Remodelling the Wreckage of My Past

“Brian! There a fan parked in our driveway!” whined Nathalie as she entered the living room, a horrible pout on her face and her arms crossed over her chest. Dad was completely ignoring her, his eyes glued on the screen as he was slowly losing against his own son at Guitar Hero…

I promised Brian I would not laugh, so I’m sitting on the armchair, with Celia, trying to keep a straight face. Aiden was owning at Guitar Hero, he used to spend half a day playing that game, Dad can be one of the best guitar player in the world, that will not save him from loosing the game… For the third time…

“There hasn’t been a fan here since forever! Last time was three years ago!” replied Brian, frowning as he was now glaring at the screen, probably trying to burn holes in it or something…

“But there’s an unknown car in the driveway!” she whined. “Go and make it go away!” she said, coming closer to the TV.

“What kind of car?” asked Aiden, looking away from the screen for a few seconds, and looking at Nat. Did I forget to mention that Aiden knew almost all the songs by heart?

“Silver.” She replied.

“Jeez, thanks! That’s helpful!” he said, shaking his head, I smiled and got up, walking to the window.

“Mustang.” I said as I let the curtain fall back in place and went back in my sit just as the front door opened.

“Hey kids.” Said Mum as she entered the living room, sliding some keys in her pocket.

“Is that your car parked right in front of the house?” asked Nat, turning on her heels and glaring at my mother.

“Yes, it is my car parked in the driveway. It’s were you are supposed to park cars, why?” she asked, raising an eyebrow and looking down at her.

“Since when do you have a car?” she asked, her arms still crossed over her chest.

“Since I bought it, duh! And why do you care, that’s none of your business as far as I’m concerned, is it?” she replied, still looking down at Nathalie.

“It’s my house, I4d like to know whose car is parked in the driveway! That’s all!” she replied.

“Oh god, are you really that stupid? Maybe you’re not a fake blonde after all. Do the math Nat, I didn’t walk all the way here… and it’s not your house, did you bought it? No. Brian did, therefore, it’s his house, not yours so you have no say about whatever is or is not park here.”

God, what happened to Mum?! I saw Aiden turning his head in Mom’s direction, even Brian had stopped paying attention to the game.

“You do not talk to me like that!” cried Nat, desperately looking at Brian for some help.

“And you do not tell me what to do! Especially when you have the guts to fuck the father of my children when I’m just in the room next to yours! Have a little respect for yourself, or maybe you’re just a whore after all!” she spat.

“Brian!” yelled Nat, turning to look at Dad, who just had his mouth slightly open, probably wondering which side to take.

“And stop turning to Brian every time you have a problem. Stand up for yourself and stop being a whining, demanding bitch. I’m tired of putting up with your shit, so here’s the deal. Either you start to respect me and my kids and then I might be nice to you, or you keep acting that way and I’m going to make your life a living hell. I never asked to come and live with you, your man did, so bear with the consequences. And stop acting like there a competition between you and me to get into Brian’s pants… Because we all know that if I wanted to, I could make you out of his life in the blink of an eye. Now that everything is said, do you have anything to add?” Mom asked and all I wanted to say was: woah!

I looked at Aiden, he had his eyes wide for a second before he quickly recovered and a proud smile mixed up with a smirk formed on his lips. I’m pretty sure my expression was matching his. And Dad? Well, obviously he knew better than trying to talk sense into Mom when she was like that.

“So?” asked Mum after a few seconds of silence, Nat still not reacting. She huffed and walked out of the room, her heels taping on the floor as she stormed upstairs and slammed her bedroom door shut.

With a satisfied smile on her face, she turned to face Brian.
“I know, that wasn’t really nice of me, but she needed to be put back in place. I will not put up with her attitude.” She said just as Brian grabbed her arm and pulled her into the kitchen, slamming the door behind them. Aiden threw the plastic guitar on the couch and ran to listen to their conversation from behind the door. I followed him, mimicked by Celia.

“I can see your point but you did not have to yell at her the way you did!” said Brian.

“I didn’t not yell, I barely raised my voice. See needed to understand who she was messing up with, and I hope she got the message.”

“Adeline, this is not high school or anything, you were talking to my fiancée! You do not raise your voice or talk the way you just did to her, got it?”

“Brian, I will respect her when she will respect me and my kids! Because she needs to understand that Aiden and Angelina aren’t pets, they are your kids and she needs to get that through her head.”

“You could have explained her an other way, and not threaten her the way you did!” Their voices were getting louder.

“How did you wanted me to explain that to that stupid bitch? Making a metaphor involving shoes and nail polish? If you hadn’t notice, I’ve tried my best to be nice to her, stopping the twins from making pranks on her, she never tried to be nice to me, not once. It’s a dead end! She’s stupid!”

“It’s the last time I’m going to tell you this, you do not talk about Nathalie that way.” Said Dad in a warning tone.

“And I will not stay in the same house as Paris Hilton’s clone. She can burn in hell for all I care.” she yelled and we could hear her footsteps coming closer. We ran to the living room just as Mom swung the door opened and walked up stairs.

