Magnetic - JJ Maybank

22 - Mommy issues

T.W. Mention of drug addictions!

"Mom?" I frowned my brows.

"That would me be."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Dad running his hand through his hair. It must have been at least five years since they'd seen each other. My parents never really got along after my dad cheated. They would fought all the time.

I think it was because my mom took it very personally when they got divorced. I mean, who wouldn't, but she had a really big ego. When she got with her new boyfriend, she'd made sure Dad knew. I was certain she was only with him so Ward knew she wasn't miserable.

The problem was that she was.

I never liked Mom. They split up when I was ten, so I'd forgotten what it was like to live with my father and mother at the same time. She was always trying to turn me against him. She always said he was the worst person.

Maybe he was the worst to her, but he was better with me than my mother had ever been.

I know that because she sent me here to Outer Banks when she had her boyfriend. The guy had five kids, so of course I had to be the one to leave.  To go away from my house, my town, my school. She'd chosen her boyfriend over her own daughter and I hated her for that.

"What are you doing here, Isabel?" my dad asked with a soft voice.

She had a bottle of rhum in her hand and looked drunk. I wouldn't have been surprised if she was. I bet she and her boyfriend broke up, too.

I bet she lost all her money at the casino or on drugs. She had been like that when we moved to Seattle after everything. She was having a breakdown again. I wasn't the one to fall for her shit.

"If you're here to ask me to move back in with you, I'm not going to. Get that out of your crazy head." I talked to her like she was some child who needed to be punished. If I could, I'd punish her for what she did to me.

For not giving me the help I needed, for making me think I didn't deserve
anything.

For making me a drug addict.

"Oh, I'm just here to see an old friend of mine. Very good in many ways. Don't flatter yourself, Maya. I wouldn't have come all the way here just to see you." She gestured with her hands and made way too much face expressions for her to be sober.

I scoffed and nodded.

"How's Rose?" She spat her name like it was some kind of shame.

"She is doing great. Thank you for asking." The man smiled at her. Ward wasn't going to let her get to him. I didn't know if I could do the same, though.

"Like you said, we were doing great without you. So get out of our house." I couldn't hold myself from stepping in.

"Oh, this is your house too now?" She laughed. "You guys are such a cute duo!"

"He's a better parent than you, at least." I crossed my arms.

"Well, that makes one of you a good person."

Me and my dad both knew she wasn't talking about me. She hated me as much as I hated her. For her, I was just a child that ruined her life.

At the start, when we were all a big family, I was the perfect kid. And after, when she raised me the way she did, I was like her. I was the drug-freak slut, dating a bad boy. I'd be forever grateful for my uncle, he'd helped me get over everything and be sober again.

"You haven't changed." I looked at her with a disgusting look. She didn't deserve my respect.

"You haven't changed either. Same old weak little girl." My mother walked towards me, pointing her bottle on my chest. "You want some crack? I have some in my car."