Meet your new friend

Frank’s POV ~
The memory of just days before played over and over in my sleep. My parents’ divorce was final, and they were trying to get me to chose who I wanted to live with. The problem was, I didn’t want to chose. I loved my parents equally. Sure my mom drank a lot, and did cocaine all the time. But she’s doing so much better. She only drinks on special occasions now, and she doesn’t do cocaine at all anymore. But really I think she doesn’t do it anymore is because of the major debt we went in. But still, I think going off of it has really changed her, and really woke her up to the real world. I doubt she’ll be doing it anymore.

My dad, drinks as well. But also on special occasions, and even then it’s probably only a half glass of wine. He’s never done drugs. He’s been a strict Catholic all his life. That’s how he was raised.
But my dad was pretty harsh on rules with my mom around. But I don’t know if I can live with any more rules and restrictions if I live with him by myself… And plus, with my dad’s job, I’d be traveling around the globe all the time. Sure it sounds like every 14 year old’s dream, but I’m not the kind of person who enjoys moving every 3 months.

And my mom is pretty fun, but she has trouble with finances. If I live with her, I might be wearing the same clothes for the rest of my life…

But all this came to a conclusion, as I decided to stay with my mom. Of course my dad was devastated. He tried to talk my mom into switching off every couple of months. But my mom said that after all this was done, I was to stay in one place. She said it’d be too hard to try to send me to Africa, or Spain every couple of months. After hearing that, my dad was quiet. I guess he agreed. But I promised him I would see him as soon as I graduate High School.

~.~

Moving day. I lay on my floor, in my empty bedroom thinking about my past 14 years of life. My parents were happy, and I was happy. I had friends, my life was pretty much well perfect.

My parents tried to convince me that the only reason why they were getting divorced is because of my dad’s job. My mom was tired of him never being home, and never being with her. I’m sure that part was true, but the real reason they divorced is because they’ve fallen out of love. Why they couldn’t tell me this in the first place, I don’t know. But it wasn’t hard to figure out. The looks my gave my dad, and vice versa. The way they treated each other now, it was kind of obvious.

I awoke from my thoughts by my mom knocking on the door.

“Frank, honey. All of our stuff is loaded and I think we’re ready to leave.”

I nodded and stood up, as she left. I took one more glance at my room. I’ve been in this room since I was 3 days old. It was hard to leave. I looked in the closet, to make sure I didn’t leave anything. Then something caught my eye. On the door frame of my closet there were little tick marks with heights marked on them. I laughed as I remembered every one of my birthdays. My mom would always want to measure me to see how much I’ve grown in the past year. Starting from when I turned 11. I convinced her to stop when I turned 11 though. I thought it was too old.

I took one more glance around my room, and left. My mom and dad were waiting downstairs in silence. My dad was sitting on the couch, while my mom was on the recliner. When they saw me they stood up. My dad came over and hugged me goodbye. I looked up and he had a tear in his eye.

“Dad, don’t cry. You’ll make me feel bad.” I said

“I know, I’m sorry son. But I’m not going to see you again for 4 more years. It’s hard.”

“I know, but we can still call each other. I’ll have my cell on me at all times, so just call.”

We let go. My dad pat my shoulders and walked me out to our car. My mom followed. She got in the drivers side, and I got in the passengers side. I waved to my dad as my mom started the car. The mover’s truck in front of us started up and was creeping out of the driveway. We followed it out of town. Out of our little suburb in New York City.