Sequel: Shorts from Spinning at the Seams ›
Spinning at the Seams
Chapter 20
The weekend was tense, no one other then Julia, who had no idea what was going on, talked to Di, no matter how many times she tried to explain or apologize. I was glad for Monday; it meant I didn’t have to be in the house, even if Adam wasn’t going to be at school, I would still rather be there then at home. I went to school early in order to avoid Di, who had apparently given up on making the others understand and was now following me, looking for forgiveness. Forgiveness I was not prepared to give.
As I parked I noticed Hunter’s car in the lot and decided to go find him. I didn’t have to look long. I found him sitting against his locker studying something I couldn’t read from where I was approaching him.
“Hey Huntz, do I have a story for you.” Hunter looked up and grinned, closing the book in his lap, he patted the spot next to him and I sat down beside him.
“Hey Tones, nice to see you survived Thanksgiving, and I’m all ears. I have something to talk to you about, but this story of yours may actually give me an idea.” I nodded, and looked at the closed book in his lap as I tried to figure out where to start.
“Hmm where to start, oh I know. On Thanksgiving Diana decided to tell everyone that she has been talking to my dad, and that he wants us to go visit him for Christmas, and that, and this is great, we have no choice because it’s in the stupid divorce agreement that has never been upheld because of our negative feelings towards him. But now that the ever-gullible Diana has forgiven him he thinks he can sweet-talk the rest of us into forgiving him as well. So now I’m off California for Christmas. As is Marc and Olivia, neither of who want to go, and Julia is being left with my mom, which means she’ll probably end up in daycare. So that was my Thanksgiving, how was yours?” I now looked at his face, his eyebrows were raised and he carefully put the book on the floor.
“So, how does that make you feel?” I raised an eyebrow now, had I not just made that speech?
“What are you Dr. Phil? I just told you.” I rolled my eyes as Hunter laughed.
“No, I’m Dr. Hunter, counselor and friend extraordinaire, now thanks to my psych class I can tell you how your subconscious feels.”
“I highly doubt a quarter of psych can tell you how my twisted subconscious feels.” I shook my head as Hunter handed me a piece of paper and a pen from his bag.
“Draw a pig, and think of your current situation as your doing it.” I raised my eyebrow again, but did as I was told. There was no point arguing with Hunter, he would get you to do it eventually, so it was just better to do it now, then have him dropping subtle hints and comments about it for months to come.
I drew a pig with ears and a curly tail. When I finished the animal the page still looked empty, so I proceeded to draw a barn in the background with little lights and feed troughs. When I was satisfied I handed it back to Hunter who looked amused.
“Why did you draw a slaughterhouse?” He asked trying to hold back a grin, I scowled; my drawing skills were not the issue here!
“It’s not a slaughterhouse, it’s a barn.” He laughed as he examined the rest of my drawing.
“Whatever you say,” He said, the proceeded to cough, “Slaughterhouse.” I tried to hit him in the arm lightly, but he dodged it, causing me to hit the locker instead, he then rolled his eyes as I cradled my hand.
“Yeah, with the slaughterhouse, I think it shows that you feel that going to see your father will be like leading you to slaughter, and that Diana is the one who brought you to that place. If it’s a barn as you claim it to be,” he emphasized the word claim, causing me to roll my eyes, it was a barn, and I’m not artistic enough to draw a slaughterhouse! “It shows that you feel that when you go to see him, you will be on the outside looking in, and you don’t want that. You would rather be in the safety of somewhere you know then be forced to watch someone be happy as you suffer.” I sighed and nodded, both described my feelings in a way. Just as I was about to ask him what he wanted to talk about earlier the bell rang, and we got up headed in different directions, waving at each other over our shoulders. I could have sworn I saw him mouth ‘Slaughterhouse’ but I decided to ignore it.
I planned to ask him in English, but he was busy muttering ‘Slaughterhouse’ and writing notes to me saying that. I had to focus on not laughing out loud as the teacher went over the sad tomb scene in Romeo and Juliet. I finally got around to asking him in journalism.