“Mum!” yelled Aiden as he ran after her while I picked Celia up in my arms and followed him at a slower pace.

When we reached her room, she was throwing clothes in a duffel bag, mumbling dark words under her breath. She zipped up her bag and threw it over her shoulder. She picked up Celia from my arms and hugged her close to her chest.

“I’m going to stay at Cha’s for a few days, you stay with your father.” She said, looking at me and then at Brian. “I have a mission for you…” she added looking at Celia with an evil smile and then back at us. “Make her life a living hell, just don’t get caught… And don’t worry about your father, he won’t say anything.” She said, and then kissed Celia’s forehead.

“I’m going now, I’ll talk to you soon, okay? And I promise, I’ll be back soon, I will not leave the state.” She added, her gaze locked with Aiden. “I love you all and please, kill the bitch.” She added with a smile before she let Celia down and walked out of her room just as Brian was walking out of his room, rubbing his face.

“Where are you going?” he asked, his eyes widening as he saw the bag.

“Away from here. I don’t see the point in staying here, I’ll go where my presence is actually wanted. The kids are staying here for a while, I hope you don’t mind.” She said as she kept walking down the stairs. “Oh and fuck your whore for me!” she added before slamming the door shut behind her. Seconds later, we could hear the roaring of her Mustang and she was gone.

“I swear, your mother is wearing me out!” he muttered, pinching the bridge of his nose, his eyes closed and sighing deeply. “I’m going to Jimmy’s, do you want to come?” he asked, looking at us.

“Hell yeah!” Aiden cheered and we started racing each other to the car, Celia following us and screaming because we didn’t waited for her.

**

“And Mum completely blew off and she packed her shit and left the house, saying: ‘Fuck your whore for me!’ and then, she slammed the door.” Explained Aiden with a big smile as he was sitting in the kitchen, explaining the previous events to a very attentive Ash.

“No way, I can’t believe she said that!”She exclaimed. A huge smiled enlightened her face as Aiden nodded.

“She said that, word for word. And Dad didn’t saw that coming.” He added. I just smiled, pouring a glass of orange juice for Celia and one for myself.

“Well, I should have known she was going to blew off at her one day or another, she was pretty pissed off when she left a couple of hours ago, she had looked through some lyrics Nat had written and found out that Nat had been changing some of her lyrics again…” explained Ash. Aiden rolled his eyes.

“You know what? She should die, hit by a car on the highway.” He said, before he took a sip of soda. I laughed along with Ash.

“No seriously, Mum seemed pretty mad when she left. I think Nat is going to suffer if Mum ever sees her in the street or something… Probably not if Brian is with her, but still she called her a whore right in front of him, and with Nat in the room.” I said.

“She deserved that.” Said Celia and my eyes widened, looking at my younger sister. “Nat is shit, don’t like her!” she added, which caused Aiden to start laughing, almost falling off his stool in the process.

“She even said that there wasn’t any competition between her and Nat, because she could get back with Dad in a blink of an eye if she wanted to and stuff, and you know the best part?” Aiden asked after he had calmed down a little.

“Dad didn’t even contradict her…” he added with a grin. “He didn’t stop Mom’s rant while she was insulting Nat, he only opened his mouth when they were both in the kitchen and Nat was in her room.”

**

The next day

“Mum? Hey it’s me. Can you come and pick us up? Dad is taking the bitch out for dinner, to make up for last night. You’re outside? Okay cool, are you coming in or what? Okay, yeah sure I’ll. Be there in a minute.” He said and then hung up, sliding the phone back in his pocket.

“Mum is already outside, she wants me to grab her power chord for her cell phone in her room and then we are off.” He explained as he walked out of the room and came back seconds later.

“Let’s get out of here.” I said as I got up, grabbing my messenger bag and taking Celia’s hand in mine.

“Dad? We’re going out with our awesomely great mother who loves us very much! Don’t know when we’ll be back, but we will call you to let you know so you know when to stop screwing Nat.” yelled Aiden, loud enough so Brian would hear him wherever he was in the house.

I smiled and highfived my twin brother just as we reached the front door.

“Remember to ask your mother about Disneyland…” said Brian as he appeared at the kitchen’s entrance, a tired look on his face, completely ignoring our previous comment.

“Won’t forget. Bye Dad.” I said as we walked out of the house.

I called shotgun as Aiden and Celia took their places on the backseat.
“So how was your day?” asked Mum, a smile on her face.

“Pretty rad, we listened to music the whole day, loud enough so it could bother Nat. Celia started drawing on the walls in the living room, I don’t think Nat noticed yet and me and Angelina are thinking about throwing her shoes in the pool.” Explained Aiden.

“Okay, I know I told you to be horrible with her but don’t ruin her shoes, Brian paid for them…” Mum said with a chuckle, “I don’t want to deal with your father.”

“Got it, no throwing shoes.” Said Aiden with a nod.

“You could always change her ringtones, I heard it annoyed her…” she suggested juts as she parked the car.

“Where are we?” asked Celia, looking around.

Mum smiled and turned to look at us.
“It’s a surprise…”