Hannah's Story

Chapter 22 - The Guys

I can't believe I haven't posted in three months. Sorry about that. I'll try to do better.

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JESSE

My hand remained on the cheek Hannah had just kissed as I longingly watched her walk out of my house.  Without her here, my dad was going to flip out on me.  He hated fighting, especially if it occurred inside of a school.

My mom's hand reached out to rest on my dad's arm, as if to calm him and put a filter over what he was planning on saying to me.

"Jesse, I thought we talked about how crass it is to handle your problems with physical violence," he said, looking at me with a level of disappointment on his face that I had only witnessed a handful of times in my life.

"I know, Dad," I said, sputtering somewhat, "but I couldn't help it."

My dad shook his head back and forth and said, "You can always help it."

My mom squeezed my dad's arm, as if to communicate to go easy on me.  I loved that my mom was so gentle.

"He was saying disgusting things about Hannah," I said.

"You couldn't have come up with a quippy comment that would shut him up?" he asked, his voice louder than before.

"I tried that. He turned it around and said that I was just jealous because I could never land her," I said, my face involuntarily heating up.

"Did you explain to him that she used to date your brother, so you didn't think of her that way?" he asked.

Now I was getting mad. "Sure, Dad. That would have shut him up for sure," I said, trying to lace it with as much sarcasm as possible. "He would have certainly backed off then. No one has ever dated someone that their sibling has discarded."

Why was he being so stupid? I mean, my dad was generally a pretty smart guy. That rule about not dating a sibling's ex had always seemed dumb to me, though. Even worse was that he thought everyone would share his opinion.

My mom laughed. My dad gave her a dirty look. She only laughed harder.

"Rhia!" my dad whisper yelled.

"I'm sorry, Max, but our kid has a point. That would have made the situation worse, not better," she said, putting her arm around my dad and giving him a quick squeeze.

"Seriously, Dad, he just kept saying stuff. Gross things that he did with Hannah and how she responded to them. It was terrible. You would have punched him, too," I said.

My dad just looked at me, as if thinking about how he would respond.

"I know it was wrong, but I would have had the same response if he'd been talking about Mom or the twins. I think you would have, too," I said.

"You're probably right," he said a few minutes later. "Just don't make a habit out of it."

"I won't," I said. "I promise."

"You're not a baby. If you can manage not to leave the house until your suspension is over, that should be punishment enough. Rachel can come over this weekend, but you two have to stay on this floor of the house," he said. "Got it?"

I breathed a sigh of relief. "Got it," I replied.

He looked at my mom.  "I love how you let me pretend to make the decisions," he said, kissing her full on the mouth.

"Guys," I said as I stood and walked toward the stairs, "you're hopeless."

I knew they'd be following me up the stairs soon when their affections began to mimic rated-R status.  They were like that.  As gross as it was because they were my parents, I couldn't help but be thankful that they loved each other as much as they did.