“Oh that, yeah, I had an idea for the truth article.” I grinned, I knew he had been stuck on a topic for me, well for him to write about.
“Awesome! And the topic is?” I saw his face light up, so I knew this was going to be good.
“Real life, how we exaggerate our lives one way or another. Make it seem like our lives are perfect, or make it seem like our lives couldn’t get any worse. When in reality no ones life is perfect, and most people’s lives aren’t as horrible as they claim them to be. But instead of admitting this, we pick and choose the events of our lives to feed into the lie one-way or the other. I would write an article examining that.” I was shocked, that was an amazing idea, not that all his ideas weren’t great, but this one was pure genius.
“Unfortunately,” he continued, running a hand through his hair, “I have no idea how to start it, so my writer’s block has only lifted temporarily, I’m hoping for a breakthrough soon.” I was about to comment on his idea, and give him some encouragement, but Mrs. Callows called the class to order, and with Adam gone, I had to lead. So talking to Hunter was hard to do.
As I walked into the park district I noticed Mallory looking at me worried, she motioned me over and I obliged, better to go now then deal with her infamous rant later.
“Hey, Hunter told me what happened. Where is the evil Double Mint Twin anyway?” She asked looking around me. “The creative writing class?” She prompted, I nodded I hadn’t forgotten.
“Marc has a tutoring session, because apparently he can’t fail math and still play sports, so he dropped me off, and is going to bring them later. He’s then going to stop by after his tutoring session to pick me up, and then Mom is going to pick them up on her way home from work, seeing that they get out after I do.” Mallory nodded and looked ready to ask something when the phone rang, she groaned as she looked at the number, and I decided to take my leave, as her voice adopted a fake cheeriness for the person on the other line.
Quinn pounced on me the second I walked into the studio.
“OMG! So the new neighbors went to California for Thanksgiving, giving me a chance to pet sit slash house sit.” I nodded waiting for the point to this story. “Anyway, I had to feed their dog Brutus, but that was fine, it gave me a chance to spend more time at the house then just watering plants would.” I frowned, Adam had a dog-named Brutus, it must be a more popular dog name then I realized. “So I found out about them, they have two kids, a daughter and a son. Daughter’s older, son’s younger, daughter is in college in California, and apparently they moved from there. Before California they lived for a while in some southern state, I forget which one. They lived in California for like two years based off of the things I found.” I didn’t bother asking what things those were; with Quinn it was better not to know. “Dad’s in some big business, he’s like CEO, president, VP maybe, it was hard to tell. Mom’s a real estate mogul; they left the south because of Dad’s job. The reason for leaving sunny California is still unknown.” I just gave her an amused look; Quinn was not only slightly stuck up, but a little nosy to. Mallory said she should be ‘Gossip Girl’ for all she knew.
“You found this out from house sitting?” I asked skeptically.
Quinn looked sheepish as she rolled her eyes. “Well that, and I may have snooped through some drawers.” I shook my head, and moved to sit down, focusing on stretching as Quinn babbled on oblivious.
I was exhausted when I got home, Adam still hadn’t called, which worried me slightly, but I couldn’t focus long enough to think about it as an IM sounded from my computer.
MaMia3- Where in California are you going???
Not2Sure- uh some city by San Diego, like 45 minutes or so away from it why?
MaMia3- cuz the rents just told me that they want to go to Cali for x-mas and we’re headed to Disney
Not2Sure- Really? Do you know what day u fly out?
MaMia3- I told my parents about ur situation, and you know how much they love you, so they offered to let ur family hang with us for a few days before going to ur dads
Not2Sure- Awesome! I’ll run it by my mom, but im sure she’d agree, after all if im forced to go to cali might as well have some fun right?
MaMia3- Right, I’ll have my mom send ur mom our ticket info, that way we can fly together or at least come in around the same time
Not2sure- sounds good, I gtg need sleep Adams coming home tomorrow!
