Chapter 48

Wow. That sounded awful. I couldn’t imagine my mom picking up and moving every time there was trouble. I felt bad. “I’m sorry.” I remembered her saying something about how much her mom dated. Usually horrible men.

Her eyes snapped up to mine and hardened. “It’s no big deal. Claire said I could move in with her for a few weeks if that happened.”

“Oh. Well, good. That will help. I just wanted to see if you were okay.”

Her gaze went over my shoulder to where I’d left Hayden sitting. “Are you pretending to care because you’re worried about me or worried about what I know?”

“What?”

She smirked. “Watch your back, tia, I’m getting warmer.” She started to walk away then over her shoulder said, “Ninety days.”

Mea had killed the mood, and seeing as how I had avoided home for four hours now, I knew I had to face my parents. So I told Hayden I’d better go home and we parted ways. I wondered if my parents had already called and talked to Drew. I wondered if I was going to walk into a pit of hysteria when I arrived home. I couldn’t even picture it.

I braced myself and walked through the door. It was quiet. I wasn’t sure if that was a good sign or a bad one. I made my way through the entry and headed to the living room, where I could hear a television or something. Oh, please tell me they aren’t watching it right now, I thought. But when I got to where they were both sitting on the couch, my mom in her realtor clothes, my dad holding a plate of lunch, I saw they were both watching television.

My dad laughed at something that was said.

I cleared my throat. “Hi. I’m home.”

My mom picked up the remote sitting next to her and turned off the television. “tia, you can’t go running off like that again, okay? There is a proper way to ask for permission to go to the library and it wasn’t that.”

“Okay . . .” I looked between the two of them.

“You’ve been behaving very differently since you started hanging out with that Bec girl.”

“What? I hardly hang out with her at all.”

“Well, I can’t help but notice that your new contentious attitude has coincided with her arrival in your life. I’d like you to have some space from her for a while.” Contentious attitude? Those were always the words she used on Drew.

“This has nothing to do with her. Did you watch Drew’s video?”

“Yes, we did,” my dad said.

“And?”

“And it was an interesting piece on the changing culture and the side effects that can come from it.” He set his plate on the coffee table and moved to the edge of the couch cushion.

“He used our family as his example.”

“Who else’s family was he supposed to use? He only has the one.”

“I don’t know, a family who wanted to be part of a documentary where they would be mocked.”

“It wasn’t mocking. It was just a take on society.”

“Maybe you feel that way because you weren’t in most of it. I was. I felt mocked.”

My mom placed her hand on my dad’s arm then spoke. “Oh, tia, I’m sorry you feel that way. I can see how you might, but I hope, once you’re separated from it for a while, you can see it wasn’t intended to mock you.”

“Well, after the whole audience was laughing at me last night, it’s going to be hard to feel like that wasn’t the intent.”

“It’s a piece on society, tia. Try to take it for what it is.”

“So you’re going to let him get away with this? You aren’t even going to talk to him?”

“We already did. We told him that we wished he would’ve been more clear when he was home about what exactly he’d be doing with the filmed pieces and that he hadn’t been very thoughtful of your feelings but that it was a very well-done piece. We’re proud of him.”

I swallowed hard. “Proud of him?”

“Aren’t you?”

“No. I’m not. I’m mad at him.”

My dad nodded. “I understand. I hope the two of you can work through that.”

My mouth dropped open and a hot surge of anger burst in my chest and stung behind my eyes. Words that I wanted to say sat at the back of my throat. If I said them, it would only make my mom think I was being contentious.

I cleared my throat, hoping to sound calm when I asked, “Can I go to my friend’s house?”

“Which friend?”

“Claire.”

“Of course. Don’t be back late and call if you go anywhere else.”

“Okay.” I left the house, feeling suffocated, like I couldn’t breathe. I started to drive to Claire’s but changed directions at the corner and headed for Bec’s house instead. Maybe it was because I was mad at my parents and needed to do something slightly rebellious in that moment or maybe it was because I really wanted to see her. Either way, that’s where I ended up.

It wasn’t until I was standing on her porch, knocking on her door, that I worried she might not want to see me.

Mrs. Reynolds answered the door. “tia. So happy to see you.”

“Is Bec here?”

“She is. Let me go get her. Please come in.”

I stepped right inside the door and pulled it closed behind me. After a few minutes Bec came down the hall dressed in sweats and a T-shirt. Her face was free of makeup and she looked so different. Younger? Less angry?