of it, he couldn’t be with the one he cared most about in this world, because he also loved his mom.

I started to feel horrible, Ryan had kicked out Brendon out of the house because of me, because he knew I didn’t want to see or talk to him, and he kicked out the person he loved more than any one else, just to keep me happy. Ryan doesn’t deserve to be unhappy because I’m angry. Ryan deserves to be happy, and nobody should take that away from him, not even me.

“Amelia, are you okay?” I hear Bronx question loudly.

I look at him and smile wiping away some of the tears, “I need to make a phone call.” I shout over the music, and stand up walking out of the room.

I take out my cell phone from my purse and take in a deep breath as I press Brendon’s name.

“Amelia?” He asks in a low voice.

“I know you love Ryan, and I know he loves you too…” I pause, and take another deep breath.

“He misses you a lot, and I hate seeing him so upset, because it’s my fault-”

“It’s not your fault, it was all mine.”

“I want you to come back home, and I want you to know that I haven’t forgiven you, and I don’t know when I will forgive you, but I want to thank you for letting Ryan into my life, and letting him raise me the way you couldn’t”

“Amelia-”

“I don’t want to hear your excuses, or anything else. Your blood might be running through my veins, but I’m not ready to fix this relationship, even if I was, I wouldn’t want to. What you said is something I will never forget, and something you can never take back.”

I hear Brendon sigh, “What do you want from me then?”

“I want you to make Ryan happy, think of me as your boyfriends daughter, and I will think of you as my dads boyfriend, nothing less, nothing more.”

“Nothing less, nothing more.”

“Good Bye Brendon.” I say and hang up.

“Are you sure that’s all you want?” Bronx asks from behind me.

I nod without looking at him, “I don’t want anything to do with him… for now.” I say staring down at my hands.

I feel Bronx’s hand on my shoulder, I look up to see his face. “Maybe in the future I’ll forgive him for everything, and pretend it never happened, and we’ll be a happy family again, but not today.”

Bronx nods in agreement and takes my hand, “lets go dance.”

I smile, and follow him back into the room just as “Chasing Cars” begins to play. I wrap my arms around Bronx and rest my head on his shoulder as we sway back and forth.

If I lay here
If I just lay here
would you lie with me and just forget the world?

I don't quite know
How to say
How I feel

Those three words
Are said too much
They're not enough