MaMia3- Not a lovesick puppy eyed teenager huh? Well have some nice beauty rest, see u tomorrow
Not2Sure- yeah see u tomorrow
MaMia3- SLAUGHTERHOUSE!!!
Not2Sure- lol, shut it!
I laughed as I logged out. Hunter going to California was going to be a lifesaver though, in more ways then one.
As I parked I noticed Hunter’s car in the lot and decided to go find him. I didn’t have to look long. I found him sitting against his locker studying something I couldn’t read from where I was approaching him.
“Hey Huntz, do I have a story for you.” Hunter looked up and grinned, closing the book in his lap, he patted the spot next to him and I sat down beside him.
“Hey Tones, nice to see you survived Thanksgiving, and I’m all ears. I have something to talk to you about, but this story of yours may actually give me an idea.” I nodded, and looked at the closed book in his lap as I tried to figure out where to start.
“Hmm where to start, oh I know. On Thanksgiving Diana decided to tell everyone that she has been talking to my dad, and that he wants us to go visit him for Christmas, and that, and this is great, we have no choice because it’s in the stupid divorce agreement that has never been upheld because of our negative feelings towards him. But now that the ever-gullible Diana has forgiven him he thinks he can sweet-talk the rest of us into forgiving him as well. So now I’m off California for Christmas. As is Marc and Olivia, neither of who want to go, and Julia is being left with my mom, which means she’ll probably end up in daycare. So that was my Thanksgiving, how was yours?” I now looked at his face, his eyebrows were raised and he carefully put the book on the floor.
“So, how does that make you feel?” I raised an eyebrow now, had I not just made that speech?
“What are you Dr. Phil? I just told you.” I rolled my eyes as Hunter laughed.
“No, I’m Dr. Hunter, counselor and friend extraordinaire, now thanks to my psych class I can tell you how your subconscious feels.”
“I highly doubt a quarter of psych can tell you how my twisted subconscious feels.” I shook my head as Hunter handed me a piece of paper and a pen from his bag.
“Draw a pig, and think of your current situation as your doing it.” I raised my eyebrow again, but did as I was told. There was no point arguing with Hunter, he would get you to do it eventually, so it was just better to do it now, then have him dropping subtle hints and comments about it for months to come.
I drew a pig with ears and a curly tail. When I finished the animal the page still looked empty, so I proceeded to draw a barn in the background with little lights and feed troughs. When I was satisfied I handed it back to Hunter who looked amused.
“Why did you draw a slaughterhouse?” He asked trying to hold back a grin, I scowled; my drawing skills were not the issue here!
“It’s not a slaughterhouse, it’s a barn.” He laughed as he examined the rest of my drawing.
“Whatever you say,” He said, the proceeded to cough, “Slaughterhouse.” I tried to hit him in the arm lightly, but he dodged it, causing me to hit the locker instead, he then rolled his eyes as I cradled my hand.
“Yeah, with the slaughterhouse, I think it shows that you feel that going to see your father will be like leading you to slaughter, and that Diana is the one who brought you to that place. If it’s a barn as you claim it to be,” he emphasized the word claim, causing me to roll my eyes, it was a barn, and I’m not artistic enough to draw a slaughterhouse! “It shows that you feel that when you go to see him, you will be on the outside looking in, and you don’t want that. You would rather be in the safety of somewhere you know then be forced to watch someone be happy as you suffer.” I sighed and nodded, both described my feelings in a way. Just as I was about to ask him what he wanted to talk about earlier the bell rang, and we got up headed in different directions, waving at each other over our shoulders. I could have sworn I saw him mouth ‘Slaughterhouse’ but I decided to ignore it.
I planned to ask him in English, but he was busy muttering ‘Slaughterhouse’ and writing notes to me saying that. I had to focus on not laughing out loud as the teacher went over the sad tomb scene in Romeo and Juliet. I finally got around to asking him in journalism.
“Oh that, yeah, I had an idea for the truth article.” I grinned, I knew he had been stuck on a topic for me, well for him to write about.
“Awesome! And the topic is?” I saw his face light up, so I knew this was going to be good.
