Shall We Dance?

Chapter 18 - Car Ride

FER

How will I fix this mess? The guilt is consuming me. I've always been there for my son. I thought that now at his age, having me always present wasn't a welcome thing. I was wrong.

As we enter the house, I find Ale sitting at the kitchen counter and eating a piece of a leftover pie.

"Hey, there's some pie left. I offered some to Javi but he didn't even respond. Do you want some?" He asks me while pushing the tin on the counter.

His face changes when Madison comes in the room. He looks towards the hallway and then back at us, realizing something doesn't make sense.

"Wait, what's going on? Why is Javi here? He is not supposed to be home yet from school."

"Is he in his bedroom?" I ask.

"I think so," he shrugs. "He walked that way. I said hello, offered him pie, but he didn't even look my way. So, the same as in the last weeks."

"Javi got caught with weed in his locker. He almost got kicked out of school. I pleaded, and he got suspended for two weeks."

"Shit... Denise will tear him to pieces," he whispers and I nod. "So, he is using too-"

"Eh, now it's not the moment to talk about it."

Ale looks at me with so much worry in his eyes it breaks my heart. Javi is following my steps without even knowing it.

"I won't let anything happen to him. From now on, I won't lose sight of him," I head to the kitchen counter, take a few prescription pills and swallow them with Ale's milk. Madison watches me with a mix of surprise and curiosity.

"Are you feeling okay?" Ale asks.

"Yeah, I am good. I forgot to take them this morning, so it's more a question of forgetfulness than need. I have to gather my thoughts first before I talk to him. As I'm feeling now, it will turn into a fight and I need him to listen."

"If he can't go to school, what will you do? We have events and the show this week and the next we are presenting the Spring Break games."

"I will have him tag along everywhere and I will talk to Mom and Dad about Spring Break. I could bring him, but my gut tells me he won't find girls in bikinis a punishment. Madison is okay with me taking him to the dance studio." 

"He is more than welcome," Madison adds and I remember she's also in the room.

"I need to bring bring Madison back to her house. We were having lunch when school called," I say.

"I'll keep an eye on him," my brother says. "I don't have any plans tonight. Unless your sister accepts my date offer."

Madison's eyebrows shoot up but says nothing further. I pat Ale's shoulder and motion for Madison to follow me outside to my car.

"Are you ill?" Madison breaks the silence.

I take a quick glance at her as I'm driving. She looks worried.

"Not anymore. The pills are preventive measures to keep me healthy."

"Are they necessary then?"

I let out a sigh.

"They are. I told you we had a terrible accident when we were kids caused by Ale and me fighting in the car. We lost our mom, ended up gravely wounded and marked for life. Those memories have affected me often, but it wasn't until a stupid incident happened that I realized how deeply it did."

"What happened then?"

I know Madison isn't being nosy and talking about this is kind of a relief. "When we were teens, we were wrestling in the living room while watching TV. We thought that wrestlers couldn't get hurt and made it our task to replicate every move. Mom yelled at us several times to stop before we hurt each other. She had just gone to bring laundry away and then it happened. I tackled Ale and he hit his head on the pointy edge of the coffee table. I freaked out when I saw him knocked out and a bit of blood on the carpet. I ran away until I didn't know where I was."