You Idiot! You Weren't Supposed To Come Back!

“Sup little one?” I heard his voice through the speaker. I rolled my eyes at the nickname.

“Get home; mom wants us to make some huge feast thing for her new boy toy and his kid. She said you already invited Kayla so obviously you know bout it-“

“Wait, why do I have to get home now? It’s barely even 3 yet.” He interrupted.

“Well, if you’d be nice and let me finish, I was going to tell you.” I said sarcastically. He sighed but let me continue. “Mom let me invite all my friends too and with all of them, plus me, you and Kay, AND mom, her friend and his kid, that’s like 50 people. So we gotta start cooking now.”

“Fiiine, what does mom want us to make?”

“I don’t know, anything but seafood though. The guy’s son is allergic.”

“Ok, mom gave me like 50 bucks for dinner. I’ll stop at the grocery store and get some steaks, pick up Kay and head back to help cook. Sound good?”

“Sounds good for me, should you get anything else for sides or whatever?”

“We got mashed potatoes and corn to make at the house already. See ya in a few baby sister.” Gosh, I hate when he calls me a baby.

“Later loser.” I smiled and hung up the phone. I walked back completely in the kitchen to see Haley flipped upside down on the couch. She saw me and flipped off, standing up and in front of me so I could see how red her face was from letting all the blood rush to her head.

“Bout time your back. What did you do, die back there?” She asked with raised eyebrows and I rolled my eyes.

“No you idiot. I had to call my mom and Alex and text the guys back to talk about dinner tonight.”

“Oh yeah, what’s that about anyway?”

“I don’t really know. My mom just said the dude doesn’t wanna start ‘doing’ anything until he meets me and Alex. Which is really gross and disgusting, but mom agreed to it.” Haley shuddered the same time as me but she nodded.

“So whose all gonna be here?” I went over the list to her and she nodded again but had a funny glint in her eye.

“What?” I asked with one eyebrow raised.

“So he’s gotta son. Oooh, maybe you could get a boyfriend.” She winked at me and I rolled my eyes again.

“Yeah right, he’s probably like 12 or something. Plus, that’s weird anyway.” Haley just smirked but nodded again.

“Oh yeah, it doesn’t matter anyway. You’ll be dating Justin soon enough.” I looked back at her with my mouth open.

“What are you smoking coo coo brain?” I actually knocked on her head to see if anything was in there.

“Oh please, you guys are totally in love.” She stopped when she noticed how I was going to interrupt her and silenced me. “And I know you don’t believe in it cause of…everything that happened, but it’s gonna happen eventually Maxx and you know it.” Haley’s voice dropped at little when she brought up ‘everything’ that happened. I didn’t want her to feel sad or bad about bringing it up so I just shrugged.

“I doubt it. But come on, we gotta get everything set up for when Alex comes with the food.” I changed the subject cause I knew how much Haley wanted me to talk bout it. I mean, I love Haley and all but she knows I hated talking about my feelings. Not just with her but with anyone.

She nodded in understanding and we started to clean up the kitchen. While we cleaned, I realized we needed the grill for the steaks. I walked out the door in the kitchen and onto the deck. Stopping before I got to the pool, I turned into the shed and pulled out the grill, setting it up close to the kitchen door on the deck and walking back inside.

Me and Haley were done with everything in a matter of 10 minutes and about 40 minutes later, Alex showed up with Kayla and a few grocery bags. I walked towards them and Kayla handed me one bag and Alex handed Haley the other. We took them to the kitchen counter and started unloading.

Alex had bought 13 New York Strip steaks, thinking it was okay to have a little extra. He also bought 6 2 liters of pop. I felt like we were feeding an army or something. We never had to cook this much food. I knew how everyone liked their steak except for Justin, my mom’s guy, and his son. So I texted my mom telling her to ask them and I did the same with Justin. When I got their replies, I wrote them on the paper for Alex so he knew how to cook them.

By 5:30, everything was almost completely done. Alex had cooked almost every steak and worked on keeping them warm, me and Haley made rolls, mashed potatoes, and corn, and Kayla brought some type of chicken casserole from her mom’s house. Haley also made some triple fudge brownies which I refused to help with; considering they were so chocolaty I wanted to puke on them. So I made chocolate chip cookies as an alternative. All that was left for us to do was set up the other dinner table and chairs so we had enough seats for everyone.

Me and Alex had moved the dinner table so it set up evenly next to the original one and all 4 of us started grabbing chairs when the doorbell rang.

“I got it.” I dropped the chair and breathed out a sigh of relief. I didn’t even wanna lift that light chair cause that table was so heavy.

