When Everything Changes

Chapter 5

Later that day, after my grandparents head back to Georgia, and while my mom is in the kitchen Ethan and I begin trying convince my mom, which is honestly way easier than I thought it'd be. We really don't even have to convince her, I just tell her if I'm going than so is Ethan. She stands and stares at us for awhile before she begins smiling. "Honey, you can't be that dense. Ethan was always going. I wasn't trying to break the two of you up for the summer."

Ethan and I don't really know what to say to that so we just leave to go get packed. We spend the rest of the night I'm my room while I pack and my brothers bring up dinner and we watch tv until it we fall asleep

The next morning Ethan and I go across the street to his house. I know he doesn't want to have to speak to his mom but he can't just disappear for an entire summer without letting his parents know.

His mom is sitting on the living room sofa when we walk through his front door. She looks up from the book perched on her lap at the sound of our footsteps approaching. Ethan attempts to head straight to the stairs without greeting his mom but she quickly stand up and calls his name. Ethan takes his foot off the bottom step and turns to his mom, releasing a deep sigh.

"What?" He asks sharply.

She looks a little surprised by his tone but quickly recomposes  herself. "What are you doing home?" She asks and I can't help but feel sad for how hopeful she looks. Like he is coming back or something. Then it dawns on me that she doesn't know he plans on coming with us to Savannah. Suddenly I feel like I should have stayed back at home and kept myself out of the middle.

"I'm just packing." He says as if its nothing.

"Packing for what?" She asks, clearly confused.

I lean back into the railings of the stairs and try to cover my face with my hands. Hoping to shrink myself enough to go unnoticed or just disappear all together. I watch Ethan as he stands there, becoming more irritated by the second.

"We're going to Savannah. Lennon's grandparents invited us." Ethan says as he nonchalantly shrugs his shoulders. Mrs. Patel just stands there with a hard look on her face and I really wish that I had stayed at home.

"Did you plan on asking me or are you telling me?" She says. Her eyes never leaving her son.

"I'm telling you." He says

"You can't tell me anything." She's clearly getting very worked up and it's just making me feel extremely awkward standing in the middle of their argument. "As long as you live under my roof I-"

"That's the thing Kate," he cuts her off. And he actually called he by her name -which even for him- is pretty ballsy. "You can't tell me what to do cause I don't live under your roof. I'm going to Savannah with Lennon and by the time we get back we'll be moving into the dorms. So don't try to tell me anything, ok." By the end of his little rant he's fuming. He takes off up the steps as his mom just stands there, hurt by his words, but in all honesty she kind of deserves them. She did help ruin two families.

"He really hates me." She says, before I can make up my mind on whether or not I should say anything. "I never meant to hurt him." She says softly.

I look up at that. She actually  just said that, as if Ethan is the only one that's hurt. I had always thought of Kate as another mom and when I couldn't talk to my real mom I would come to her. The way my brothers did and the same way Ethan does with my mom. We were like a family that way. But it's clear that she doesn't fully understand what exactly her and my dad did. And that it doesn't just affect Ethan. Me, my brothers and most importantly my mom, who was betrayed by both her husband and her best friend, are all hurt.