You're Just In Time

I stared at my heart necklace, twirling it around in my fingers as mom and dad made small talk over studio business. I glanced toward my mother—toward those deceitful orbs—and wanted to puke. How could she lie to me after all these years, and then sit there and act as though everything was a perfect fairytale? Did dad—Jack—even know the truth behind it all?

“CD profits are up ten percent,” mom chuckled, setting her spoon back in her bowl, “Ronnie’s been happy as hell over it.”

I cringed, noting the smile in her tone, though I refused to look away from her eyes. I wanted to throw my uneaten toast at her, and then dump my orange juice on her head. All I could figure was that she was continuing to pour lies on top of lies out of her filthy mouth. Hell, maybe she slept with fifteen other boys, before Kaleb came along.

“Sweetie, you okay?” dad forced me eyes away from mom, his left eyebrow arched.

“Yeah,” I hissed unintentionally, before shoving my uneaten breakfast away, “Can I be excused, dad?”

“Sure,” he hesitated, before looking toward mom quickly.

I got to my feet, shoving my chair roughly into the table. I went to turn the corner of the kitchen, when dad’s voice echoed through the tiny corridor. I turned back to see his furrowed brow and aggravated stare, “What?”

“What the hell is up?” he spun, getting out of the chair, as mom met his side.

“I don’t know,” I shrugged, shooting daggers towards mom, “I mean, I was always told to never tell a lie, right? So why does everyone else get to lie to me?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Ask mom, I’m sure she could feel in every single detail that’s been mishaps in my life,” never letting my eyes fall from her orbs, I set up the poison tipped arrow on my tongue, “Why not start from the beginning, when Kaleb planted the seed inside your ovaries?” Before giving either of them a chance, I shot up the stairs and into my room.

I slammed my door shut, locking it. Tears hit the corners of my eyes, as I stomped my left foot and let out a scream. Frustration was beyond what would describe me, and I wasn’t even ready to start taking it out on myself. All at once, I wanted to punch mom in the face, punch a wall and still run a razor blade across my legs.

I glanced at my reflection from my body length mirror, before wiping feverishly at my eyes. I sat down on my bed, watching the door as one of my parents tentatively knocked on the other side. Did they seriously think I was going to talk to them about this? I had gone nineteen years without actually knowing the truth of my life. I mean, a guy I respected almost more than Jack was my actual father, and no one thought to tell me anything about it.

“Mellow?” Blaise’s voice hit my eardrums, and I immediately rushed to my feet.

I unlocked the door knob, pulling the wooden open and pushed my arms around bhis lanky body.

“What’s wrong, kiddo?” he mused, slowly pushing me into my room, before closing the door behind him.

I sobbed lightly, helping him to sit on the bed’s edge, “I’m so pathetic! Why couldn’t I see that they were constantly lying to me?”

“Back up, Mellow. What are you talking about?”

“You know, back two weeks when you passed out on the couch, after my dad—Jack—left?”

He nodded, watching me aimlessly.

“I got the idea to snoop around in my parents’ room from Amber because I felt something was off about my life. So I started looking for my birth certificate. I mean, how can I be Jack’s daughter if there’s no hint of his features or anything on my being? Sure I look like mom, but I obviously came from her thanks to the homemade video she made Jack take.

“But yeah, I started looking through our old picture box that mom never unpacked, when we moved here. I found pictures of me and Kaleb, me and you and more. I found edited versions of my birth certificate, until I found the original. Jack’s name isn’t the one under ‘father’,” I wiped my eyes, allowing Blaise to rub my back lightly.

“Who is?” he murmured against my ear, kissing the side of my head lightly.

“Kaleb,” I hissed, rage beginning to rebuild in my system.

“Shit,” Blaise cussed, gripping my shoulder lightly. He rested his head against mine, groaning quietly, “I’m sorry, chick.”

I wiped at my eyes, shaking my head, “It’s okay, I guess. I guess I already kind of knew Kaleb was my dad, just never could put the pieces back together.”

- - - -

I pulled the blanket around me tighter, leaning into Blaise’s chest a bit more as he yawned lightly. I rubbed his thigh, yawning in unison until I smacked the limb, only causing him to laugh.

“Melody,” Jack called from the foyer, a plastic bag instantaneously hitting the floor, “can I get some help?”

I groaned, rolling my eyes and wanted to scream no, but I didn’t need to take my mean streak out on him. I got to my feet, tossing the blanket over Blaise’s head. I met Jack in the foyer, taking a few of the bags of wires from his arms, before following him into the kitchen. I set them down on the counter, before meeting Jack’s pain filled eyes, “What?”

“I’m sorry, kiddo, for everything,” he sighed, setting his set of bags down. He walked over wrapping his arm around my shoulders, pulling me closer slightly, “We wanted to tell you, honestly, but we just didn’t know how to.”

“Yeah, and on my eighteenth birthday you had this big speech all planned out and ready to give, but since grandpa had a show down with mom, it didn’t happen. Then my next birthday you were going to tell me, but I was wasted beyond belief, so if you did, I don’t remember. Then when I turned twenty, you were gonna tell me, but I found out beforehand. Right?” I shoved his arm away, pounding my way into the living room.

Why did they think anything they were going to say was going to change the way I felt about them now?