“Jeez, your lookin a little tired.” Collin commented as him and all the rest of the guys walked through the door.

“Yeah well I wouldn’t be if some people hadn’t been sitting around and watching while me and Alex had to lift that stupid table all on our own.” I stated loud enough for Haley and Kayla to hear when we walked through the kitchen. Haley stuck her tongue out and Kayla flipped me off. I grinned at them.

“It aint my fault I’m so weak, I probably woulda dropped the stupid thing on my own foot.” Kayla mumbled at me.

“Same for me.” Haley stated as she got up to hug Ryan. He smiled really big and hugged her back. Me and the guys just made gagging noises and this time they both flipped us off.

“One day, you idiots will understand. And when that day comes, I’ll be laughing and teasing the whooole time.” Ryan smirked at us. We all just rolled our eyes and continued lining up the chairs.

Everything was set up, even the food on the table, and my mom came through the door just as we were done.

“Wow guys, you really outdid yourselves. It looks great. Thank you all.” She said as she kissed the top of mine and Alex’s heads as she passed and set her keys on the counter.

“You’re welcome” and “no problem” ‘s were our responses.

“Hey mom, what’s this dude’s name? I don’t wanna be like ‘hey, what’s up my mom’s new sex toy, how are you liking dinner? That would be awkward.” Alex asked and everyone else laughed. Mom slapped him on the back of the head gently but laughed too.

“He is not a sex toy and his name is Logan. I want you to be nice to him, no scaring anyone off. Got it?” Mom made it very clear to look directly at me as she stated the last part of her sentence and I rolled my eyes.

“Yes mother, I’ll be on my best behavior.” I smiled innocently at her. She just kept staring at me.

“Those big innocent eyes don’t fool me Maxxi May, know that.” She muttered with a slight smirk before walking down the hall towards her room, probably to change.

“Mom’s a freak.” Alex stated obviously and I nodded in agreement.

“So why’d she tell you ‘no scaring him off’?” Justin asked as we all started to sit down in the living room to wait for our ‘guests’. Alex chuckled and started to explain.

“About 2 years ago, mom invited this one dude over for dinner. Kinda like tonight. When he asked if she had kids, she said yes and he wanted to meet us. Back then me and Maxx didn’t exactly like how our mom was always with guys, so Maxx figured it’d be cool to just mess with him a bit.”

“How much is ‘a bit’ exactly?” Justin raised an eyebrow at me. I just smirked and Alex continued.

“When dinner started, everything was normal and boring. Until the guy noticed a finger in his drink, it was fake, obviously but he didn’t know that.” The guys started laughing a little bit and I smiled at the memory.

“Then a little bit into it, Maxx pulled a string on a fake snake and had it crawl around the guy’s foot. He jumped up and spilled his food everywhere. After that, mom figured Maxx had more planned so she decided to end the dinner quick before more damage was done. So when the guy was being escorted out, he opened the door and a bucket of red cool aid fell on him. He thought it was blood, so he spazzed out and started running to his car. He slipped and fell a couple times though, so that was fun too. Then as we watched him get into his car, he freaked out again.”

“Why’d he freak out?” Haley asked him.

“Maxx put a Chucky doll in the seat so it was facing him and it had a fake knife in his hand, but it looked a lot like a real one. So he jumped outta the car and went to the passenger side, taking out Chucky and throwing it on our lawn, hopping back in his car ready to drive off. But Maxx had to go all out, so before his jittery fingers could put his keys in the ignition, Maxx walked to the driver’s window and knocked on it. He rolled it down and yelled ‘WHAT’ at her. She just smiled nicely and said, ‘Chucky wanted to say bye to you. He didn’t like the way you threw him like that.’ And she held up the doll and started using it to wave at him.

"The dude flipped the rest of his lid and skidded all the way down the street. I think it was the best dinner date my mom ever had.” Alex smiled and I laughed at the memory. The guys, Haley, and Kayla all started laughing with me.

“Them Chucky dolls are really creepy though.” Haley muttered randomly. I nodded in agreement and Alex started looking at me.

“What? Something on my face or something?” I asked him and everyone’s attention turned to me.

“Dude, you’re still in pajamas. Mom’s gonna yell at you, go get dressed.” I looked down and sure enough, I was in my pjs.

“Oh crap, I totally forgot. Be right back.” I started to run down the stairs but not before my mom caught me.

“Maxxalena, get your butt dressed right now! They’ll be here any minute.” I rolled my eyes and started running to my room.

