75: The Last Straw

Erin

    Adele has a birthday party tomorrow, and Pam is thrilled I'm here to help set everything up at Bryce's house.

     I'm a little worried about Bryce in regards to Adele's friend-who-is-a-boy, Todd. Todd is coming to the party, and it will be our first time meeting him since he avoids Bryce as much as possible.

     That's not fair of me to think that about Todd. I could be imagining it. Maybe he's not trying to avoid Bryce after all, and it only seems that way.

     Bryce walks in after meeting with the builders with a smile on his face. He goes on to tell me how the builder says he thinks the new bar should be finished in three months, record time, and they're using as much local material as they can.

     "Wonderful!" I say before I wrap my arms around his neck and kiss him. He kisses me back with a little more enthusiasm than I like as we stand in front of his sister.

     "Just came by the kitchen to share the news before I change my shirt," he says and pops me once on the behind.

      After Bryce leaves, I walk back over to Pamela, and she suddenly hugs me. She's a hugger.

      "I'm so happy he's happy. I know that's old news by now, but with Adele's birthday tomorrow and all ... it just makes me so mad that Ashley left them! But you being here makes things even better than before she left." She pauses for a second before she says, "She was always pushing him away like his affection bothered her, and I always feel a flash of anger at big family moments like these." She looks like she's a little embarrassed by what she said.

      I have a sudden understanding why Pam and Ginger are best friends. I can't help but feel Pam's outburst was a little awkward, but I decide to keep that feeling to myself since I can tell she means well.

     The next day, Adele's friends arrive for the party, and I curiously watch for Todd. There are already a few boys here, and Bryce's nerves are stretched taunt.

     The doorbell rings, and I go to answer it. A boy with black hair stands at the door with a mildly-worried look on his face. He introduces himself as Todd Baker.

Adele

     It's my birthday! I'm eleven.
     Everyone's here except Todd. He's convinced my dad doesn't like him, and I hate to agree that he's probably right.

     Helen and Eduardo, Heldo, are making me want to go puke. They almost constantly fight about stuff, but they look like they enjoy it.

     She told me a couple of weeks ago that she kissed him, and then he kissed her right back.

     Ew.

    Aunt Lynne shows up with three presents!

    Daddy and Uncle Jesse are talking about something on the other side of the pool, and I don't know where Erin is.

     Phew. There's Todd, I think as he walks out the sliding glass door in the living room.

     "Hey," he says nervously as he looks around.

     I roll my eyes and say, "Chill, Todd. He's just a dad."

     "Yeah, right, mhm," he quickly replies in a kind of higher pitched voice.

     I slowly blink once and say, "That's not chilled. Besides, it's not like you're my boyfriend or anything." I give him the latest 'Heldo' drama, and he laughs appropriately.

      I notice his hands are empty.

      "You didn't bring me a present?"

      "I did. It's in my pocket. I'll give it to you later," he answers vaguely.

      "Oh," I say, a little confused. We talk a little more before Todd's eyes widen. Then I hear my dad.

      "You must be Todd," Daddy says. His voice has a gruff edge to it.

      "Yes, sir," Todd answers as I turn around and see Daddy sizing Todd up.

     Daddy starts asking him question after question like he's interrogating him. I see Erin walk outside from the dining room, and I give her a 'help!' look. She winks at me like that's exactly what she's doing.

     Erin walks up to Daddy with some obviously made-up excuse to get him to leave Todd alone. Daddy at least takes the hint.

      "You look like you need a coke or something," I tell Todd.

      "Yeah," he agrees, and we go ask Uncle Jesse at the bar to get Todd a coke. Then, poor Uncle Jesse gets bombarded by all my friends from school wanting stuff too. He handles the craziness really good though.
      After I open all my presents, Todd tells me he wants me to open his present for me up in my room, so we escape up there while everyone else is busy with cake. Once we get up here, he shoots straight for Blinky, my pet chameleon.
      "Cool, look! He likes me!" Todd smiles over at me while he holds Blinky.

