***This is a continuation of the story from Kiss: Casablanca High School, so read that first if you want! It's not necessary to but it would help***
It's been five years since anyone's heard anything from Gene Simmons, and at this point Paul Stanley...
The doorbell rang and I took a deep breath, running a hand through my hair and wishing my husband was home. "Alright, Peter. It's your own mother and she deserves to have a chance to talk to you about what she did," I muttered, pulling open the door. "Hi M-mom," I said. She gave me a faint smile back, giving me a hug. "Hi Peter," she said softly.
"Why don't you come in? We can sit down and talk and I can get you a drink if you'd like." "Oh, that'd be nice!" she said, walking in as I held open the door. She looked around the apartment quietly as I made two gin and tonics, really trying to resist the urge to just get completely wasted to get out of how awkward this was.
"Oh my goodness!" I nearly dropped the drinks as Mom shouted in surprise. "What? What's wrong?" I asked. She turned around, holding Hooligan. "I had no idea he was still alive!" I smiled in spite of myself, handing her the drink and scratching Hooligan behind the ears. "Yep! He's eighteen and he doesn't try and run away as much as he used to, but he's still here." "Aw, that's sweet. You named him Hooligan, right?"
My smile grew bigger and I sat at the table, motioning for her to sit with me. "That I did. That's what Dad used to call me." Her face grew tight and she rolled her eyes. "Of course he did. Have you seen him lately?" "Nope, not since he lost custody of me when I was...12? He's called though, he'd send me gifts and stuff for my birthday and Christmas. More than you ever did," I said, still unable to resist the urge to make snide comments toward her.
Mom let out a sigh, face turning red as she stared at the table. "I know. I know, Peter, I know. I wasn't a good mother, I'll admit that. I left you alone a lot, I left you with your father in an environment that wasn't good for you. And it hurt you and I'm sorry. I focused on satisfying what I wanted way, way more than I focused on loving you."
I nodded, scratching Hooligan again as he jumped up onto my lap, purring softly. "Yeah. That's true. You did do that. And I was really, really pissed at you for years. But Mom, look. I know what it's like to struggle with drugs. I went through that myself. I mean yeah that was largely because of you and Dad, but that's not the point. You were hurting and you weren't really able to be there. Should you have had a kid while an unfaithful druggy in a chaotic relationship with another druggy? No. But you tried as much as you could for the situation we were in. So thank you."
She took a deep breath, wiping her eyes. "Peter, I'm sorry. I know you resent me and I can't blame you. I know we haven't really had a good relationship, or a relationship at all. I was distant from you for your whole life. I'm sorry, I can't ask you to forget or even forgive everything that happens, but I do hope you know that I love you, and that if I could change the past I could. I've spent five years wondering if the last time I ever spoke to my son would be the fight we had at Thanksgiving, and I've spent five years regretting what I said to you that night."
My stomach flipped and I stared at her. I didn't know what I was expecting from the meeting, but I definitely wasn't expecting that. I took a long sip of my drink before leaning over and giving her a hug. "I know. I love you too."
In a way, it was kind of nice to be able to talk with her. Yeah it was awkward, and yeah I was still a bit mad at her, but at the same time, being able to talk to her was the closure I needed. We had been talking for hours before she looked at her phone, giving me a sad smile. "My fiancé and I are going out to dinner so I've got to run. It was really, really nice to be able to talk with you, and if you'd like I'd love to talk with you again. If not, that's okay too."
"Yeah, you'll have to introduce me to your fiancé some time," I said with a smile, pulling open the front door before giving her a hug. "Bye Mom. Love you." She hugged me back, kissing me on the cheek. "I love you too Peter. And goodbye Hooligan!" she said cheerfully, scratching him under the chin before giving me a parting wave. I watched her head down the stairs, walking back inside with a sigh. Scooping up Hooligan, I sat on the couch, stroking him softly before I started to cry, burying my face in his fur.
He let out a distressed mew, trying to lick away my tears with his scratchy tongue. I laughed weakly, hugging him to my chest and petting him. "You beautiful baby boy, don't you ever leave me. I need you," I mumbled. "Don't you ever leave."
I was still kind of crying when Ace made it back from wherever he had been all day, immediately sitting next to me and pulling me into a hug. "Hey babe what's wrong?!" I rested my head on his shoulder, sniffling. "I don't...it was really nice to talk with her. I'm not mad at her like I was. In--in a way I guess I forgive her and...and it's a lot. I don't think I'll ever have a real relationship with her, b-but just to be at the point where I'm not angry...feels really nice," I choked.
He gave me a smile, kissing me. "That's good. That's really good and I'm so happy for you!" I nestled closer against his side, giving him a smile. "Me too." There was a long pause as he held me and I held Hooligan before I looked at him, raising an eyebrow. "Where were you all day?" Grinning, he kissed me on the nose, scritching Hooligan behind the ears the way he liked it. "Well you said you wanted me out of here to talk with your mom at first in case it didn't go well so I went and talked with your grandparents! They're wonderful people and they send their love and said we're welcome for dinner anytime."
"Thanks love," I murmured, closing my eyes happily.
ACE
Mrs. Criscuola gave me a smile, taking my hand as I sat in their living room. "Ace I really can't thank you enough. You've really helped Peter get on the right path in life." I smiled back. "He's a good person, you raised him well, and I'm happy I've been able to marry him. Sometimes he just needs a little nudge in the right direction."
She nodded, rising to her feet and letting out a sigh, walking over to the mantle and looking at some framed photos. "He had a rough childhood. It was hard for us to get custody of him, we weren't able to adopt him until he was around 12. And before we could he had to deal with his father being in and out of jail, his mother running off with other men every weekend and bringing them home when his father was in jail and they were just...constantly on drugs, constantly fighting each other, sometimes fighting Peter too. It makes sense he picked up drugs, it's been a part of his life since he was born. We were afraid he would be born addicted, it's really a blessing he wasn't. And you've helped him a lot in life."
I nodded, giving her a sad smile. "He's a good person. He's struggled a bit but he's gotten better and I'm happy I was able to help him with that and I really am happy I can spend the rest of my life with him." "You've helped him more than you could ever know. I still remember when he came home in fifth grade talking about you when you first showed up at school. He was so excited to have a new friend and he talked non-stop about how cool he thought you were."
My heart absolutely melted as she kept going. "It was so sweet to be able to watch the two of you become friends. And then it was wonderful to watch you two start dating, even if Peter was trying to hide it for awhile. It was fairly obvious, though. He'd come home after going out to dinner with you and say things like 'I love Ace, he's the best person in the world, he's adorable.'"
Aw Peter you adorable dumbass.
¡Ay! Esta imagen no sigue nuestras pautas de contenido. Para continuar la publicación, intente quitarla o subir otra.
