The Tattooed Devil Wears Chucks

Chapter 32: Honesty

Gabby.

Graduation was merely three weeks away.  The only time I was seeing Courtney was in class, and thank god for that.  I couldn't look at Morgan.  The girl honestly tried to talk to me and I couldn't do it.  Cole just doesn't speak.

Felix is still angry with me.  He speaks to me, but it's not the same as it was.  I ruined his summer.  For the first time ever, he was in trouble.  He tried the 'I'm twenty years old and you can't ground me' act but the only reply he received was that he was living under my parent's roof.   This also applied to me.  I may be eighteen and a graduate by this summer but it was their house, their rules. 

Sydney was also in trouble for the first time ever.  I get that she went to a party that she wasn't supposed to, but it was the first party she had snuck off too.  Her punishment wasn't exactly fair.  Felix threw a party, underage, for minors.  I understood why he was being punished.  At the same time, I liked that Sydney couldn't go anywhere because I know she was safe.

Jax and I hadn't seen each other in weeks.  Anytime my parents would leave, he and I would speak on the phone.  Again, I was hiding these calls from Felix.  No one knew that Jax and I were together.  I'm not even sure Courtney knew, if she did she was keeping it to herself. We didn't talk about him.  I think I was afraid she would tell Felix; at the same time, Felix was supposed to be staying away from them too.  The only time I saw Jax was at night, as I would read from my porch.  He would sit on his front porch and do the same.  We were so close and so far away at the same time.  All I wanted was to meet him in the middle of the street for a hug.  Just one hug would make me feel a million times better. 

So here I sat, on my parent's bed with Sydney, watching them pack for their yearly weekend anniversary trip.

"I don't think we should go."

"Dan, I'm going on this trip with or without you.  Honestly, you need a weekend away from our kids." 

My mom begins throwing bathing suits into her purple suitcase that lay sprawled out on the bed.  She's usually pretty OCD about packing and making her suitcase perfect, today this was not the case. Some of the items she had thrown hadn't even made it into the case; they hung out of it.

They were acting as if Sydney and I were not laying across their bed listening to them argue over us.  Syd and I would just share looks, knowing we were causing them to fight again.

My dad stops packing and glares at my mother.  He's obviously not seeing this the same as she is and he's ready to argue his point.

"They are the reason why we should be staying home! Do you honestly trust that all three of them will remain in this house while we are gone, leaving them unsupervised?"

I want to speak up but I know to keep my mouth shut.  I just frown and continue flipping through the People magazine my mom had set next to her carryon bag.

"No, I don't think they will."  My mom answers honestly as she glares back at him.  "I didn't when I was their ages."

My head lifts to them and so does Sydney's.  My mom looks down directly to me.

"Felix is in charge.  Do you hear me?  If I find out you put one toe outside this house you will be grounded until the day you move out of it."

"Okay" I mutter and flip another page.

"Who's in charge of Felix then?" Sydney scoffs.