Chapter Fifteen

To: alexjmclean@icestorm.net	
From: bobsm@comcast.com
Subject: (none)

	Hey, Alex.  I’m at work right now, during a break and I’ve tried calling
you a few times but you never pick up but then again, you are quite busy,
right?  Well, I thought a lot about your telephone call last week and I’m
sorry if I sounded preoccupied (you called during the big game, hehe) but I
think that we should go out to dinner sometime.  It’s been too long since
we’ve seen each other and I regret that.  Ok, well, son, think about it and
give me a call.
                                         -Bob
					


				
*****
	“ He’s lying,” Denise looked up from her book and studied her son’s
digusted expression.
“ What’s the matter, honey?”  AJ shut the laptop and stared at her, a frown
creased in his forehead.
“ Dad.  He said he tried calling a ‘few times’ but he only called once and
didn’t leave a message.  And he signed it ‘Bob’.  Not ‘your father’ or ‘love,
Dad’, he signed it ‘Bob’.” 
“ Well I’m sure he-”
“ Forgot.”  AJ finished flatly.
“ What did he want?” 
“...He wants us to go to dinner together,”  Denise stifled a sigh as she shut
her book and stood up to get herself a mug of tea.
“ Well are you going to?” She inquired from the kitchen.
“...I don’t know...No...Maybe...”  She returned and sat back down.
“ Do you want to?” 
“ Not especially.  I’m sick of giving him second chances,” 
“ Maybe you should go, it might open both your eyes to each other,”  AJ
sighed and rubbed his neck tiredly.
“ I don’t know,”  They both looked up as Lori entered the dining room.
“ Hi,”
“ Hey, sweetheart, how did your classes go?” Denise asked.
“ Ugh...Tiring but fine,” She answered, dropping some of her books onto
the table as she went to get something to drink.  AJ’s phone let out it’s
musical ring, interupting their conversation further.  He pulled it out of his
pocket and checked the number.  Melissa.  Shit.  He hit the ‘talk’ button.
“ Yeah,” He answered, glancing at his Mom to see if she was paying any
attention to him.
“ You know I don’t owe you shit,” Came Melissa’s voice, full of hesitation.
“ Go on, this sounds intresting,” 
“ You know, I’m doing you a favor, cut the sarcasm,”
“ Ok, I’m sorry,”  He replied automatically, waiting for her to continue.
“ She left him.”  AJ was silent, his heart jumping in his throat.
“ You’re kidding,” 
“ No, they got into another argument, Sammy told him to leave,”  He felt
another dagger aimed at his heart as he stood up and walked to the back
patio and out of his mother’s earshot.
“ Samantha told him to leave?  Mel, she tells everyone to leave,” 
“ Not this time, this time it’s for real,” 
“ So what happens now?  Is she coming back to L.A?” 
“ I don’t know, Alex, and even if I did, I couldn’t tell you,” 
“ Ok...Thanks, Mel,” 
“ Yeah, yeah, whatever...You need to get over her though, AJ,”  She added
quietly.
“ I have to go,”  He heard her sigh before she hung up.    He took a few
seconds to compose himself before walking back inside to where Lori  now
joined Denise at the table.
“ Who was on the phone?” Denise asked curiously, looking up from their
conversation.
“ An old friend, you don’t know her,” 	
“ A friend here in Florida?”
“ Uh-uh, in California,” He replied distractedly.
“ Oh...” 
“ When are we eating?” AJ adapted a cheerier tone to cover up his more
aggrieved one.
“ In about two hours, at 7:30...Are you going to stay for it?” He glanced at
her to see if she was trying to suggest something but only saw curiosity in
her face.
“ Yeah.  When does Ken get home?”
“ At around seven,”  AJ nodded and Denise resumed her conversation with
Lori.
“ Alex, how about you and Lori go and pick something up for me at the
store?”  AJ groaned inwardly at how cliche that question sounded.
“ Um....Can’t Lori go alone?” Lori shot him an irritated look.
“ Alex, you need to get out of the house, you’ve been here all day,”
“ Fine, fine,” He muttered, getting up and looking at Lori.
“ What do you need from the store?” She asked, also getting up and
grabbing her purse.
“ Here’s the list, sweetheart,”
“ I’m driving,” He told Lori as they headed out the door.
“ Fine, do you even know your way around here?”
“  Yes, I’ve been gone for two years, not a freaking decade,” 
“ Whatever you say,” 
“ Why are you such a smartass?” He asked, irked as he started the car.
