“Not ‘your mother’, but ‘my sister’...” he sighed, “But you are helping us right now. If there is no relationship left, why would you do that?”
“I told you all yesterday. Self-preservation. I am NOT going into a Group Home for almost a year, and risk losing my job and apartment, just because they’re unable to take responsibility for literally fucking up their Golden Boy. I mean...”
I sighed as he waited for me to continue. I wanted to let him know what was going on, make him see what my problem was. Despite what I told them, and myself, I WAS hoping for this to somehow work out. Of course I wanted a family that gave a shit about me! Yes, since I was now seventeen, I could at least try to get emancipated, cut all ties and take care of myself, but why the fuck did I even have to consider that? Coming home to an empty apartment wasn’t exactly filling me with joy!
The problem was, if they still didn’t see the reason for our estrangement by now, I had little hope I could make them see it at all. And depending on what would be needed to finally open their eyes and make them question their values, I didn’t know if it was worth the effort.
But mainly, I had to stop getting my hopes up just to be fucked over by Ava presenting me another penis pump. Or Claire once again deciding it’s too much of a hassle to talk to me. Or Aaron remembering that he still has no interest in my geek stuff. Or Granny and Gramps leaving for yet another cruise after declaring how much they want us to be closer. I had to know they actually changed and weren’t just putting up an act before I could even think about risking it.
“Let me ask you a question.” I said. “And, please, think about it and try to give me an
“Okay?” His voice held apprehension.
“A year ago, when you found out that this family not only forgot about my sixteenth birthday, but that you all actually did get together to celebrate without me, you and Danielle put me on the spot the following Thanksgiving. Despite me asking you not to do it, you two had to try and make the rest of the family remember it. At that moment, when nothing you tried to make them come around worked, you must’ve realized how bad things had gotten. At least that was the impression I got from Danielle when she caught me by the door afterwards.”
“Yes.” he injected ruefully.
“Then how come you didn’t try for longer than one lousy dinner?” He gave me a shocked look, but quickly had to put his eyes on the road again. “Or at least change how you yourself treated me? But most important of all, after both of you realized how bad it was, and how bad it affected me, how come you simply came to terms with it as the new normal, forgot my next birthday as well, and did the exact same thing as the year before?”
The asshole had really never realized that little bit. He thought about it for a while and tried to say something a few times, but, just like with Claire so many times before, the words simply never came out of his mouth. So I kept talking, trying to point him at what was hurting me the most in all this.
“You know, last year, when Granny called me for my sixteenth to congratulate me, she was quite confused when nobody had told me about your get-togethers. I know she demanded of Claire to fix our relationship, but when that didn’t happen, what stopped you and Danielle from introducing me to the fun? Or taking me in? Or do anything else to help me? What was it that made all of you simply fucking forget about me? If you still can’t figure it out ... try to remember what you were doing on ALL of my forgotten birthdays. You might want to have a talk with your daughter about that, before she leaves for college and learns that she’s unable to keep a boyfriend who doesn’t just want to fuck her.”
The rest of the drive was quiet. The way Danielle was hounding me made me hope she may had finally understood what they all did after getting lost in their lust. What they had willingly sacrificed for their sexual satisfaction. But if she did, she should know how hard it would be, and how long it would take, to get it back. And how hard it would be for me to believe them. Though, the way John was talking about her, and how he couldn’t give me answers right away, meant that I was either wrong about Danielle’s insight, or she simply hadn’t told him.
After arriving at the firm, John went directly to Bill’s office. I went down to the basement, sat down at my computer, and spent the next four hours reviewing the new releases of wireless surveillance systems. About Twelve PM, when I was just thinking about taking a lunch break, Bill called me into his office. I didn’t expect to find not only him, but also Claire, Aaron, John, and Danielle in there.
“Aright, Kid. John filled me in this morning.” Bill said instead of a greeting.
