As always, thanks for reviewing/following etc. We're almost at 500 reviews. That's insane.
Lux's POV
I watch as Mike walks over to the car and I suddenly feel relieved when I can tell we're leaving. But instead of driving out of the parking-lot of the diner, he parks his car.
"What-What are you doing?" I ask him immediately.
"Your mother said you haven't eaten so—"
"Okay, first of all, she's not my mother," I correct him.
"Really? Because the DNA test you took the other day proved otherwise."
"So what? She gave birth to me fourteen years ago. That doesn't all of a sudden make her my mother and give her the right to tell me what to do."
"Actually, that's exactly what it does."
"So, wait a minute… You're seriously taking her side right now? Wow!"
"I'm not taking anyone's side."
"Yeah, okay…" I respond sarcastically.
I hated these people.
Out of all the crappy foster-homes I'd been in all my life, I have never felt that any of those parents ever wanted to change me as much as my own did.
It didn't make sense.
I knew that those other parents in those other homes didn't care about what I wanted.
But I figured that if I ever actually got them…they would.
I glance back at the entrance of the diner and can see Stef standing there, staring in our direction waiting for us, "I'm not going, if she's going, Mike."
Mike pulls the lever of his seat back so that he could have more room to lie down. He folds his hands over his stomach and closes his eyes as if he were going to sleep.
"What are you doing?" I ask in an annoyed voice.
"Sleeping... Unless you're ready to go into the diner?" he says with one eye open.
"I'm not even hungry… And don't think I don't get what you two are trying to do. I'm fourteen, not stupid."
"Uhuh. What are we trying to do?" Mike asks as if he hadn't a clue, which just pisses me off even more.
"If your goal here is to get me to miraculously like her over some boring conversation and some food, it's not going to happen," I tell him sternly. "I'm not even so sure I like you anymore, to be honest," I mumble.
"You don't have to like either of us. Hell, you don't even have to talk to us for the rest of the night, but you're going to have to eat something before we go—"
"To your apartment," I finish for him. I didn't want him using the word home, especially when he included me in the same sentence.
I have a home.
One that didn't include either of these people, and there was no way in hell that would change.
"Yes, so what's it going to be, Lux? Are we sleeping in the car tonight or what?" he laughs, as if his pathetic excuse of a joke was the least bit funny.
I start opening the car door and give him one hard glare before I slam it shut, just to remind him again that I wasn't happy with this.
"Cars are not toys!" I hear Mike yell, when he gets out of the car. But I'm practically all the way at the entrance of the diner.
I can feel Stef's eyes watching me as I walked inside, but I make sure not to look up at her.
Mike said I didn't have to talk, so I wasn't going to.
I stare at the hostess, "Table for one please," I say flatly.
Mike said nothing about having to eat with them.
All he said was that I had to eat.
"She meant three," Mike says loudly, and I roll my eyes, but keep my mouth shut.
I would go along with whatever he said for now.
By tomorrow, I knew I would never have to look at either of them again.
The hostess appears nervous before she responds, "…Sure. Right this way."
I follow her closely and don't even bother to check if Stef and Mike were following behind me.
The hostess stops at a booth and places three menus on the table. I stupidly sat on the side of booth where the woman placed only one menu, assuming that having either of them sitting beside me would be most aggravating.
But when I glance up and see them both sitting directly across from me, I wanted to crack my head on the table for not thinking about that.
"Your waitress will be right with you," the woman says as she walks away.
I silently beg the random woman to stay with my eyes, but she apparently doesn't get the hint.
"So, what are you in the mood for?" Mike asks and I pretend that he's talking to Stef. Because the last time I checked, he said I didn't have to say a word if I didn't want to.
I keep my focused on the stupid menu, making sure to read every single word on it so that I don't have to actually look up at their faces.
"Lux?" Mike says.
"You specifically said that I wouldn't have to talk to you, so this is me, not talking to you," I answer flatly without meeting his gaze.
"But you still have to eat... And the faster you eat, the faster we can get out of here. You want to get out of here, don't you?"
He did have a point, but I didn't want to be here in the first place.
I knew calling Bug to come pick me up wasn't an option anymore. He was pretty pissed off when I decided to get into Stef's car before.
"What about pizza? Should I order us a pie? And don't tell me you don't eat pizza either, because you ordered some last night."
"Fine. Whatever," I answer not wanting him to continue talking to me. This better be the end of the conversation.
"Alright."
The waitress comes up to us, "Hi. My name is Tammy. What can I get you all?"
I hear Mike's voice and manage to drown it out with my thoughts as he answers the woman.
God, how I hated all of their voices already! Every single one of them.
I'm taken out of my head at the sound of Stef calling my name, "Lux?"
"What?" I snap.
I can tell she looks agitated by her tightened lips and tense posture, but she doesn't say anything. Instead she looks at Mike for assistance.
"What would you like to drink?" Mike asks.
"Water," I answer, pronouncing the T harshly.
These constant questions that required answers were really beginning to really piss me off, regardless of how innocent they sounded.
