Spin The Bottle

16 | Brody!

Chapter Sixteen: Brody!

"Mum," Stephanie yells as she steps into the house. "I'm home."

She saw her mum's car in the driveway so she's pretty sure she's home but she doesn't know about her dad.

"I'm in here hun," her mum voices from the living room.

She enters the living room to see her Mum reading a novel on the couch.

"Hey, Sweetie. How was school?" Her mum asks.

"Normal," she shrugs.

"You wanna babysit?"

"Really?"

Her mum nods.

"Sure. When? Who would I be babysitting?" Steph inquires.

"Thursday and Friday after school. It's the daughter of my friend's neighbor," Her mum shrugs.

"Okay, sure. I'm in. Would I go over or she'd be brought here?" Stephanie questions.

"You'll be going there this time around. I'll get you the address."

"Thanks. Where's Dad?"

"He went out with some friends," she replies with her gaze still on the book.

Stephanie nods and turns around to head to her room but hesitates.

"Mum?"

"Hmm."

"What's going on?"

Her mum sighs, clearly unhappy about Steph interrupting her reading.

"Did you guys get fired? Are we moving out? Are you and Dad getting a divorce?" Stephanie's eyes widen and her voice comes out louder at the last question.

Her mum raises an eyebrow at her questions.

She shakes her head slightly, drops the book, and pats the space beside her on the couch.

"Come here. Sit." She beckons on her daughter.

"What makes you think something is wrong?"

"Well, you're home right now?" Stephanie wonders.

"Nothing is wrong dear. We didn't get fired, we aren't moving out and we're definitely not getting divorced," Her mum says rolling her eyes. She doesn't blame Stephanie for thinking something is wrong. She and her husband work for the same company, they're barely home.

"Really?" Stephanie sighs in relief.

"Yeah. We're on a little break," she explains.

"Are you sure you and Dad aren't getting divorced? You can tell me."

"Geez Stephanie! We're not!" Her mum exclaims. "You Dad and I are even going on the date tonight."

"Wow. I was getting scared." Stephanie places a hand on her chest and sighs in relief.

"I'm glad that's all cleared up. Let me get back to reading."

Her mum picks up the novel to continue reading.

"When is the break ending?" Stephanie stands.

"Till the end of this week," Her mum replies, not removing her gaze from the novel.

"Okay...I'm going to my room," Stephanie announces.

"Maybe I should call Brody," she says to herself as she heads up the stairs, not expecting her mum to hear but she does.

"Tell him I said hi."

She nods and continues her journey to her room. She drops her backpack on her reading desk and sits on the chair.