“I’m going, I’m going.” I got to my closet and looked to see what I should wear. The house was pretty hot so I figured I could wear some shorts. I grabbed some shorter jean shorts and a slightly baggy Bob Marley t-shirt. While I was putting my shorts on, I heard the doorbell ring. After that, the door opened and closed and I figured everyone was heading to the dinner tables.

I brushed through my newly straightened and tangled hair quickly and let my bangs hang over the right side of my forehead, just above my eye. I ran up the stairs and towards the dining room table. Everyone was seated nicely and just sat there waiting.

A man with a buzz cut was sitting at the end of the table. He had slight wrinkles around his mouth, they looked like laugh lines. He had striking blue eyes that looked really familiar but I couldn’t really pin point it. He was wearing a small smile towards my mom, who was sitting right next to him, before he turned to fully glance at me. There was someone sitting across from him, a boy who looked like he was about my age or a year older. I guessed that was his son, but I couldn’t see his face considering he was on the side of the table that his back was turned to me.

So on one side of the table it was mom, Logan, Kayla, Alex, Haley, and then Ryan. On the opposite side, the side that couldn’t see me was Logan’s son, an empty chair, Collin, Justin, another empty seat, and then Chaz. I was obviously going to take the seat in between Justin and Chaz cause I didn’t know the other dude and I liked that seat anyway.

When I walked in, I also noticed everyone’s faces. Well…on the side I could see anyway. Haley’s face almost looked pained, and when she saw me it got even worse. Ryan was holding her hand but looked as if he were squeezing it off. He looked really upset. Then I saw Alex. He was gripping the table and his face was almost red with how angry he looked.

I thought steam would blow outta his ears. But Logan and my mom looked completely normal and oblivious to what was wrong with everyone. I was almost scared to see Collin, Chaz, and Justin at this moment.

“There you are Maxx. This is Logan and his son Toby.” That name brought a stabbing pain to my stomach. I hated that name. I hadn’t heard it in over a year and I wanted it to stay that way. I forced a smile and went to my seat but before sitting down, my mom stopped me.

“You gotta get the drinks Maxx, last person at the table always does.” Mom informed me with a smirk. Logan chuckled as I pouted.

“Aw, I didn’t think that rule applied when there’s like 15 people here.” She glared jokingly and I held my hands up in surrender.

“I’ll help!” Haley yelled as she abruptly sat up and grabbed my arm, trying to tow me into the kitchen.

“Me too!” Ryan, Collin, Chaz, and Justin said at the same time. Okay, they’re all acting really weird.

We got into the kitchen and I finally saw Collin and Chaz’s faces. They both had mixtures of Haley’s sad face and Ryan’s anger.

“Okay, what the hell is going on? Why are you guys acting so weird? Haley, you looked so sad. And Ryan, why were you and Alex looking so pissed? And you 2 were doing the same thing.” I pointed at Chaz and Collin. Justin just sat there as confused as me.

“Do you know what’s going on?” I asked him.

“Nope, but I came in here hoping you guys would tell me.” He smiled. I chuckled a little but we both stopped smiling when we saw how serious our friends’ faces were.

Haley sighed and ran a finger through her hair. She looked nervous and so did everyone else. Ryan bit his lip and so did Collin.

“Just spit it out guys. Why is everyone so freaked out?” I was getting annoyed. They were just standing there all quiet and it scared me. Haley sighed and ran her hand through her hair again.

“Toby’s here.” She bit her lip. I just raised an eyebrow.

“I know, my mom just introduced me to him. What’s your point?” They were acting weird cause some guy named Toby’s here?

“No Lena, it’s the same Toby.” Ryan muttered sadly.

“The same Toby? You guys are really confusing me.” I stated. Justin mumbled a ‘me too’.

“Toby Carter, Lena. The Toby you started dating when you were 13, the one you stayed with til you were 15, the one who beat you and cheated on you and hurt you so badly you never wanted to love again. That Toby is out there right now at the dinner table; his dad is Logan Carter and he’s dating your mom. That’s why Alex is so pissed off, along with the rest of us. We don’t want him anywhere near you and we’re gonna make sure it stays that way. We promise.” Collin’s voice was quiet but very firm. I could tell he wasn’t lying but at the moment I couldn’t feel a thing. I was numb from the inside out.

After everything that happened when I was younger, I never wanted to relive that pain again. It was so bad and it took me forever to get away from it. The best part of it all was after everything was over, he moved away. The worst part of this is that he’s back, I don’t know for how long or why he is, but I know I want him gone NOW. And what’s even worse than all that put together…his dad is dating my mom.