I hear the waitress walk away and she practically has to pry the menu out of my hands. It was awkward times like these that made me wish I had a phone.
We sit in silence for a few seconds until Mike decides to open his big mouth, "Alright, Lux. This is what's going to happen. You're going to have to give us a break. Running away like that was a very stupid thing to do—"
"Running away? What am I, like 5? I was going home, hardly call it running away."
"Well, according to law it is."
"So, what? Are you going to throw the law at me every time I leave one of your stupid houses? Threaten to arrest me again if I don't? Seriously? You two are pathetic."
"That's enough!" Mike snaps and part of me is resisting the urge to take my chances and run from the two of them right now.
Screw the fact that they're cops. I was planning on leaving anyway. But the other part knows that the doors at the entrance would probably slow me down, and they'd catch me, which would probably make things ten times worse.
"We have really had it with your behavior, Lux. You don't speak to us that way, least of all your mother," Mike tries to defend again.
"Whatever," I answer as I watch the waitress bring my glass of water with ice.
"Whatever?" Mike repeats and I can see the anger that I've brought to him in his eyes. Part of me wants to piss him off even more, so that he'd try to hit me or something. Then, I wouldn't feel bad about going to Fern and telling her that I needed another placement.
Stef jumps into the conversation, "What Mike is trying to say is that we are both trying to make this work, and the only way that's going to happen is if we're all trying. Not just Mike and me."
"Here we go with this again," I interrupt her. "Are you freaking kidding me? You two were the ones trying to make this work? Seriously, that's how you see it?"
"Yes," Mike answers. "You don't?"
"Nope. And you know what? I don't even care… It doesn't even matter," I mumble as I take a drink of water.
"What the hell does that mean?" Stef asks.
"Exactly what I said… It. Doesn't. Matter." I answer and I start to stand up.
"Where do you think you're going?" Mikes asks.
"What did I just say," I answer back as I walk down the hallway toward the bathroom.
The second I close the door behind me I'm almost relieved that I can finally get a second to myself. I rush to one of the sinks in the bathroom and look up at the mirror above it, to see my reflection.
I'm actually surprised when I see myself, because now I'm forced to believe that this is really happening. No matter how many times I try to blink myself awake it doesn't work, and I know that I'm not dreaming.
A minute or two later I hear the bathroom door open, and I quickly turn on the sink when I see Stef come in. I turned it on all the way so that I wouldn't have to listen to her if she tried to speak to me.
Stef's POV
I tried to wait patiently outside of the bathroom for as long as I could, but the thought of there being a window in there made me panic, so I made my way inside and accepted my possible consequence. I knew that she'd probably make some smart remark or call be another name, but at this point I didn't care. Just making sure that she was in there was the most important thing right now.
Surprisingly, I don't catch her trying to escape through the window. Not that she'd actually be able to, now that I notice that they were really small and definitely too high for her to reach. But the fact that she isn't trying to reach them anyway should be a good sign.
I watch her as she quickly turns on the sink and washes her hands the second she sees me, as if I hadn't caught her staring at herself in the mirror.
I can tell that something's really bothering her by the way she's washing her hands. For one, she's not even using soap and only has the knob of the hot water turned on so high that her hands are turning bright red.
She turns around to look at me with an annoyed expression on her face, "Do you want something?"
"Um," I start awkwardly, not wanting to say the wrong thing. And I quickly snap out of it and walk over to the closest sink, "No, I just came to wash my hands."
I turn on the water and press the soap dispenser and begin to scrub my hands together quickly, so I'm not staring at her awkwardly. A few seconds later I turn off the water and grab a paper towel from the dispenser to dry my hands.
By the time I glance back up I can see her still staring at her hands running under the faucet.
I watch as the steam rises up from the sink and part of me wants to run over and shut off the water. It must've been really hot for her hands to turn as red as they did, but I didn't want to overreact again. I grab another paper towel and walk over to her, hoping that she'd remove her hands on her own if I handed her one, "Are you okay, Sweets?" I ask her.
She raises her right hand up to push the soap dispenser and brings her hand right back toward the water, "I'm fine... And can you stop calling me that?"
Her question takes me by surprise. None of my other kids ever minded when I used endearing words to speak to them. Not even when I first met them did they ever say anything negative about it.
"Do you preferred to be called something else?" I ask.
"Yeah. My name maybe?" she says as she walks over to the paper towel dispenser and grabs one, completely ignoring the one I had held out for her on purpose.
"You know what?" I start. "That's fine. I'll call you by your name, if you promise not to ever call me another bad one again?" I offer. She gives me a dirty look again before she opens the door and walks out, completely ignoring my offer.
Great… This is just great, I think to myself.
So, I need a nickname for Lux. All of the kids have one or two (except Jesus, I think). Ideas for nicknames would be appreciated :) I'm completely blank right now.
Also, do you guys want me to continue the next chapter with the rest of the diner scene or do you want me to skip to the next day already?
P.S. I should be updating my other fic, Unwritten, tonight. In a few hours or so :)