“Brian?” Sydney was whispering on the phone, her voice sounded tired.
“What?” Brian asked, leaning in the doorway that was his parent’s old room. It was bare. He was going to turn it into his own room; he wasn’t sure how he was going to go buy furniture. He knew what he wanted, he would like, well, he really wanted something like. He didn’t know, he had no clue what sort of furniture he wanted; he’d been staring at the room for an hour, still unable to picture anything in the room.
“Are you still wanting to be alone?” she asked. Brian scratched his nail against the paint on the molding thinking.
“I don’t know” he replied. He had to admit, he missed her. He was just – he wasn’t sure what he was thinking. He was mad at the world. He just wanted everything to stop, stop so he could walk back in his life, see how he and his brother’s relationship had come to blows, “humph” he scoffed to himself, he knew what set it off. A year after he had moved in with the Littrell’s, Brian was still getting used to being there.
He never spoke of Peter or Pamela, but he thought about them. He couldn’t help but think about them. After Jackie and Harold brought another child, Grace into the world, their attention was turned to her.
It was fine because he didn’t care. He just got lost in his own thoughts. His grades dropped and he started skipping school, he was pulled out of a public school, and placed him in a private prep school.
But they got fixed things quickly, asking him numerous times how things were, they kept their checks up and did everything on their part that they could’ve done. Still it didn’t help. He went to a dance in High school, where he met a girl. Annie was her name they started going out. He felt like he had control of something for the first time. No matter how much his parent’s now prohibited it, he defied them. Soon enough he lost his virginity, not to Annie but another girl he had cheated on Annie.
Baker was home for the summer and was there to whiteness Brian’s Dad’s anger and disappointment, and his smile said it all, he was enjoying Brian’s pain. They came to blows again, Brian was so mad. In Baker’s eyes all he did was wrong, and his but Harold and Jackie punished them both. The money that was going to be used for a family vacation to Mexico was now being earned back by both boys. Brian got a job, at the church singing; Baker gave a certain amount of his earnings. They had no choice not to go on the vacation either. The vacation ended up being a hellhole. It gave his dad the opportunity to keep after him every moment. He fiercely wanted independence, and his parents were cutting it off in every direction.
Then he came back for his junior year of high school, and in may he got a call from his cousin. One he had barely known, but apparently had heard lots about him. He was invited to join a group. Harold said ‘no’ while his Mom thought it might be a good experience, in the end Jackie won out, and Brian was on his way. From there he had lots of girlfriends, he spent lots of money, and did whatever he wanted. He most recent girl was Sydney; they had met in a coffee shop where she was a waitress. He was a good talker, and got her number, then won her over.
“Brian?” she asked again, “can we try again?” she asked.
He looked at his parents room, his room, it was his room now. “Do you know where I am?” he asked.
“Kentucky, right?” she asked.
“Yeah” he replied “Don’t tell my parents though.”
“Ok, fine.” She replied, “When are you coming home?”
“I don’t know –“
“Well I’ll come out there.” She responded.
Brian looked at the molding then at the hallway “yeah sure.”
“K bye” she hung up the phone.
Brian hung up his cell tapping it against the side of his leg. What was he doing here?
….
“Are you going to call him?” Jackie asked, watching her husband fiddle with a calculator, he put his glasses down looking at her.
“No. I tried his house, and his cell. He doesn’t answer either.”
“He is your son, you know.” She said.
Harold shook his head looking down at the paper, scoffing at her “Tell that to him.”
Author's Chapter Notes:
WooHooo More ADDED, Yep finally. Comments? :)
