Color my Life with the Chaos of Trouble

I loved Chicago in the fall, the way the wide tree lined streets would suddenly become cluttered with a variety of reddish yellow leaves, I loved how the smell of burning firewood would begin to fill the air signifying that winter, and in turn Christmas is only a few months away. I loved how the weather was so indecisive, one day sixty degrees one day and seventy seven another day, it was as if the weather couldn’t decide whether to be cold or warm and simply got mixed up, giving us a near perfect day almost every day.

There was only one season that rivaled fall, and that was winter. Winter had snow, winter had Christmas and winter had New Years, but still, the day would get a little too cold some days. As they always say, nothing is ever perfect, except perhaps the fall. However, one disadvantage of fall was that it meant the recommencement of the school year, my senior year at Barrington High School.

“Olivia!” my mother’s voice sung out from downstairs “Please get ready, we’re going to Mr. Beckett’s for dinner.” Mr. Beckett was our neighbor, his house being next to mine. He was a middle aged man around about my father’s age that lived alone seeing as he had separated from his wife. Ever since arriving my parents have treated him like another member of the family which he greatly appreciated.

“Mom, I’m studying” I lied, truth be told I just couldn’t be bothered putting down my Cleo magazine and walking the twelve steps to Mr. Beckett’s home.

“Nice one Olivia, the school year hasn’t started yet” my mother smiled, suddenly appearing in the doorway of my room.

“But I’m really enjoying this magazine” I smiled sheepishly.

“Your magazine will be waiting for you when you get home” she said simply.

“Please” I begged, “can’t I not go for once.”

“Olivia, Mr. Beckett’s family moved in and h-”

“I thought he was divorced” I cut in.

“No, he and Mrs. Beckett are trying to work through their problems”

“Oh, well can’t we visit on another day, maybe when Dad is back” I suggested.

“Olivia, Dad isn’t going to be back for another four months, think about it, the faster you go there the faster you can get back home again.” I quite liked her way of thinking and reluctantly agreed to go.

My father was currently half way through his fourth tour of duty in Iraq, yes, my father was a soldier and no, that does not make me an army brat. I have been fortunate to have only moved twice in my life and all of that has been within Illinois and, I haven’t moved in the past ten years.

Ten minutes later I arrived alone on the Beckett’s doorstep, my mother’s homemade brownies in hand.

“I don’t buy from Scouts” a boy, who looked to be about my age said as soon as he opened the door wearing nothing but his boxers.

“I’m not a scout you idiot, I’m your fucking neighbor” purposely stepping on his bare feet I strolled into the house, the boy, in a great deal of pain following a somewhat safe distance behind. My mother, as per usual, was still struggling to get my younger brothers James and Alex, both thirteen off the Play station, the new Grand Theft Auto had come out just two days ago and they haven’t left the TV since.

“Good evening Mr. Beckett” I smiled strolling into the kitchen, leaving my mother’s brownies on the bench “How has your Sunday afternoon been?” what could I say; I was very good
when it came to keeping adults on side.

“Stressful to be honest with you Olivia, I’ve forgotten how to live with people” he laughed as I sat up on the bench stool “This is my wife Trish” he gestured to the woman entering the room now, with a wide smile on her face.

Mrs. Beckett had a rather cold face, all sharp bones and acute angles however; her plump lips and wide eyes made her seem so much more welcoming. The Beckett’s had four children including the boy who had opened the door from me, whose name was William. There was also Kelsey who was six, Annalisa who was seven and Tahnee who was fifteen. All four children shared the same soft brown eyes, but that was where the comparisons stopped. Kelsey was blond, with plush lips quite similar to her mothers and had dark, tanned skin. Annalisa was plump with dark brown hair and rosy red cheeks and then there was Tahnee, tanned, tall and muscular, I could tell she was athletic probably in gymnastics. Then there was William, the lone male sibling of the family, he was excessively tall and quite pale, he had long hair which was about the same length as mine and looked as if it needed a cut, though I have to say it looked rather healthy. Of all the children, William most defiantly looked the most like his father.

“Ah, glad to see you put some pants on, and a top too, it must be my lucky day” I smirked as William came to sit at the table for dinner with a pair of tracksuit pants and a sweater covering his previously near bare body.

“Admit it, you liked it” he whispered sliding into the chair beside me.

“Why would I admit to something that isn’t true?”

“Because it really is true” he whispered again “you’re just too proud or too caught up in you feminist frame of mind, probably bought on by you single mo-”

“Olivia?” Mrs. Beckett cut in, “how has your summer been?” she asked kindly. I saw from the corner of my eye, my mom look over at me with weary eyes.

This summer was pretty good until, on the third of August my boyfriend, Bradley, of eight months broke up with me. I’m not going to come out and say that he was a prick who I had no idea why I wasted eight months of my life with, because that’s a lie and I’m not going to come out and say that the break up was amicable and easy on the both of us, because that would be a lie too. The break up wasn’t easy, and no, we don’t hang out together, in fact, I haven’t seen him since. The first three days were hard, it’s a rather awful feeling when you realize that that person you’ve spent the past eight months of your life with is no longer there. It’s even worse when the reason is because you are “impossible to love” apparently I was too bitchy and too arrogant, I can’t help but wonder why he put up with it for eight months if it was really that bad.

“Umm, it was fine, rather quiet” I smiled; they don’t need to know about my life history yet.
Dinner passed rather uneventfully, I sat in silence, eating the rather delicious roast and mashed potatoes and eagerly awaiting for the brownies to come out, honestly, nothing in the world is better than brownies, nothing.

Everything in the Beckett household made it seem like they were trying almost too hard to make sure everything was okay, it was like everyone was walking over landmines, with grand smiles on their lips.

“Is this the reason why you left us?” I stopped upon hearing William’s voice floating into the hallway where the bathroom was from the kitchen.

“What are you talking about William” his father sighed. I stood quietly in the hallway, yes, eavesdropping.

“That woman you invited over, Karen, Carol-”

“Who Kerrey”

“I don’t care what her name it! How do you think we all feel, you, bringing us back here to parade your new family around in front of our faces.” I stood inside the hallway, biting by tongue so hard it was about to bleed.

“William you a-”

“Don’t even fucking attempt to deny it okay, it’s pretty fucking obvious, she’s missing a husband and you were missing a wife, so why bring us back if you’ve already replaced us?”

“Excuse me buddy” I spat storming into the kitchen over biting my tongue. I was through staying quiet it the corridor, this kid quite simply needed to be put in his place. That’s just the way I was, if someone, whether they were one of my brothers, friend or teachers, everyone has their places and I do believe that I was put here to remind them of where that place was. “For your information, which is extremely fucked up I might add, my father is currently on a nine mfonth tour of duty in Iraq and how dare you assume that my mother was cheating.
Anyway-”

“Olivia please, he did” Mr. Beckett tried his best to cut off my rant.

“You’ve been here for what, seven hours and you’re already acting like you own the fucking place, well guess what buddy, I don’t know who you were back in your old town or who you think you were but no one gives a fuck about you ‘round here.”

With that, my tirade of anger towards William had been released, but to even think that someone could make those types of assumptions about people whom he had just met made me feel sick. I couldn’t stand being in the same room as him, I couldn’t stand being in the same house as him. Stuff the brownies, I needed to get out of there before I really exploded.

“Mom, I feel sick” I said strolling out into the Johnson’s living room “I’m going home, thanks for dinner Mrs. Beckett.”