A Quarter Mile Away

27 - Family Portrait

Fun fact about me: I love a good romance in a novel but in real life I'm so unromantic. Lol

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Please listen to Family Portrait - Pink for this chapter

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I feel like the world has somewhat been lifted off my shoulders. Tonight, despite the dramas turned out to be a good night. Actually, it was a great night. I couldn't wipe the smile from my face after what had occurred between Jaxon and I. It just felt so right, seeing him standing there in front of me. I had no intentions of kissing him but I felt this spark charge between us and I was just gravitating towards him.

Not much was said or done after that, when we got to his house Alena had fallen asleep in the spare room and Bianca refused to let us go home. I couldn't drive because of the drinks I had so I was pretty much her prisoner for the night.

Jaxon had lead me to the spare room across the hallway from his, where Alena was already sleeping in a starfish position. I don't blame her though, this is probably the biggest bed the both of us have seen so it didn't surprise me. Especially since Alena loves her sleep. You ask her what her hobby is and she'll say "sleeping"

Seeing the way Bianca acted around her children, the way she treated them. There was so much love in this family. Love is something I haven't experienced since I saw my Dad last, 8 almost 9 years ago.

I keep thinking about how different my life would have been if my parents' relationship was strong enough, if my mother stayed away from the temptation of the drugs and alcohol.

It's such a shame though, my mum wasn't always so closed off with her children. She used to be energetic with her kids, constantly laughing and dancing around the house with us. Would always tell us how much she loved us and how we were the best thing that ever happened to her. We used to have karaoke nights where we would make complete fools of ourselves. There was so much that I remembered and I'm hoping that Andrew, wherever he is, still remembers the little memories.

Something definitely changed with my parents, my dad was beginning to constantly be at work or travel for work. When he was back in town, he was rarely with us and was always out.

Back then I was naive about it thinking it was just him being busy, now.... I knew better, I knew exactly what had happened between my parents. I understand why my mum hated him so much. He wasn't strong enough to stay faithful.

What I don't understand is how she behaved, she let love break her. She let my dad take advantage like that and have a mistress on the side. She should have proved to him that she didn't need him, not rely on the drugs to numb her pain.

As for Henry? Frankly I don't know what she saw in him. He would constantly treat her with disrespect, yelling and cheating on her. He made no attempt to hide that fact, always rubbing it in her face that he was fucking another girl on the side. He would constantly make crude remarks to me or lay his hands on Alena and I and she just let it happen.

I grew up around men who confirmed that they didn't take relationships serious, were all men really like this? Did they all resort to yelling at the top of their lungs? Was it really that hard to be monogamous, maybe they all cheat on their partners? First my dad and now Henry? Will Jaxon be the same as them?

I haven't slept a blink of eye, I've been staring at this ceiling for hours just going over the last eight years and how drastically my life has changed. Now I've managed to convince myself that kissing Jaxon was a terrible mistake. I can't afford to get hurt again, I don't think it's something I can emotionally handle. I know I'm starting to fall for him, I've tried so hard to stay away from him but I kept failing miserably.