His Name Was Tate

mom

The night went a smooth as butter and as great as cheese. I was surprised at how well the Mancini boys danced. The song Gimme Love by Ed Sheehan began to play and I dragged everyone to the dance floor. I forced everyone to have a partner.

Me with Tate.

Rebecca with Mike

My dad and Mrs. Robinson

And Tim and Tyler.

Tim was a little hesitant at first but Tyler just grabbed him and said "Would you rather dance with one of your brother or one of your brothers girls?" Tim laughed and allowed Tyler to pull him to the floor.

Dad seemed a little shy with Mrs. Robinson, and she was also nervous wreck. But they still danced and talked and laughed. And I couldn't be happier.

Becks and Mike......well they were Becks and Mike. It wasn't easy to get Becks too corporate, so I had to pull out a sympathy move one her. "Becks...please...this'll be one of the only nights where all of us will be together. I want everyone to participate. Please....for me."

She took in a deep breath and rolled her eyes. "Fine." She pulled Mike to the floor and he went willingly, but not before he winked at me with a rare wide smile.

"You ready?" Tate said next to me. And I nodded. I put my hands in his and he led me to the floor.

I had to ask Tate to be patient with me, because I didn't have much experience. But instead of me dancing he picked me up and put my feet on top of his.

"Doesn't that hurt?" I asked clutching him tighter. He shook his head no.

"Your as light as a feather, though I do wish you'd eat more." He said in a whisper. I giggled.

"I'm sorry that my diet of hospital food and meds doesn't fit your liking." I said as he swayed us through the petals on the floor.

He said nothing and just squeezed me a little tighter. As we began to turn, I saw everyone dancing. And a shaky breath left my lips. YOU WILL NOT CRY!

"Meloni?" Tate whispered. I could hear the panic in his voice and could feel him pulling away. I squeezed him tighter and laid my head against his chest.

"I'm fine. Just really happy." I said

"You sure?" He said the tension slowly leaving him.

I nodded.

Another slow song played and we stayed with our partners. Everyone seemed to be in deep conversation and enjoying each other's company, so no one felt the need to switch.

I look over at Tim and Tyler. Tim was a bit taller than Tyler, but you could tell that Tyler was leading. Tim seemed a little too nervous and I bet Tyler is teasing him about it. Tim was a more reserved sweet heart with a tough exterior. While Tyler was a serious yet flirty smart ass. They would be an interesting couple.

"Hey little owl?" Said Tate.

"Hmm?"

"Can you tell me why your like this?" He said. My body stiffened and his arm tightened.

"You don't have to if your not comfortable." He said.

"No, it's fine. You hated your everything to me so I should do the same. Remember I told you my dad owned a chain of really fancy restaurants?" I said.

He nodded and chuckled at the memory. "You mean when you were cussing me out, yeah I remember."

I playfully slapped his back. "Well he would visit as many of them as he could to make sure they were as authentic as possible. But there was one in particular that he loved going to. And it was because there would always be this beautiful woman in the corner of the restaurant and she would come almost everyday or at least every time dad visited. And one day he finally got the courage to ask her out. She said yes. And the rest was history.  They fell in love and married. They were a good match and everyone called them the power couple of the century. But the bigger the business got the shadier the people around them got. One day at one of his grand opening of a new location, Dad made it an open event. So anyone could attend. Everyone talked and mingled and had a good time. However, Dad was so caught up in conversation he lost track of my mom. So he went looking for her, and he found her in the bathroom with some dude and lady high as kite." I said blankly.

Tate did nothing and just swayed us to the music as he listened.

"Ever since that day, mom was hooked. He wasn't sure if it started at that party, or she had the urge before they met and just hid, but either way she made it hard for him. He tried to get her help but she refused. But he never gave up on her, because he loved her. Then she went missing for a few days, had my dad and cops searching high and low for her. Just for her to show up later acting like nothing ever happened. She told him that she would get help and go to a rehab and my dad was so happy. He wanted her better and now she wanted the same. And after rehab, she was better. Things were going good. She even got pregnant. But then my dad found her on the floor passed out and he put two and two together. He broke down. He wasn't sure how long she was doing it for. Wether she just relapsed today or if she faked her celibacy this whole time. He didn't know what to do at that point. Like was the feeling of a high more important than there child's life. He rushed her to the hospital. And the doctors said what they said. They were able to save the baby but if she continued with this he and the child will die. Then dad had no choice but to lock her up again and just pray that everything turned out alright."

I could hear my voice falter a bit and Tate bent down and kissed my forehead but said nothing. And I was so happy he didn't. I hated the pity party's people would give me.

"Mom was let out around the time I was meant to be born. Dad was as present as he could be. He would spend almost everyday at the facility with her and even spend the night, if they let him. He didn't want her to feel alone, especially through the pregnancy. She seemed okay but dad didn't let his guard down. Then it was time. The labor was hard and almost killed us both. But we survived, but I barely did. I was small, weak, and barely breathing on my own. Dad cried for days, but he stayed in the hospital no matter what. They hooked me up to machines, stuck all types of drugs and tubes in me. They were doing everything they could to keep me alive. They succeeded but they still didn't necessarily know what was wrong with me. Well they knew that my lungs and my heart were shit  and it was definitely because of the fact that my mother did drug while she was pregnant. However, the symptoms had some similarities to common diseases but some differences. So they just had to experiment and see what was good and what was bad. My whole life was machines, needles, and meds. I was basically raised in the hospital. There would be a few time a month my dad would take me out, but it would T be for long. That's why I was kind a excited and probably a little weird when we first met. Y'all are probably the only normal teens I interacted with and I really wanted it to work."

I snuggled my head deeper into his chest. And he held me so tight you couldn't tell where he started and I ended.