17. Pretty Important
Astrange text leaves me with a pit in my stomach.
Dad
Hi Lainey. I spoke to your brother, and I’ve planned a dinner for the three of us. I would like to see you and talk to you about something pretty important.
He knows. He must know about Mom’s plan. Maybe she had the decency to discuss it with my dad. She had said it wasn’t final. Is it possible that she came to her senses and Dad wants to announce they’re staying together? No, that’s dumb. Forget I said it. I just don’t see how there could be anything else so urgent.
Dad
Tonight? David says he is free. Are you?
Me
Yeah, I’m free
Brandy barges into the dorm room and rushes to my side. “Guess what!?”
I open a notebook and flip through the pages that have writing on them. “Busy,” I say monotonously.
She starts babbling about how she overheard some girl in her class talking about having a rager. Brandy claims this poor girl invited her, but seeing as Brandy can’t even use a name when describing her, there was no request for her attendance. This would not be the first time Brandy has invited herself to someone else’s party. “It’s tonight,” she adds.
“Busy,” I repeat.
“It’s a Friday.”
Great argument. I shove the notebook to the other side of my desk, and Brandy resorts to begging. “Please. Please, just come with me. I told you I’m sorry for not having sex with your brother.”
“I have plans,” I say, brushing off her bizarre apology. Brandy cocks her head like she knows it’s not true, but it is. “I’m seeing my dad and David for dinner.”
“Does this have something to do with the separation?”
I exhale sharply. “That’s what I”ll find out tonight,” I respond coolly. As much as I hate holding grudges against people, being tricked, however unintentionally, into losing my virginity is not so easy to forgive. Last time we had this conversation, she reminded me that I chose Mikey. I reminded her of her role in that night.
I meet David outside our building. He doesn’t greet me at all.
“David.”
“He’s here,” he deadpans. “Let’s not keep him waiting.”
Both of us approach Dad’s blue Honda, and he emerges from the car to greet us. His brown hair is the shortest it’s ever been, and his face is freshly shaven. He looks so happy to see us. Suspicious.
He hugs me tightly and gives David a pat on the back. Boys are weird.
“Shotgun,” I call. David groans. I smile at my tiny victory as we get into the car. I glance over my shoulder and see David sulking, a lot like I was last time I saw Mom. “No football today?”
All I get is a death glare.
Dad starts up the car, and we begin our journey to wherever we’re going.
I turn to the backseat. “So why is it you’re here? Mom’s your favorite. I assumed you would have attended our wonderful outing with her.”
“I had a thing.”
“Yeah, I heard, you little liar.”
“Not a liar,” he retorts. “Shut up.”
“You left me alone with Mom when you know she loves to criticize me!”
My dad places a hand on my shoulder, silently telling me to stop.
“It’s true,” I continue. “She called me a slut.”
David makes a laughing noise in the back of his throat that sounds like a snort. “Maybe she meant to call you a virgin loser.”
“Okay, Pot! That’s you. You thirsting after Brandy is embarrassing.”
“Lainey,” my dad says. “Sit properly and keep your mother out of this.”
“But it’s true! I bought new clothes and posted about it, and she said it!”
“I don’t think it went down that way.”
Dad! Come on. You”re supposed to be on my side.
“Why are you defending her? She wants to leave you!” I blurt. I meant for that to be a blow to my mom, but seeing my dad’s knuckles turn white around the steering wheel tells me I was wrong.
David smacks me hard on the arm and calls me a “dumbass-idiot-bitch,” but I’m focused on Dad. His eyes are on the road, but the shine in them tells me he either didn’t know or thinks I made it up to hurt him.
“That was an accident,” I say, my heart dropping to my gut.
“You were an accident,” David quips.
My dad takes in a shaky breath and speaks softly, his voice unsteady. “Both of you, be quiet.”
We both do as we are told. Mom must have filled David in over the phone about her plans which pisses me off. Why was I forced to have a face-to-face interaction?
