Strangers When We Meet

“You're starting to show.” I muttered to June as we sat in our favourite ice cream shop that weekend.
She looked down at herself, mid-lick, and groaned. “Really?”

“A little, yeah.”

She rubbed her belly lightly, and sighed loudly. “I think they know.”

Me and Frankie exchanged a look. “Your parents?” I asked.

She nodded. “Will you guys be there when I tell them?”

“Of course.”

She tried to smile, but it looked as if she wanted to burst into tears. Pregnancy hormones, gotta love 'em. Today was the day June was going to break the news to her parents. She was scared shitless. But she figured they wouldn't yell too much if we were there. That is unless they kick us out, then she was on her own.

“What about Craig? He's gonna be there too, right?” Frankie asked, after she drew her attention away from her cone.

June looked unsure. “He said he.. he would. But... but he just sounded so scared.”

“What did you expect? You're knocked up and he'll be a dad in less than six months. A lot to take in. Ow!”

I had hit her arm. “Not helping.”

She looked at June, “Right. Thing swill be fine.” she rushed out.

Then June cried. It's weird sitting in an ice cream shop comforting your best friend while she cried. And it wasn't a few tears, she was sobbing. The looks from the other patrons were a mixture of uncomfortableness, to annoyance, to humor. Frankie shot then all down with a look. I loved that girl.

I hugged June and she calmed down a little.

“Is it going to be like this the entire time?” she asked once her tears stopped flowing. She sniffed and wiped her nose on a napkin.

I shrugged. God, I hoped not. This was too much for me.

I patted her shoulder. “You'll be fine.”

“Look who it is.” Frankie said out of the blue, trying to distract us from the waterworks.

I followed her eyes to the guy entering the door. He was Mr. Tall, Dark and Handsome. A mop of black hair, sexy green eyes, full lips that would make any girl want to kiss them. He was just an inch or two shy of six feet, and had the lean body of a runner.

His name was Oliver, but he went by Oli and I might have had a crush on him... or not. He was twenty, worked part-time at a comic book shop not far from here, and attended college. I wasn't sure what he was studying though.

I hid my smile as he walked over to the counter. There was a small line and as his eyes scanned the shop they met our table. He waved at us and gave a smile.

“It's Oli.” Frankie said in with rubbish British accent.

“Yeah, I can see that.” I said, giving him a small and awkward wave. His locked eyes with me, still smiling, he had a nice smile, but I quickly looked away.

“You okay, June? Ready to go?”

“Oh, no, you don't.” she said, sobered. “You're not running from Oliver.”

“Who says I'm running?” They knew me too well.

“Hey, Oli.” Frankie said, we weren't too far from where he stood, the place wasn't that large, so she didn't need to raise her voice, but it drew even more attention to our table than before. “Join us, mate.”

”Stop with the accent.” I muttered, dropping my head embarrassed. “Please.”

“It suits me.”

Me and June shook our head. “No.”

“Sure, girls. I'll be right over.” Oli said, with a lovely Welsh accent that made my swoon. “Just let me get my cone.”

“Alright.” Frankie said, smile ear to ear. “He had to get his cone.” that silly accent was back.

“Tell me why I'm friends with you, again?”

“You love me. Why don't you just ask the boy out? Be done with it.”

“I don't want to go out with Oli. He's cute but he's twenty. He wouldn't want me. I'm still in high school. I'm pretty sure he has a thing for college girls.”

They both laughed. “Chicken shit. You'll make any excuse in the world to avoid asking him out. I'll do it for you.”

“And I will ram a pencil in your eye if you so much as hint that I want to date him.” I put as much venom behind my words as I could muster. Frankie actually backed off.

“Okay. No need to get hostile.”

Oli was moving in the line, ordering his ice cream. Then before I knew it he was walking over to our table. My heartbeat sped up a little. I was being ridiculous. He was just a boy.

“Hey, ladies.” he said, he sat down. “How ya been?”

“Great.” Frankie said. “I heard they were having a sale at the shop.”

“Yeah, it's a two for one.” They talked a little about some comic for a minute, while I tried to find a way out of here with my dignity intact.

“You off today?” she asked him.

“Nah, I've gotta head in... in about an hour.”

“We won't hold you up, then.” I said, standing, “Let's go, girls.”

Frankie smiled. “Hold up, Pixie. What's the rush?”

I could kill her. I gave her the evil eye and sat back down.

Oliver licked his now much smaller ice cream cone. His eyes on June. “Junie, are you okay?”

“Oh,” she waved a hand around. Her eyes were a bit puffy. “I'm fine. Fine. Yeah.”