      Where Todd is standing puts him in front of one of my posters, and I can't believe I'd never noticed it before.
      I look from the poster to him, from the poster to him, from the poster to him and back rapidly.
      No wonder I like his hair.
      "What?" he asks me.
      "Nothing," I answer quietly. I don't want to tell him I think he looks like Cameron. Well, if he were human and my age.
      Todd puts Blinky back in his terrarium and says, "Well, here's your present." He pulls a small box out of his pocket.
      Jewelry. He got me jewelry, I think as I look at him suspiciously and open the present with a sense of dread.
      It's a golden locket in the shape of a heart.
      "Todd ..."
      "I thought it was pretty," he points out quietly. "I'd saved a little money all those times Dad would tell me to get lost, and this was the best one I could afford."
      He picked it out himself.
      He visibly slumps over. "You don't like it."
      I don't want to hurt his feelings. "No, Todd. It's ... it's great." I force out a smile, and he looks happier.
      "Let me help you put it on," he says, smiling now.

      He tells me that he even practiced doing this so he could help me put it on just like this. Then he looks embarrassed that he admitted that as he walks around me.
      "Let me go look in the mirror," I say to escape for a minute. When I come back out of my bathroom, Todd stands next to the terrarium, waiting for me.
       "It looks pretty, but I'm not surprised," he says with a nervous smile.
       "Why?"
       "Because you're wearing it, and you're pretty," he answers me and shocks me when he kisses me really fast on my lips.

        !!!!!!!!!!
        Todd flips his hair out of his eyes and takes a step closer while I stand here in silent shock. Then he shocks me again when he suddenly grabs my face and kisses me ... again! This time, he doesn't move away but keeps his lips on mine.
       When he finally lets me go, I take a step back away from him. He looks at me with a look I don't understand. He looks super-confident and proud of himself yet there's something else there too.
       "You!" I reach up to take the locket off as fast as I can. "You're not my friend anymore!"
       "Huh?" Todd asks. He doesn't look super-confident anymore. He looks like he wants to cry.
       I throw the necklace on the floor and run out of my room, down the stairs, and out the front door. I go and hide on the other side of the spa across the street before I start crying.
       How could Todd do that to me?! He knew I didn't want that. Did he think that if he did it then I would change my mind? No!
       Did Heldo put him up to this? I could see them doing just that.

       I have no real friends! I think as I curl up into a ball on the sand, my fingers pulling up little handfuls of the stuff and then letting it sift through them.
       'Don't throw sand,' my daddy used to say to me all the time. Throwing sand is rude.
       Well, so is kissing your friend when she doesn't want you to! I scream in my head and throw the biggest handful of sand I can right at the ocean. Luckily, the breeze is headed out to sea instead of inward or the stuff would've gone right into my eyes. Seeing that it won't come back and hit me, I throw handful after handful after handful in an angry fashion with as much strength as I can.
       I have no one! My mommy doesn't love me. My daddy is busy with Erin. My best friend is busy with her boyfriend. My friend-who-is-a-boy wants to be my boyfriend, and I don't want it! Aunt Pam is sick all the time now. Baby Jer-jer is too stupid to count. Uncle Simon works. So does Aunt Lynne. Uncle Jesse even spends all his time with the new girl.

      I have nobody! I scream in my head as I violently throw handful after handful of sand, working up a large cloud of it, but I don't care. No matter how hard I throw, I can't get rid of the anger.
      "Adele!" I hear my dad, and I don't know if he sounds more angry or relieved. I guess he was looking for me. The sand cloud must've given me away. "What are you doing?" he asks sternly, and I burst into tears. He waves his hand around his face to try and break up the miniature sandstorm I created before he kneels down in front of me.

