Acrasia

Chris sighed, poking at the pasta in the styrofoam to-go bowl he had been picking at for the last hour. Tyler, Britney, and Jeremy had gone to see a doctor for Britney to see about some ultrasounds, and Rae was in the shower. They had both been a little tense, but he tried his best not to lash out. He made a silent promise to himself that once this baby was born, he would book a trip to a five star resort in Hawaii, for just him and his new wife and child. A normal family taking a normal vacation. They'd spend the day sipping on piña coladas and taking a dip in the pool with their son or daughter, and they would be happy and comfortable. No crappy motel room, no fast food dinners every night. Just Chris, Rae, the baby, and the beach.

"Babe, you haven't eaten in days," Rae piped up, interrupting his thoughts. "You have to eat something, I won't have you starving to death."

"Huh?" Chris looked up at Rae, who was drying her hair with a towel.

"Are you okay?" Rae frowned.

"I'm fine. I was just thinking," Chris chuckled quietly. "Do you like piña coladas? Personally I think they're too sweet, but it's hard to avoid them sometimes."

"Chris, please," Rae rolled her eyes, tossing the towel aside and running through her hair with her hand.

"Your hair has gotten a lot longer, you know," Chris muttered, reaching over and running his fingers through her wet hair. "It was down to your chin before, and now it's down to your shoulders."

"I haven't exactly been able to go to a hair salon lately," Rae shrugged, taking his hand and giving it a squeeze.

"No, it looks nice. You should grow it out. Unless you don't want to. Then don't."

"What are you trying to do?" Rae smiled, amused with his awkwardness.

"Nothing, I'm trying to talk to you like nothing has ever happened. Hey, why don't we try something," Chris grinned. "You sit here, and pretend like we've never met. And we're at a supermarket or something."

"Chris," Rae sighed, but smiled anyway.

"Shut up, you don't know me yet," Chris shushed her, twirling his finger to tell her to turn around. "We're at a supermarket or something, and we're going about our daily business, when BAM! There's a total babe in the tomato section and I can't help myself. Yeah?"

She shook her head, but crossed her legs and turned away from him. Chris fixed his hair and the collar of his shirt, then sat down next to Rae, tapping her shoulder.

"Yes?" she said, turning around.

"Well hello there. My name is Christopher, but I usually go by Chris," He said, scooting closer. "Do you come here often?"

"Oh, sure," Rae rolled her eyes. "I love the tomato aisle of the grocery store."

"Hey, not to try and impress you or anything," Chris started, "but I'm actually Batman."

"Well, I'm impressed, Batman," Rae laughed.

"Hold on, I have another one," Chris held up a finger. "Is it just me or- wait- it's the other way around. Fuck, I swear it was a really good pickup line but I fucked it up and now I forgot."

"Calm down, Romeo," Rae laughed again, wrapping her arm around his neck and pulling him into one of the deepest kisses either of them had felt in a while.

"Great trip to the supermarket," Chris murmured, tucking Rae's hair behind her ear and giving her a peck on the nose.

For a moment, they both felt light as air. Nothing burdened them, and they were just two lovers sitting in a motel room and acting like kids.

"We should go out somewhere," Chris announced. "I have a little extra cash, we could go wherever you want."

"Sounds good to me," Rae smiled.

"Do you know where my wallet is?"

"It's in my bag," Rae pointed to the bag on the dresser. "I put it there because I knew you would lose it."

Chris stood up, picking up the bag and sticking his hand in to look for the wallet. Instead, he felt something different. Paper? He pulled out a large envelope, stuffed with papers. On the outside, it said in neat cursive writing: To the newlyweds. Chris frowned, opening the envelope and looking inside. He was shocked to find lots of documents. Resumes, passports, college degrees, and even a deed to a house. Not to mention credit cards under his name, with money Chris didn't even know he had.

"Rae?" his voice cracked.