My phone buzzed in my pocket, and I being the idiot I am, jumped up and in the process I managed to spilled my drink directly into Oli's lap.

Embarrassment, thy name is Brie.

“I'm so sorry.” I said, grabbing a handful of napkins to help clean him up.

He stood, kept insisting that it was okay, it clearly wasn't and then, once again being an idiot, I tried to wipe his crotch. Yeah. I could die. So much for my dignity.

“Sorry.”

I felt my face flame red, and I backed up a bit. Frankie was holding in her laughter, June was trying to help and I stood there, trying not to look at Oliver. Yeah, this day was going just swell. I knew one thing: I would never go back to the comic book shop.

I really could die of embarrassment.

Oli's pants were still very wet, but he used his button-down shirt to cover it. “I'll just swing back home and change.”

He didn't seem too upset, he actually laughed about it. But I was. I tried to smile when he smiled at me, by I'm sure it was a horrible sight. He left and Frankie burst into a fit of laughs.

“Shut it.” I said through my teeth.

“It's always entertaining with you, Pixie. Always.”

“Let's go.”

I didn't wait for them. I just left out and hoped they would get in before I drove off without them.

♫♪♫♪♫

June's parents were predictably upset, but we held her hand, more tears were shed and even though things were not all rose between them, it could have been worse. Her parents, who had suspected that she was with child, asked her what she was going to do, and surprisingly they supported her decision to keep the baby. They had a lot to work out and Frankie and I left when Craig showed up, but we made sure June's dad wasn't going to shot him first. He didn't. All was well, for now.

I dropped Frankie off, and once at home I sat down to a nice little dinner with the family. Nothing too fancy, and it was good, but once again I sat at the table with her and Andrew, and said nothing. I was polite, but I didn't engage much in the conversation. Since it was Spring Break Kim and Andy Jr. were here as well. Oh, joy. They talked and talked, about their school, their friends, but I just ignored them for the most part.

“Hey, dad.” Andy said. “How come Brianna never visits her dad?”

I glowered at him. That little bastard. He always had to do something to antagonize me.

Andy senior didn't give him an answer. “Andy, eat your food and be quiet.”

Mom rolled her eyes at the boy, pretending she hadn't actually be affected by what the idiot had said, but I knew she had. I'm sure the subject of my fatherless life had come up often with the Bentley clan.

“Hey, Andy.” I said and he looked my way. “How's your mom?”

The whole room grew silent.

“Don't bring up my mom.” he snarled.

“Please.” Mom moaned, knowing what was going to happen.

“Well, don't bring up my dad.”

“You don't even have a dad.”

I can't say I was in control of my body when my fist slammed into Andy Jr's nose, but it was oddly satisfying to see him howl in pain. Andrew had to hold his son back as he jumped up to attack me. Mom grabbed me and moved me away from the table.

“What has gotten into you?” She yelled over all the other yelling.

“Me? What about him?” I gestured to the table. Junior had his hand covering his nose. Geez, I hadn't hit him that hard. What a lightweight. Kim was by her brothers side, looking like she wanted to sucker punch me herself. Bitch.

Andrew looked at me, his eyes hard. I knew right then and there, that whatever peace between my stepfather and I had just vanished. I tried to swallow down my anger. My absent father was a touchy subject, and that little bastard knew it. I should have been in more control, but lately I just couldn't help it.

Since finding out my dads name I had been working on discovering more. I still hadn't gotten far with that. It seemed like the more I learned, the less I knew.

Mom dragged me into the living room. “I know you're angry, but this isn't how to channel it.” she said, trying to keep her voice even.

“Maybe I wouldn't have to channel it at all, if you gave me a little truth now and then.” I ran a hand through my short shaggy hair. “Didn't you hear him?”

“Yes.” she shut her eyes for a moment. “I did. Take the higher road every once in a while, Brie. Be the bigger person.”

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Take the higher road? Really?

“Mom, he was mocking me. Mocking us. Are you going to let him get away with this?”

“His father will deal with him.”

“Oh really?” I snarled. “You're his freaking step-mother. Do something.”

Her eyes darkened. “You are the one who punched him, Brie.”

“Oh come on. Why do they have to be here anyway? They have a home. I wished they would stop intruding in mine.”

“Brie.”

“I hate them. I hate them both.” I said it loud enough for them to hear. I balled my fist.

“Go. To. Your. Room. Now.”

“Fine.” I said through my teeth and without looking at any of them, I stormed upstairs.