“Real life, how we exaggerate our lives one way or another. Make it seem like our lives are perfect, or make it seem like our lives couldn’t get any worse. When in reality no ones life is perfect, and most people’s lives aren’t as horrible as they claim them to be. But instead of admitting this, we pick and choose the events of our lives to feed into the lie one-way or the other. I would write an article examining that.” I was shocked, that was an amazing idea, not that all his ideas weren’t great, but this one was pure genius.
“Unfortunately,” he continued, running a hand through his hair, “I have no idea how to start it, so my writer’s block has only lifted temporarily, I’m hoping for a breakthrough soon.” I was about to comment on his idea, and give him some encouragement, but Mrs. Callows called the class to order, and with Adam gone, I had to lead. So talking to Hunter was hard to do.
As I walked into the park district I noticed Mallory looking at me worried, she motioned me over and I obliged, better to go now then deal with her infamous rant later.
“Hey, Hunter told me what happened. Where is the evil Double Mint Twin anyway?” She asked looking around me. “The creative writing class?” She prompted, I nodded I hadn’t forgotten.
“Marc has a tutoring session, because apparently he can’t fail math and still play sports, so he dropped me off, and is going to bring them later. He’s then going to stop by after his tutoring session to pick me up, and then Mom is going to pick them up on her way home from work, seeing that they get out after I do.” Mallory nodded and looked ready to ask something when the phone rang, she groaned as she looked at the number, and I decided to take my leave, as her voice adopted a fake cheeriness for the person on the other line.
Quinn pounced on me the second I walked into the studio.
“OMG! So the new neighbors went to California for Thanksgiving, giving me a chance to pet sit slash house sit.” I nodded waiting for the point to this story. “Anyway, I had to feed their dog Brutus, but that was fine, it gave me a chance to spend more time at the house then just watering plants would.” I frowned, Adam had a dog-named Brutus, it must be a more popular dog name then I realized. “So I found out about them, they have two kids, a daughter and a son. Daughter’s older, son’s younger, daughter is in college in California, and apparently they moved from there. Before California they lived for a while in some southern state, I forget which one. They lived in California for like two years based off of the things I found.” I didn’t bother asking what things those were; with Quinn it was better not to know. “Dad’s in some big business, he’s like CEO, president, VP maybe, it was hard to tell. Mom’s a real estate mogul; they left the south because of Dad’s job. The reason for leaving sunny California is still unknown.” I just gave her an amused look; Quinn was not only slightly stuck up, but a little nosy to. Mallory said she should be ‘Gossip Girl’ for all she knew.
“You found this out from house sitting?” I asked skeptically.
Quinn looked sheepish as she rolled her eyes. “Well that, and I may have snooped through some drawers.” I shook my head, and moved to sit down, focusing on stretching as Quinn babbled on oblivious.
I was exhausted when I got home, Adam still hadn’t called, which worried me slightly, but I couldn’t focus long enough to think about it as an IM sounded from my computer.
MaMia3- Where in California are you going???
Not2Sure- uh some city by San Diego, like 45 minutes or so away from it why?
MaMia3- cuz the rents just told me that they want to go to Cali for x-mas and we’re headed to Disney
Not2Sure- Really? Do you know what day u fly out?
MaMia3- I told my parents about ur situation, and you know how much they love you, so they offered to let ur family hang with us for a few days before going to ur dads
Not2Sure- Awesome! I’ll run it by my mom, but im sure she’d agree, after all if im forced to go to cali might as well have some fun right?
MaMia3- Right, I’ll have my mom send ur mom our ticket info, that way we can fly together or at least come in around the same time
Not2sure- sounds good, I gtg need sleep Adams coming home tomorrow!
MaMia3- Not a lovesick puppy eyed teenager huh? Well have some nice beauty rest, see u tomorrow
Not2Sure- yeah see u tomorrow
MaMia3- SLAUGHTERHOUSE!!!
Not2Sure- lol, shut it!
I laughed as I logged out. Hunter going to California was going to be a lifesaver though, in more ways then one.