“ Why aren’t your friends there when you need them?” She shot back and
he stared at her confusedly.
“ What the Hell does that have to do with anything?”
“ It has to do with everything.” She said shortly, waiting for him to pull out
of the driveway.
“ Like you know anything about it,” He snapped, putting the car in reverse
and backing out.
“ I do.  It’s their fault you got screwed over with whoever it is you’re pining
about because if they had been there enough, they would have seen right
through her-”
 ‘AJ, she’s not going to be any good for you, she only wants your-’
“ -And its their fault you moved all the way to Los Angeles because if they
gave a shit, they would have persuaded you to stay-”
 ‘L.A? Are you fucking crazy?  With Samantha-’
“ Enough!  You don’t know anything about it, Lori! You’re the one stuck in
this perfect fucking world of yours and  you’re bored with no
distractions except for meddling in business you have no right to and in
that fucking tone of ‘I’m the best piece of shit God created’,”
“ Oh yeah, Alex, you got me there, you know exactly what you’re talking
about, right?  You know  nothing about me either, who are you to
say that my world is perfect? What’s your biggest problem besides that
whore you’re bitching about?  Which car you’re gonna buy next? Where
you’re going to for vacation?  That’s not a  real world, Alex, thats
called being delusional and avoiding reality. Life is hard and you pretend to
be able to grasp that but you don’t!  You can’t because you haven’t seen
enough of it!  You wanna talk hard?-”
“ Shut up,” He interrupted angrily, keeping his eyes steady on the road.
“ How’s seeing your mother lying on her deathbed after some asshole
drunk driver collided with her car?  How’s seeing your father broken after
her death, bad enough so he’s never happy, never smiling, barely talking,
a shell of a man?  Losing both your parents because of some guy who
spent five years of his life in a jail cell while we have to go for a lifetime
without my mother. That’s called  fucking life, AJ!  And if you’re
unhappy about our parent’s marriage, well then fuck you too because my
dad is  alive again, he’s happy with your mother.  You can’t accept it
because you’re a child, you’re immature-”
“  I said shut the fuck up!” He shouted at her, hitting the brakes hard and
stopping in the middle of an empty parking lot, across the street from the
grocery store.  He sat still, his face crimson with anger, staring straight
ahead while trying to gain a hold on his short-circuited temper.  Lori
watched him, her anger fizzling down to a much lower degree.  They sat in
silence for several minutes before he turned, looked at her with eyes of
open aching and said,
“ I don’t ever want to talk to you about life’s lessons, nor do I want to talk to
you about my past or yours, understand?  Just because our parents were
fated to marry each other doesn’t mean there has to be any type of
relationship bewtween us,” He said quietly, silent rage still lingering in his
voice as he pushed down on the accelerator.  They got inside the store
and grabbed the first of the groceries on the list until they reached the dairy
section.
“ Shit,” AJ mumbled, locating Jess after she had spotted him and started to
walk over.  He planted an effort of a smile on his face.
“ AJ!  We’ve made it a thing to meet at  grocery stores, huh?” She laughed,
placing a hand on his arm.
“ Hey, Jess,” He greeted, waiting for the whole ‘how come you didn’t call
me’ scene to begin.
“ You certainly left early the other day,” She said, amused. Jess looked
over at Lori and scanned her.
“ Who’s this?” 
“ My mother’s husband’s daughter,” He replied, returning half his attention
to the list.  Jess let out a quizzical laugh.
“ Oh!  Hi, I’m Jess,” He cringed when he heard the artificial sweetness in
her voice.
“ Lori,” 
“ Well, we’ve got to be going, Jess,” 
“ Yeah, so do I...Call me sometime, the other night was...Fun....” She let
her words hang in the air as she walked away and Lori shot him a
disgusted look.
“ I’m not having another discussion with you,” He said sharply before she
could say anything.  They finished their little shopping trip and got back in
the car to get back to the house...






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