Nights and Weekends

“Hey dad,” I said cheerfully as he opened the door to let Josh and I inside. He gave me a small hug before letting us inside the house, “You remember Josh right?”

“You’re best friend right?”

“My boyfriend now.”

“Good to see you again.” Josh said as he stuck his hand out to shake my dad’s but he ignored it. We followed him inside and into the living room. “You have a nice house sir.”

“Thank you.” Debra said walking into the living room carrying a tray of appetizers, “It’s nothing too fancy but we call it home.” Josh and I exchanged a look of disbelief as she said the words. I could tell his eyes were trying not to focus on the artwork and the crystal that was placed all over the room. “So how was your thanksgiving?”

“It was fine; we spent the day with my family.” Josh said. I made a little noise, “My mom made all the traditional fixings and we spent a nice quiet evening at home.”

“Well that sounds wonderful.”

“It was.”

“Yeah it was damn near perfect.” I said not being able to contain the anger that was building up inside me.

“Near perfect?” Dad asked his interest peaking.

“Yeah, near perfect, he left out the part where he had to punch out mom and her boyfriend to get back the money they stole for me after I told mom she was a failure because she tried to give me away for drugs.” Debra and dads’ jaws dropped as Josh tried to get me to shut up, “He also forgot the part where he kept insulting me but that doesn’t matter as much.”

“Hey don’t do this now,” Josh said putting his hand on my shoulder, “Just not now.”

“Well Reese, that doesn’t sound pleasant at all, do we need to talk about it?” Dad asked leaning forward in his chair. “Really Reese we are here for you if you need to talk.”

“Josh is right, we shouldn’t talk about it now. It was stupid of me to bring it up in the first place. This isn’t the right conversation for holiday talk.” I replied trying to keep my thoughts and voice steady.

“Reese, we’ve been talking lately,” Debra said, “We feel terrible for how we’ve been treating you. Ignoring you really. Please feel free to talk to us about anything, anytime, we are family after all.”

“One second, Josh I forgot something in the car.” I got up suddenly and started to walk towards the front door Josh followed me luckily. “That’s not my family.” I said once we were outside. “I don’t know why they are acting this way, you know that is not my family.”

“I know honey, but be glad maybe they really do regret treating you poorly. Maybe this is going to be your shot. Maybe this is what you need.”

“Let’s not be crazy now, I mean they still are the evil creatures who refuse to let me live with them even though they know I’m getting the shit beat out of me weekly.”

“Ask again, maybe it will be different this time.”

“It won’t be different they are probably just putting on this display to impress you. Hoping that I haven’t told you about them. Or hoping to paint me as a liar.”

“Well you better grab something so we can go back in before we look suspicious.” I grabbed a bottle of water from the car and we walked back into the house.

“Really Reese, we have water here,” Dad said, “Now why don’t you tell us what your mom did now.”

“This isn’t, we should talk about something else.” I said all of a sudden growing uncomfortable.

“Reese, how can we help you if you don’t tell us the problem?” Debra said. I looked at Josh and he nodded his head slightly.

“Mom and her boyfriend told their drug dealer that I would, I could be the payment for the debt that they owed him. He came over today to collect me. Luckily I had money saved up and was able to just pay off the debt. To be honest he seemed happier about getting the money rather than me. I mean I guess if I was a drug dealer I would rather have money than some stupid slave girl. So after he left I yelled and started to hit mom and she took my money. Then Josh came over and he got my money back and we went to his house. End of story.”

“That must have been terrible Reese.”

“It probably isn’t as bad as I make it sound.”

“How did all that make you feel?” Dad asked.

“Like shit.”

“Watch your language.”

“Well how would you feel if your mom tried to give you away just so she could light up?”

“I understand, you know we never wanted this for you.”

“Then why do you leave me there? All you have to do is say I can move in here and everything can be different.”

“We are looking into the legality of you coming to stay with us.” Debra said.

“Really? You aren’t lying to me are you?”

“No this is something we started to look into after our last meeting.” Dad said.

“You let her call me trailer trash at the last meeting, you said I wasn’t good enough to be around your kids. What made you change your mind?”

“Well we think it is time you got a happy ending.” Debra said.

“That is wonderful,” Josh said, “Really wonderful. It’s about time that something good happens to you.”

“Something good already happened, you happened.” I said taking his hand in mine. “Look this is great if it is real but I won’t let myself get excited about this until something happens. I can’t take the disappointment anymore. And I don’t think you are telling me the truth about this.”

“We’re getting the basement refinished for you.”

“That’s great,” I got up and gave each of them a huge hug, “I can’t believe that you are actually doing this. Hey where’s Jamison and Gabby?”

“They are upstairs, we wanted to make sure you weren’t.” Debra said trailing off at the end.

“You wanted to make sure I wasn’t messed up before they saw me.”

“More or less.”

“Can I go get them?”

“Please do they are in the playroom.” I got up and walked upstairs towards the playroom. I could hear their voices as I got closer, they were playing some game of make believe. I opened the door slowly trying not to make too much noise but they saw me and tackled me as soon as I stepped inside.

“Reese,” Gabby yelled, “I’ve missed you it’s been too long.”

“Why do you stay away for so long?” Jamison asked.

“I’ve missed you guys too.” I said holding onto them tightly. “I’m sorry I don’t see you guys more often, I’m really busy with school and stuff.”

“And boys?”

“Somewhat with boys yes, but not really more school.”

“Mom says you are boy crazy.”

“I’m not boy crazy.”

“That’s not how they make you sound.” Jamison dropped her voice to a whisper and nodded towards a bookshelf. “I would be worried about slander if I was you.”

“Can we come downstairs now, I’m hungry.” Gabby said.

“Yes, that’s why I came up here. And do you girls want to meet my boyfriend, I brought him with me.”

“If he is here we really don’t have a choice do we?” Jamison asked. “Is this the mean one I hear dad talking about?”

“No this is a new one, he is really sweet.”

“Then let’s go meet him.” Gabby exclaimed tugging on my arm. I laughed and picked her up.

“Do you want to come meet him?”

“Sure why not.” Jamison said before walking out the door.

“She is mad dad won’t write about her too.”

“Too?”

“Like he does you.” I shook the statement out of my mind and started to follow Jamison back down the stairs.