A/n- Long time, no see. My other story, which has not been updated here in forever, is currently at a 200+ page clusterf *** stage. However, I met a new character today, and thought I would share her.
I looked back at my house one last time before getting into the car. Well, what was my house. It's not mine anymore. I'm moving to Alabama.
My mom was busy sweeping through the rooms, making sure we had everything that made the house ours. I saw her looking at her cell phone so often, I was pretty sure she was going to wear the battery out before Dad even got home. I looked down at the contents of the box I was carrying as I set it into the back of the car. This was my box, filled with some of my most prized possessions; a signed drum head my mom had given me, some posters, sticks, and books that I couldn't be without. Oh yeah. I'm a drummer.
My mom is a music teacher. A good one. But then, so is my Dad. She was Supreme Chief Commander of All Things Band at the high school she taught at. Her high school won award after award for its symphonic and jazz bands. Her real passion though, was her marching band. My dad often joked about how the boosters were going to need to build a new shed just for all the plastic they collected. But it went further than that. The band kids at Cedar Springs adored my mom. She got them to do things that not even their parents could implement. The band room was always spotless, the kids never talked when she did, and everyone, guard, woodwinds, drums and brass, worked their tails off.
My dad is definitely the quieter of my parents. He teaches at one of the middle schools in town. He loves his kids too. Most of them, anyway. He is the president of my mom's high school boosters, so he gets to have them for essentially seven years. My mom jokes about how her school would be nothing without the excellent training that her feeder kids got, but it's true. Most of the highest ensembles are filled with Cherry Street alumni.
My mom came out of the house for the last time. Her face lit up as my dad's car zoomed into the driveway. She all but spear tackled him as he got out. I followed behind slowly. My life as I knew it was changing.
Maybe I imagined that I saw my dad hold my mom a little bit longer than he usually did. Probably not though. She was going to miss him even more than I was, which was saying a lot. I'm a total Daddy's Girl. Dad wasn't coming to Alabama with us.
I heard my parents trying to joke about it, saying that it was Dad's turn to fulfill a contract, but I wasn't sure of all the particulars. All I knew was that Dad had to stay in California to teach another year at the middle school while Mom was transferred out to a new high school in Alabama. I was going with Mom.
It was June. School had just got out. My brother, Matt, had just graduated from Cedar Springs, and was already moved in for Everydays. After tour this summer, he was going off to college. Between corps and living in the dorms, he would never live with us again, other than on holidays. I missed him already, and it had only been a week since he left for Memorial Day Camp. I had helped him pack up his room and put everything into storage. When he came back from Finals in August, all he had to do was throw his boxes and his duffle in his truck, with his trumpet, and drive off into the sunset. The cool thing about having you brother as one of your best friends is that he was always around. Until he decided to grow up and move out. I thought he had it easy, not having to be there for the final day where we were remotely together as a family before we were all scattered to the winds. I would have taken 12 hour rehearsal days over this.
Dinner that night was not fun. We went out to eat, since we no longer had a house. My dad had put all of his stuff in storage with Matt's, because he was going on tour too, as staff. He would come back in August and rent a small apartment for the year, until the following May when he could come back to us. I thought about how long away that was, trying to keep my mind off of the uncomfortable silence that lay over the table. Even though we were at our favorite restaurant, I couldn't quite manage to eat much. I ended up just pushing most of the food around on my plate. Besides, this was the place that Matt and I usually shared the combo platter that served ten between just the two of us.
We left right after dinner. Mom and I were driving the whole way, through the desserts of Arizona and New Mexico, the pit hole of Texas, and eventually into Alabama. I was not impressed with the route. I was used to heat, living in California most of my life. Dessert and cacti for ever and ever though, didn't sound remotely enticing. Mom didn't look thrilled about it either, especially the driving through Texas part. The only thing she was looking forward to, I was willing to bet, was seeing some of her old friends along the way. We would stay at their houses instead of hotels.
In a way I was proud of my mom, as she left. She kissed my dad one last time, whispering something in his ear that made him smile and kiss the top of her forehead. He held her for just a while longer, before they broke apart. She walked over to the car and got in, not looking back once. I ran over to my dad and threw my arms around him.
"I need you to take care of your mom for me," he said, hugging me tight. "She'll need you out there in the backwoods of nowhere." I snorted. I was pretty sure that my mother had never needed any help from anyone in her entire life. "She'll need you, just wait," he said again, stroking my hair. "Try not to make life any harder for her?" His green eyes stared down into mine, demanding that I promise. I couldn't manage to say anything, so I just kind of gulped and nodded. "I'll talk to you every day during my lunch. You should be out of school by then over there." I still wasn't able to say anything, so I nodded again. "I love you, Hope. I'll see you on the field." I couldn't stop the tears anymore. They splashed onto his shirtfront.
"I love you too, Daddy." He let me go, and I tried to be brave like Mom and not look back, but I couldn't help but turn and wave to him as I walked to the car. I got in, and watched him wave to us in the rearview mirror until we turned the corner and he disappeared from view.