Climax King

1.4

I smile to my parents as they bicker over the correct recipe for waffles. It was amusing, truly. I missed them more than I truly thought. My mom lets out a soft laugh full of love and life. I can only hope to be as happy as her in the future. Settled down with a successful career, family, a beautiful home. It was a list of things I can only imagine.

"Benny, go away!" My mom laughs, swatting away my father's hand as he reached for the chocolate chips she intended on putting into the dish.

He playfully pouts before stealing them anyways. "Fu-fudge you, Janie," He oh so skillfully covers his close call of a cussing in front of his oh so innocent daughter. My mother scolds him quickly, swatting his hand with a fork set out.

"Hey, can I ask you two something?" I ease my way into the conversation, not truly wanting to disturb the peace that was this family tonight, but wanting to genuinely ask out of pure curiosity.

My father turns his attention towards me, shoving a handful of chocolate into his mouth. "What's up, Philly?" He asks.

"How did you know you loved each other?" I ask, resting my elbow on the granite countertop.

My parents exchange loving glances, as though the moment was still so clear in his mind. "I saw your mother at a party. It was one of my old friend's. It was a massive house party, one of those you probably have all the time, right?" He laughs, although his glare seemed to pry into my soul. Oops.

"I saw her dancing with her friends and that was it. I fell in love with her just like that." He smiles, gripping my mother's hand as her eyes tear slightly.

I turn my attention to my mother as she retrieved another waffle from the maker. "It took me some time to fall for your father. He always made excuses to see me around campus, or at parties. Truthfully, I was afraid of him the first few weeks. But we had common interest in books, music, movies, we shared a lot together in the short time we knew each other. We were out with a group of friends watching a movie when I realized for the first time, I was in love. Why do you ask?"

I clear my throat, fiddling with my thumbs. "I don't know. You guys are just so sure of your feelings for each other. I don't see how you could love someone when all it ends with is heartbreak."

My father reaches out to me, taking my hands in his. "Philly, love and age have no correlation. But true love is bitter sweet. You hate it, but you love the feeling. Is that what you feel for Josh?" He asks, making me look up from our interlocked hands for the first time since he comfortingly gripped them.

I clear my throat, watching my parents stare at me in shock and confusion. "Josh uh, he slept with someone else," I bluntly lay things out on the table, unsure of how else to say anything of the sort.

My mom gasps, letting another waffle out into the plate. It was the final one, and looked better than anything I've ever seen before.

"Honey, are you okay?" My mom asks, looping around the dial down to pull me into her arms. This. This feeling of being surrounded by love, by companionship, that's what I want. In the end, I think it's all I'll ever want. Family.

"Yeah, no, I'm fine. Really. It was doomed from the start. He plays basketball, I play Netflix. Those thing don't mix," I sadly laugh, the bitter statement into the air.

My dad retracts his hands, standing up and reaching the fridge. He pulls out the nearly empty tub of ice cream. "What can you expect? Basketball is a pussy sport. Netflix is much more better. We don't pay for that for nothing." He points at me, grabbing the ice cream scooper from the drawer.

He pops a large scoop onto his plate, then my mom's, before putting ya massive clumps of ice cream onto my personal plate. "Speaking of, we have Family Guy to catch up on, don't we?" He smiles, grabbing my plate, and mom's and handing them over to us before gripping his own. "To the couch!" He calls, making both my mom and I let out laughs from his childish behavior. Sometimes you just need family.