I buried my head in my pillow and cried. Then I felt angry again. So I grabbed my iPod and turned it up all the way, letting it drown out the pain. I cried some more, felt angry again, a cycle that kept repeating itself. I hadn't hear the knock on the door, but mom walked in with Andrew and Junior in tow.

I swallowed down the “Fuck you” I had been prepare to yell at all of them. Instead I said, “Go away. I'm not apologizing. I don't care if you ground me, I'm not saying sorry. I just want to be left alone.”

My voice was thick and scratchy. All that crying hadn't been good. My eyes were puffy, and I was sure I looked like shit. I hated that they could all tell I had been crying that much. Especially Junior who stood there by the door, still looking pissed off, yet oddly pleased. His nose was swollen. Good.

“I know that you two don't get along.” Andrew said, “But we're a family. And families have to stick together. You're brother and sister.” I scowled, and Junior made a weird sound in the back of his throat. “Even if you don't see it that way.” he said with a lot of emphasis. “You two need to work this out. We can't make you do anything, but we're hoping one of you will do a little growing up and set things right.”

In his dreams. “Good luck with that.” I muttered. I was already in the shit hole, I didn't care now. I was tired and wanted to sleep.

“You're both in trouble.” Mom said, “Grounded. All week. Unless you want to make it easy and just apologize.”

I knew Andy would take the bate. “I'm sorry, Brie.” he said, not sounding sorry at all. Mom gave him a hard look. “What? I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said what I said. It was inappropriate. Sorry.”

They all looked to me. “Brie.” Mom said.

“I'd rather eat my own foot.”

That didn't go over well. “I've had it up to here, Brie.” she said, throwing her hands up. She snatched my iPod away and looked for my cellphone. I protested and she tossed my pillow back, grabbed the phone and found one of the photos I had taken. Grandpa had given me more, the ones she tried to throw out.

She froze. “Why do you have this?”

Silence.

“Why, Brie?”

More silence.

“Brie Georgia Shannon Taylor. Answer me.”

“I'm grounded right? Can I go to sleep now?”

I only now noticed that both Andy's were gone. I suppose Senior wanted to let my mom handle me alone. She ripped the picture in into pieces.

“You didn't have to do that.” I half yelled as she tossed it into the trash.

She shut my door. “You listen here. I know you think because you're nearly eighteen that you know more than me. But lets get one thing straight. I'm your mother, not your friend.”

“You've made that perfectly clear.”

“And I'm tired of the disrespect. I try to give you everything, everything. And it's not enough for you. What more do you want?”

She was on the verge of tears. As was I.

She sat down at the edge of my bed. “I know you're upset about some things. But you have to reign in your anger, it's not good.”

“How do you suppose I handle things, then? You won't tell me anything. I have spent so many years crying because I didn't have a dad. Do you know how that has effected me? And now you expect me to, what, just be happy because Andy's here. It doesn't work like that. You should have just told me my dad was dead. Then I wouldn't feel so bad.” my voice broke towards the end. I shut my eyes. I could feel her move off the bed.

“A week. I'll give you your phone when you go to school.”

Then she left the room. And I was alone with my thoughts. Yay for me.

♫♪♫♪♫

“Remember when I told you about Todd having some connections?” Frankie asked as we sat in June's dad's car again.

I was supposed to be at home, but neither mom or Andy were home, so I didn't care. I was still pissed at how things had went down over the weekend, but what could I do about it now.

“Yeah.” June said.

Frankie smiled wolfishly. “Well... look what I got.” she pulled out and envelope and inside were...

“No way!” I exclaimed. “How did he get them? They're supposed to be sold out.”

“They're not fake, right?” June asked.

Frankie looked disapprovingly at the pregnant teen. “Would I tell you about them if they were fake. I checked, their authentic. So who's up for a road trip?”

“Are you trying to get me killed?” I asked. “My mom will actually kill me.”

“And my parents aren't in the most understanding mood since, you know.” June touched her ever-growing belly.

“Where's your sense of adventure ladies? We won't be gone long, a day, two tops. And we'll be safe. And you can tell your parents that I corrupted your brains so you had no choice but to do my bidding.” she laughed wickedly.

“Yeah, that will work.” I said, shaking my head. “I really want to go.”

“Me too.”

“Then we're going.” Frankie said as if that settled things. “We can't miss this. Especially now that you're mom has this past with them.”

I thought that over. “Okay, I'm in.”

We looked to Junipher. “Fine. Me too. We're already in trouble, what's a little more?”

“That's the spirit.” Frankie put an arm around our shoulders. “We're going to see Thirty Seconds to Mars. Woo-hoo. L.A here we come.”