A Pair Of Pears (Completed)

Party

We leave for Jacksons via my grandparents to pick up the cakes. Lily and I bundle in the back of Willow’s camper, which is really just an old converted Ford Transit van. The back has been done out with floor boards, and there is tapestry pinned to the sides and hanging from the inside roof. A large mattress lays on the floor by the two rear doors and the entire van smells like incense. Nobody is home at my grandparents; the cakes have been left out in a couple of tins on the table with a note telling me not to be home late as I’m starting school the next day. Like I was going to forget that. 
Jackson lives in a big old house, not far from me, I work out I could probably walk it in twenty minutes. There’s numerous cars, vans, and bikes parked along the hedge outside plus more in the driveway. The sound of people laughing and talking fills the air, I can also hear music but I’m not sure what it is. Willow finds a spot on the verge and parks up the van. Willow and Lily take a cake tin each and with all the excitement I forget about my stomach as I jump out the van. Big mistake, I can’t hold back my cries as a shooting pain shoots through my stomach like a knife has just been pushed in deep. I double over clutching my stomach and trying to balance myself. 
‘Whoa there Charlie! You alright?’ Willow thrusts the tin she’s holding into Lily’s arms and comes rushing over. 
‘I’m fine!’ I say breathlessly as I try to straighten myself up. ‘I pulled a muscle yesterday.’ 
‘It looks like more than just a pulled muscle love.’  
Willow looks at me, her eyes full of concern. I so badly want to crumble and tell her the truth. My knees want to buckle I want her to give me a hug and tell me everything will be ok. After spending the day with them both I know I could trust her, I also have to admit that I’m envious of Lily for having such a great mum. How can I tell her, though, coming out with everything could break the broken family I have further, and I still have hope that things will change. 
'You’re right.’ I say, forcing out a fake laugh. ‘I fell off my bike yesterday, went over the handlebars. Too embarrassed to admit it to people, so I’ve been saying I’ve pulled a muscle.’ Willow’s face relaxes. ‘Keep an eye on it, it might be worth getting it checked out.’
As we get closer to the house I can hear Black Sabbath’s song Paranoid blaring out of the windows, everyone seems to be out the back, though. We walk round the side of the house to the garden. It’s huge, like a big open field. There are people everywhere, some I recognise from the town some I don’t recognise at all. Someone is tending to a barbeque that is lit under a huge tree. Hanging from the tree are several dreamcatchers with little pieces of mirrored glass dangling from them, the glass glistens in the sun and looks incredibly beautiful. 
‘Mum made them.’ Lily whispers in my ear. ‘I can make you some if you like?’
‘CHARLIE! LILS!’
We both turn to see Jackson walking across the garden towards us. He’s barefoot and shirtless, with black jeans torn just above the knee and hanging low on his waist. My heart skips several beats just watching him walk across to us. As Jackson gets closer the summer breeze catches his fringe and it blows across his face, my stomach flips several times. He looks so gorgeous. 
‘Jackson! Stop showing off and put a shirt on!’ Lily thrusts the tins into his arms. ‘These are for you!’ 
A girl from the other side of the garden calls out Lily’s name and Lily starts to walk over to her, Jackson turns his head in her direction and calls out. 
‘I bet you wouldn’t be saying that if I was a topless girl!’ 
Lily carries on walking with her back facing us, she raises her arm and gives Jackson a rude gesture. Jackson laughs and looks down at the tins in his arms. He opens the lid of the top tin and his face beams like a kid on Christmas. 
‘Ooh, cakes! Let’s go and give these to my mum.’ I follow Jackson around to the kitchen the rest of the garden is like an explosion of technicolour. There’s an array of multicolour and tie-dye blankets laid out on the grass. Adults and children sat and led on them, some are talking and laughing others are singing along to the music coming from the house. One man is playing a union jack ukulele. Jackson's mum is tall like Jackson, with long hair dyed pink. She has a small screaming child glued to her hip, and another at her ankles clinging on as if they don’t want her to move. 
‘Mum!’ Jackson raises his voice above the children and the music. ‘This is Charlie.’ He places the tins down on the counter and takes the lids off. 
‘Hi, Charlie.’ Jackson's mum says smiling, she throws a wink in Jackson's direction and I feel my cheeks blush. 
Jackson pokes his tongue out at his mum, who just grins in return. He takes my hand and pulls me back outside.  And there she is. Sitting on an old scruffy man’s lap. A drink in one hand and a joint in the other. 

My mum.