I'll Be Right Here | ✔

28 | Again?

Derek

IT'S USUALLY NEVER this quiet in the Walker household, I would know because I spent seventeen years living here.

I expect to hear the creaky sound made by Patricia any minute, but after a minute I don't hear anything.

"Derek," a stern voice approaches me.

My eyes adjust to the darkness. "Mike?"

I thought he was still on that business trip.

"Derek, we need to talk."

"About what?" I fake a yawn.

"About this family." He heads to the kitchen, and I have no other choice than to follow him.

I find Patricia sulking and I send Mike an inquisitive look. "Is everything okay?"

"Where ya been?" Mike seats himself.

"Uh..." thoughts ramble through my mind, "at the library."

"C'mon!" Mike throws his hand on the table and I wince, "You and I both know that you almost never go to the library."

I cross my arms. "Well I've changed."

"On really?" Mike raises an eyebrow and I gulp. It's one thing to lie to someone else, but a whole nother thing to lie to Mike. I sneak a look at Patricia, who's staring into space.

"A lot can happen in two months," I dare myself to look in Mike's eyes.

"Oh really?" Mike eyes Patricia, "Then, what'd you study?"

"Uh Latin."

Shit. You really fucked up, Derek!

"Cut the crap, Derek!" he takes off his glasses with a heavy sigh.

"Okay, fine, I went to the aquarium nearby!" I spit.

"Fresh Water Fish?" Mike's eyes seem to sparkle.

"Yeah," I look the other way.

He looks at Patricia. "You let him go?"

Patricia shrugs her shoulders. "I didn't even know where he was going."

Mike takes a deep breath in. "Look, I know these past years have been really tough on us. You especially."

I think about our old life back in Florida, where everything was quiet and nice. God, I hate this life.

"We were thinking," he eyes Patricia, "I was thinking, maybe it's time to go back to Beth?"

The last thing I envisioned myself doing was sitting in a tiny room, face to face with the most annoying person ever.

"Why doesn't she want me to go?" I point at Patricia.

"Your mother?" I resist an eye roll. "She just doesn't think it's beneficial."

"Of course I do!" Patricia pipes in. "I mean I think it's beneficial, I- I just don't like Beth."

Of course she wouldn't. Ever since she first met Beth, she's been comparing herself to her.

Like how she [Beth] looks so good in curly blonde hair and a tank top versus her which, I have to admit, is 100% true.

"Not everyone can own up to your beauty, Patricia," I mutter.

She looks at me with a sneer. "Okay, we also have to include some family rules." She looks at Mike.

"Alright, we will. But for everyone." He gets up from the chair, entirely exhausted. Probably from jet lag.