"Yes?" Rae answered, turning pale when she saw what he was holding. "Chris, hun, give me the envelope please."

"What is this?" Chris asked, trying to stay gentle. "Is this ours?"

"I meant to tell you," Rae bit her lip. "But Marissa said-"

"This is Marissa's doing?" Chris snapped.

"It's her wedding gift to us," Rae raised her voice. "A normal suburban life. Don't you want that?"

"How long have you had all of this?"

"It doesn't matter!" Rae glared at him. "It doesn't matter now either, so give me the envelope!"

"So you're hiding things from me? What else are you hiding?" Chris demanded. Rae ignored him, trying to snatch the envelope out of his hand, but he caught her wrist mid-air. He yanked her forward, fuming mad. Rae looked terrified, and suddenly Chris realized how tight his grip on her was. He was hurting her. His expression softened, and he let go of Rae, who proceeded to give Chris a hard smack across the face for getting physical. She looked like she was on the verge of tears.

"Where's the phone?" Chris muttered.

"In the drawer," Rae answered, her voice barely a whisper.

Chris fumbled through the desk drawer until he found the crappy flip phone, punching in the number multiple times before his shaky hands finally got the seven digits right.

"Hello?" a man picked up the phone on the other end.

"Hello, I'd like to speak to Marissa Huntington?" Chris said, expertly disguising his voice. He had called Marissa's work phone, despite how risky it was to try and contact her while she was at work.

"She's not in right now, can I get your name?" the man said, his tone obviously lying.

"It's a personal call. And it needs to happen now. Like, right now," Chris spat. There was some muffled talking and the sound of a door closing before a female voice finally answered.

"Chris?" Marissa said in a hushed voice. "What happened, what did you break?"

"I'm not the one causing trouble," Chris snapped at her.

"Huh?"

"What are you trying to do to me? What are you trying to do to all of us?"

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Marissa sounded angry.

"I mean all those documents. And the house. And telling Rae to hide them from me."

"Listen here, you hulking bigot," Marissa hissed. "I'm doing you a huge favor. Otherwise, what were you going to do? Sit there and mope around like you've been doing for the last few weeks?"

"You're getting too involved," Chris groaned, plopping down on the bed next to Rae. She reached to touch his arm, but quickly pulled away and looked down at her feet.

"I'm giving you a way out of this mess you've gotten yourself in. Now do you want Tyler's personal information, or not? Maybe I got too involved with tracking down his parents through his family history, huh?"

Chris went dead silent. He wanted that information, but was too proud to give in to his little sister. Finally, he sighed and gave up.

"Fine. Send me the file," he muttered.

"I was always the smart one," Marissa mused on the other sighed of the phone. "And the better looking one. Sometimes I can't believe we're even related."

"Just send the file," Chris rubbed his forehead, frustrated.

"It's been sent. Now go on crying to your little wife, moron. I have work to do. Oh, and consider this my early birthday gift to you."

With that, the phone line went. Chris frowned, hanging up and counting the days on his fingers, suddenly realizing that it was almost August. He shook his head, then opened up his email on the phone. Sure enough, the file was there. Rae poked her head over his shoulder and watched him open it.

Tyler Joseph Knight

Born on July 23, 1996

Son of Nikita Buhari and Leroy Knight.

Underneath, there pictures of Kid's mother and father. His mother was beautiful, and was much younger than Chris had expected. Tyler's father looked around fifty years old, and looked like an average middle aged white guy. There was an early 90's wedding photo of them, and a few more taken afterwords when Tyler was young. Though they looked happy and smiley in all of the photos, Chris noticed that there were very few where all three of them were present. He was always alone with his mother. Chris knew from personal experience that it meant Tyler's father probably worked a lot and was never around. He knew the feeling all too well.

"Holy hell," Rae whispered. "We could have everything we need to send Kid home. Like, tomorrow."

"Yeah," Chris muttered. "We could."