No one speaks until we reach our destination. A small eighties-themed diner. I have a feeling Dad had different news. News that was much happier than what I blurted out.
Once parked, my dad lets his hands fall to his lap. “Lainey, what made you say that about your mother?” His voice is cautious, and I am unable to read if he hates me or believes me.
“I thought you knew. I thought that was the important thing you were going to tell us.”
“Why did you say that?” he repeats.
“Mom told me she…was feeling…” How could I put dump you because of a lack of sex nicely? “More lonely than usual with you working all day. She said it was putting a strain on the marriage and she was thinking of…”
“All right,” my dad says.
My palms get sweaty from my clenched fists, and it also hurts from my nails digging into the skin. Stupid Lainey. Maybe you are a dumbass-idiot-bitch.
Through our dinner we are quiet on the subject of Mom. David talks about his classes, girls, and other stupid dude stuff while I stare at the wall. Dad does his best to pretend everything is fine. He’s being his usual jokester self with our waitress and keeps asking about how our food is. Good.
After one more moment of silence, my dad clears his throat. “I suppose I should tell you why I wanted to get together.” Guilt crawls back up my throat. “I got a promotion. It happened today, and I just let your mother know about it before I texted you both.” His expression goes sour.
“Does that mean more hours?” David asks, a hint of bitterness in his voice.
“The contrary. Bigger responsibility, more money, less hours. I’d be home by six. There is one part that I need to talk about, but I’d rather do that when your mother is around as well. I just could not wait to share this with you. I was so excited. I’ve been working toward it for years.”
I zone out as he elaborates. A promotion. Fewer hours. I shouldn’t, but I hate Mom even more. She was so quick to leave him when he was working his ass off. She told her children before talking to her own husband about anything. So while he thought everything was great, she was holding on to her evil plans for a day that’ll hurt the most. Or she changed her mind after today.
“How did Mom react when you told her?” I ask, interrupting dialogue between him and David. Both of their eyes meet mine as they go quiet.
“She knew I was trying for it, so she was excited and relieved.” I bet she was.
A need for revenge fills my blood as I say, “I hope you know she told me of her separation plans more than a week ago.”
“Lainey, what are you trying to accomplish?” David asks.
I ignore him. “She thinks she’s off the hook, doesn’t she?”
My dad waves for the check. “Lainey, please leave it alone.”
“You’re not mad?”
His eye twitches, and he leans into the table on his folded arms. “I am mad. And confused that she went to you before me. I’m especially mad because you keep throwing salt in the wound. Drop it. Let me handle this.”
I lean against the booth when the waitress comes by with the check.
On the whole ride back to school, I keep hating my mother despite my dad’s words. I could never do that to someone I love. Hurt them like that.
I give my dad a goodbye hug and follow David back inside. Once we hit the common area, he stops and turns to me. “You are a trainwreck, Lainey.”
The handful of people in the room look at us because David is the loudest one here.
He continues. “I have no idea what your plan was tonight, but you fucked up.”
“Mom fucked up.”
“No! You did. You blurted Mom’s secret in the car.”
“Secret?! She should not have told us if it was a secret. That’s on her!”
“It wasn’t a final decision. She was just?—”
“Screw her. She just held off on telling Dad because she’s scared, and now there’s a promotion with fewer hours. Yay her, she gets dick!”
David flares his nostrils and throws his hands to his hair in frustration. “You’re nuts. It’s not all about sex! You are insane! Drop it for fuck’s sake!”
“To her it is.”
“And you would know all about it,” he begins venomously. “You know all about relationships because you’ve had sooooooo many, right? Oh, wait. You’ve been in zero relationships. You’ve never even kissed anyone. You’re a goddamned loser!”
I can sense the eyes around us bulging, as if my personal life is any of their business. The insult hits home, even though I’m no longer a virgin, God, I wish I were. I could do one of two things: walk away and give him the finger, or I could slap him right across the face.
I take a calming breath in and do both, leaving David with his hand to his cheek, looking after me.
Dear David and Mom,
You are officially dead to me.
Love, Lainey.