      "Why are you crying?" he asks and starts wiping my cheeks. Then, in a gruffer voice, he asks, "Did someone do something to you?" He's implying that it was Todd.
       I all of a sudden don't want to tell Daddy that Todd kissed me. I'm probably the least mad at Todd for what he did. It was just the last straw.
       Then who am I mad at?
       "Sweetheart, what's wrong?" Daddy asks again, looking like an incredibly worried, loving daddy. It makes me mad!
      "I'm not your sweetheart!" I scream in his face.
      Both of us wear a shocked expression for a second before mine changes, and I say in a snide voice, "Your sweetheart is back somewhere at the house doing I don't care what!"
       I don't hate Erin. I like Erin. It's really nice to have another girl around in my own house. Still, there are times when I wish she would just go away.
      I don't understand the strange look on Daddy's face as he asks while taking deep breaths, "Did Erin do or say something to you to hurt your feelings?"
       No! I think really loud as I clench my sandy fists together and start making this whining noise that slowly builds into a really loud scream.
      Then, I do scream. I scream words to my daddy.
      "NO! Mommy did something to hurt my feelings! You did something to hurt my feelings!" I take a breath and see the shocked expression on his face. "You! Mommy! Aunt Pam! Uncle Simon! Aunt Lynne! Uncle Jesse! The new girl! Todd! Helen! Eduardo! Yes, Erin too!" I can't scream anymore for a minute because the crying takes over.
      I feel terrible for screaming at him, but I can't take it anymore.
      I look up at Daddy and see him staring at me with a wide-eyed expression like a tidal wave is about to strike and he knows running will do no good.
      His voice sounds a little hoarse when he asks, "What did we all do?"
      I don't really know how to answer that, so I ask questions of my own: "Why did Mommy leave us? Who's fault is it? Is it mine just because I'm here? What did I do wrong?"
       "No, Adele," Daddy says lovingly, but I also can't help but feel like it's a sigh of relief. Then he pulls me into a tight hug that I don't feel like hugging him back. I'm still too mad. I'm too exhausted from my yelling and throwing sand earlier to either hug him or push him away.
      "It's not your fault," Daddy says quietly and kisses the side of my head.
      "Then why?" I whine out my question.
      "I thought you knew. She left because she wanted to go live with another man in Bridgeport that she met on the internet."
      "Why did she want to do that?"
      "Because she fell in love with him."
      I start getting mad again. "And she loved him more than me, more than you?!"
      "More than me," he answers sadly.
      I try to push Daddy away from me with everything I have, but I can't do it. "What did you do?!"
      "We didn't see much of each other anymore, and she started loving him more than me," Daddy answers while not letting go of me.
      Daddy made her want to leave.
       "So she loved him more than her child too?! More than her own baby?! I hate her!" I scream and keep fighting with him.

       Daddy's hands get hot as he says loudly (but not as loudly as me), "I do too!"
       Not as much as me! "NO!" I scream at the top of my lungs. I feel like I'm on fire. "Let go of me! You can't hate her as much as I hate her!"
      "Why not?" he growls.

      I take a deep breath in. "BECAUSE IT'S YOUR FAULT!!!" I scream louder than I've ever screamed before, and Daddy yells out in pain as I throw myself off him.

        There's a red rim around everything when I furiously look at Daddy as he holds his arms with either hand. When he moves his hands to check, I see burn marks on him in the shape of my hands. He acts like it really hurts because he takes short breaths and closes his eyes real tight every time he blinks. He drops down to stand on his knees.
        My heart is racing as I think, Those are my handprints. I burned my daddy? How?
       I start breathing really fast as I look at my hands. They look like they always looked, and the red around everything goes away slowly.
       What's wrong with me?! How did I burn Daddy?! I scream in my head as I keep looking at my hands and Daddy keeps taking short breaths.
       "Pam," Daddy gasps out. "Get Aunt Pam."
       "I'm sorry Daddy!" I say in a panicked voice.
       "It's okay," he gasps really fast. "Get Pam."
       "Okay," I say and run off to find my aunt.

-------------------------------------------------------

Thank you, gemly_teddie, for making the daddy/daughter tantrum poses for me! It was so nice to not have to do that, and you did a fabulous job.

Thank you, jazen, for giving Adele her angry voice. :)