Bruises in Miniature Form

At home it was silent, Max was sleeping on the couch while Rick watched the news, he had promised to stay there in case Max needed anything.
I sat on my bed with a pair of headphones pressed against my ears, blasting some old mix CD I found in Max’s room.
It wasn’t too bad and I wondered who exactly was playing, the singer sounded familiar but not quite.
Humming along to the lyrics I finished cleaning my last brush with the water I had in my plastic dish.
The water was coloured a burgundy brown and murky enough that I would have to change it before turning to my scratch set.
My body was physically weak by the time I returned home and I had quickly excused myself up to my room.
Rick did have the right to yell at me but I just felt so put down as if someone had shackled me to the floor and left me behind in a flood.
Max was here first and I had budged in with my life, it had to be the reason he was so upset with me, he most likely felt the way I do right now.
Like Rick had kicked him out of his inner circle.
Of course Rick isn’t a bad guy, I had to remind myself, but I did feel horrible because of his actions.
He was only doing the adult thing and putting a stop to our bickering, it must be tiring for him and mom to listen to it so much.
Although Max does hide it rather well, I don’t even complain about him being a jerk to me.
It was probably the weight of Max being sick and me arguing that brought him to yell at us so I shouldn’t be feeling this, I should however be feeling ashamed.
I had no right to snap back at Rick, intentional or not.
A tap on my shoulder brought me out of my deep thoughts and I looked up to see my father, a frown on his face as he ushered me to make room for him.
Scooting over I pulled the headphones off my ears and let them hang on my neck, staring at my dad in a confused but pleased manner.

“Heard you and Max fought when he was sick, Rick got mad at you huh?”
Nodding silently I decided to let dad gauge his words for our conversation, “Newton I talked with your mother and she’s starting to worry you don’t want her marrying Rick”
Quickly I realised my mother was also affected by my bickering with Max and I felt my face sink, “No! I want her to be happy, she deserves it and Rick is a great guy for her”
My father nodded in understanding and glanced sideways at me, “I know we’ve talked about your mother and mine’s divorce but...”
“I know it was something you both had to do, if you didn’t Daryl wouldn’t be around and I love Daryl...”
“I know, and he loves you too but what I’m trying to ask is... Do you have a problem with seeing your mother and I not together?”
“No, like I said Rick is a great guy and Daryl is awesome!” I can guess why he’s thinking this but I did think he would know better.
“You know you’ve been getting into a bit more trouble ever since you moved here, maybe this place put too much sin in you” He winked at the end, letting me know he was still on the joking side.
“I’m upset because of Max” I suddenly blurted out, “I want you here more often and... everything else is great. Max just... Dad I’m butting into his family”

As if now he understood dad stood up on his feet and pulled his wallet out of his back pocket, pulling out a small wallet sized picture from its containment and handed it to me.
“This right here is your family; all these people here are yours. Whether Max likes it or not he can’t take that from you, only you can do that yourself. You’re a strong girl; you know right and wrong now just put your head into it”

Looking down at the scene I saw it was the one from three Christmases ago, the one where dad had met Daryl and mom was all excited about buying some fancy outfit for an evening at some ballet.
I sat in Daryl’s lap smiling at the camera as dad wrapped an arm over mother’s shoulder and cheekily kissed her cheek with her giggling all the way.
That felt like an eternity ago.
Looking up at my dad again I handed the picture to him and let him ruffle my hair before pocketing the picture again and leaving the room.
Max was right, I do always have my dad to run to but I had to make this work.
I would still continue my game with Max but that didn’t mean I wasn’t going to try and make things easier for my mother and Rick, even dad and Daryl.
I just had to discuss some more rules with Max and hope he would agree.