Cinders

~7~ The Fight

As soon as mom shuts the door, I can see through the peep hole that she shoves dad pretty roughly.

"Are you a complete moron?!? What the hell?!?!" She asks, already yelling.

"I'm sorry, Ellie...I didn't mean to. It just came out," Dad says, trying desperately to calm her down before she beats him.

"Why did you even come over, Alex?" She asks, throwing her hands up in the air.

"Did you, or did you not call me an hour ago, telling me I needed to get over here? I was right in the middle of.....I was right in the middle of something."

He's actually getting mad. Dad doesn't usually get an attitude with mom.

"I'm so sorry to interrupt you getting laid, Alex. It's my fault to think that maybe, just maybe, you would care that your son has been sneaking out for two months drinking, doing drugs, and having sex."

My mom is a literal foot shorter than my dad. It doesn't stop her from trying to get in his face though. Is she on her tippy toes?

"He does drugs?" Dad asks, sounding concerned for the first time. Drugs are as big of a deal to dad as cheating is to mom.

"I hadn't gotten into the specifics yet. I thought you and I could do that together. Shame on me though, right?" She says, sounding like she could cry.

"Look, Eleanor, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to laugh. I just wasn't expecting him to say that," dad says, his voice getting softer.

"Yeah well I'm sorry too."

"Sorry for what?"

"I'm sorry that Liam isn't going to your house for the next three weeks."

I can't go to dads? Can she do that? That's bullshit.

"EXCUSE ME?!?" Dad starts shouting

"Did I stutter?" Mom asks, without skipping a beat. Man this lady has balls.

"Ellie, I'm a pretty easy-going guy. You know this. We've been best friends our whole lives. I don't kick up much of a fuss—But if you think I'm gonna allow you to keep my son away from me, then you're going to see a side of me you never have. Try me."

Dad's tone is getting darker as he steps forward, getting closer to her.

I've never seen dad like this before. He's willing to fight for me. That makes me feel so good.

"Alexander, you better step back from me right now. This is happening, and there isn't shit you can do about it," Mom says, getting even closer to dad. Are my parents going to literally fight? Over me?

"Why are you being like this? What the hell is your problem?!" My dad is screaming at this point.

Suddenly I hear and see Taylor's door swing open as he barrels over. The noise startles dad, and he flinches a little. Taylor uses that moment to get in between mom and dad, his face an inch from dad.

"Is there a problem, here?" Taylor asks dad.

Now, dad is a little taller than Taylor, but Taylor looks like he could kill my dad. The thing is, my dad is crazy strong—Taylor is just insane. The way he's looking at dad, it kinda looks like he wants dad to hit him; He wants an excuse to fight him.

"Everything's fine, Preston." Mom says, trying to diffuse the situation that she can already see escalating.

She shoves Taylor's shoulder, a little bit, getting him to move out of the way. Taylor does, but he stands right next to mom, ready to protect her if needed. That surprises me. Mom's always so quick to protect everyone else. It means a lot to see this stranger wanting to make sure she's safe.

"You can't take my son away from me, Ellie," Dad starts again, this time his posture is more relaxed, and his voice calmer, with a hint of panic underneath it.

"Nobody said anything about taking Liam from you!"

"You just got done telling me that you didn't want me to have him the next few weeks," he continues, losing his composure again and starting to yell.

Mom holds up her right hand, trying to get him to calm down and listen to her. "Yes, for three weeks. You can't expect me to allow Liam to continue to sneak out of your house. He's already being punished for what happened at school. Are you seriously telling me that you'll enforce his punishment while he's at your house?"

He doesn't speak. He just glares at her. She continues.

"It doesn't give me a whole lot of confidence when I tell you that our 15 year old son's been sneaking out of your house, every time he's with you for the last two months, and you just laugh. Right in front of him. You laughed. What's wrong with you?"

Crickets can be heard outta my dad....

"So for the next few weeks, he's gonna be with me. He isn't getting away with this, Alex. If you won't do anything about it, then I will. But I'm not gonna allow him to go to your house, consequence free, while I'm here being the adult all the freaking time." She crosses her arms over her chest.

Woah. Mom's completely serious and dad knows it. Taylor turns and looks at her, with a small smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. He almost looks proud of her.

Dad takes a deep breath. "What can I do to change your mind?" He asks cautiously. He's speaking to her the way you would talk to an animal, to calm it down before it attacks you.

"You can discipline your son."

Dad puts his hands down in defeat. "I can't do it, El,"he says, his voice starting to shake. "I love that kid more than my own life. I can't discipline him."

"Ok, then he's staying with me the next three weeks, so that I can." She says, unshaken.

I've never heard either of them talk like this before. Dad declaring how much he loves me, and mom not giving a damn. It actually makes me feel good that they love me enough to fight for me. Even after everything I've done.

Dad just stares at her silently for a moment, watching her face.

"Can I at least call him?" He asks, giving up.

"Of course you can. It'll have to be on my phone though. He's lost his phone for the next three weeks. You can come over as much as you want, too. I'm not keeping him from you. He just isn't staying at your house right now."

I can see dad move towards the door, so I make a mad dash to my bedroom.

"Liam, will you come here please?" Dad calls. His voice sounds sad. I come out of my room and go into the hallway. All three adults are looking at me.

"Yeah dad?" I ask, pretending like I haven't heard any of this.

"How about you, your mom, and I go out to dinner Monday night after I get off work? Then I can come over and hang out with you a bit before bed," Dad says, trying to keep the pain out of his voice.

"Sure," I say, looking at mom, pretending to be confused.

Dad gives me a big hug, and kisses my cheek. "I'll see you Monday, buddy," he says. He then looks at Taylor and glares at him silently before he leaves. Taylor returns the glare, completely at ease. Not worried about dad at all.

"You're really not gonna let me go to dad's?" I ask, my voice starting to raise.

"No, not for three weeks I'm not," Mom replies matter-of-factly. "Get inside. We're not finished with our discussion yet."

I glance at Taylor quickly. He has a glimmer in his eye, but his face is still in a stern expression. He's waiting to make sure I don't give my mom any problems. I turn around and go inside.

I don't feel like eavesdropping anymore—I've heard enough. Instead, I go to the kitchen to finish eating my lunch.

If I knew this was gonna be my last meal, I woulda sprung for a frozen pizza instead.