yours | adam banks.

chapter fifteen

adam banks

Sunday night was family night, which meant sitting down in the dining room and eating a traditional roast dinner, Mom nitpicking at Daniel and I whilst Dad tore everyone's self esteem down to the bone in a few careless sentences.

It's like the one thing I've done right by my Dad was making Varsity and I didn't even want or mean to do it. The slot had been forced on me, complete with a letterman jacket and an incredibly angry best friend.

Charlie was still mad at me, I thought he'd dropped it but he only seemed to get more aggravated. He hasn't spoken to me in days and something tells me I'm not going to hear a peep from him for ages.

Even the Ducks as a whole have started avoiding me, muttered remarks making their way to me if we happen to pass in the hallway. Sellout. Cake eater.

God, was I ever going to catch a break? It's like I can't make it a few months without being shut out from people. It seems to follow me about like the grim reaper, ready to reap my happiness away with a swish of an iron blade.

"Adam, lay the table please!" Mom calls out to me and I start to do just that, walking into the dining room with a tray of cutlery in my arms.

The dining room's one of the more fancier rooms in the house, dark mahogany table in the centre of the room with matching chairs. A white lace muslin cloth covers the table that I start placing knives and forks on, making sure they're all straight. Mom can't stand sitting at a table that isn't set to perfection. She'd go around with a protractor if she could.

There's not much light coming in through the windows, the dark green curtains reaching the floor. A large cabinet filled with shiny crystal glasses fills the space of the far wall.

"You're gawking at the place like you haven't lived here your whole life."

A strong hand thumps me in the back and in a second Daniel is facing me, smirking whilst setting down plates. Four places, Mom and Dad always sit at the two ends whilst Daniel and I take up the sides.

Mom enters the room and almost sails over to the two of us, patting my hair down and fiddling with Daniel's shirt.

"Look at my two boys, the perfect pair," Mom croons before she has us sit down, heading out to the kitchen again to dish the food out. Dad appears and sits down at his seat, clearing his throat gruffly.

There's an awkward silence. Daniel hasn't been around that much for dinners this week, barely in the house. Who knows what he gets up to but whatever it is, Mom and Dad definitely wouldn't approve.

"How was school this week?" He asks us both, tilting his small glass of whiskey so that it swishes around inside before taking a long sip, still staring us both down.

I say my usual things and Dad believes it because it's true. All my homework done, I think I did alright on a test this week.

Daniel isn't so lucky. He doesn't help the matter, eyes fixated on the table cloth. Dad's glaring at his head, waiting for him to speak.

"Daniel?" Dad says in a warning tone and my brother gulps. He goes to speak but he gets cut off.

"I'm getting tired of this Daniel. How many more calls from the school am I going to get before you actually go to your classes? Your mother is disappointed and I'm angry."

I avoid both of their eyes and focus on Mom coming back into the room, two plates in hand. She smiles briefly at me, reading the room, before placing my food in front of me.

"I mean for god's sake Daniel, we pay a fortune for you and Adam to go to a good school, not even that a great one, and you repay me by bunking off! You're nearly eighteen Daniel, if you keep this up you're out!"

Mom cuts in. "Michael, that's enough." She places his food down and puts a hand on his shoulder but Dad isn't having it.

"No Amanda, it needs to get through to him. Daniel, you're nearly an adult. I can't baby you anymore or you won't get anywhere in life. Grow up."

Daniel's been eerily quiet during this, he's usually yelling back and kicking up a storm. This time he just looks tired, his eyes getting cloudy. He wipes them roughly before standing up, ignoring the plate set in front of him before he storms out of the room, ignoring Dad's calls for him to come back.

The front door slams shut and the sound of the ignition in Daniel's car goes off, tires screeching as he pulls out of the driveway.

You could hear a pin drop from the dining room as Mom lowers herself into her seat, picking up her knife and fork. Dad is seething, downing his whiskey in a few gulps before pouring himself another.

I don't want to sit here and listen to Dad grumbling about Daniel, along with Mom pretending everything was fine, not wanting her vision of a perfect family to be ruined.

"Adam sweetie, eat your food before it gets cold."

I purse my lips before spooning peas into my mouth to distract myself. The air is so tense it makes me want to ram my head into the glass cabinet and knock myself out cold.

No one makes any conversation, eating in silence. Even with my eyes lowered to the table cloth, I can see Daniel's untouched plate. I finish my food and leave the table, neither of my parents protesting my actions.

I run up to my room, bursting through the door and shutting it softly. I'm so tired from today's practice, my bed looking so inviting. My curtains haven't been drawn over, so I head over to them. I look out the window just before I grab the blinds chord, gazing out to the road.

The sun has just set, leaving everything dusky, the street lamps just flickering on, dousing all the surfaces in an amber glow. I look straight and see Ava at her desk, her hair tied up in a messy bun. She has her head propped up on her hand, looking like a princess atop her tower. The girl looks like an angel.

Smiling softly, I shut my blinds, pull my curtains closed and crawl under the covers. Daniel won't be back till late, my hazy thoughts think about waiting up to check up on him but before the thought can become coherent, my eyes flutter shut. He'll be fine.