What Now? Chapter 5
The day after New Years Eve. Everyone was settling from the wild party last night. Mr. Gus was cleaning up the kitchen. Uncle Grandpa was vaccuming up confetti. Pizza Steve was chilling in Stacy's room and Stacy was brushing all the tangles out of her hair from all the crazy dancing. Everything was so peaceful, and they were all ready for this new year.
As they were relaxing, there was a knock at the door. Just then, Uncle Grandpa called for Stacy. "Stacy! Your mother is here!" "My mom?" She asked herself as she put down her hair brush and walked out of her room. "Mother? What are you doing here? You were just here last night." Diane looked dismayed, with watery eyes. She looked awful. Her hair wasn't brushed, her lipstick was smudged, she only had one earring in, and her cheese was all dripy. "Can we go somewhere private?" "Sure, i mean, Pizza Steve is in my room but we could ask him to leave." They went to her room and had Pizza Steve step out for a few minutes. "What is going on, mother?"
Her mom stopped holding back her tears and started sobbing excessively. "I don't even want to tell you." "Tell me what?" "Oh my gosh..." "Mother, just tell me!" Diane grabbed Stacy's hand and they both sat on her bed. She looked into Stacy's eyes and said firmly "Your grandmother, my mom, has... passed away." Stacy's face immediately turned pale. "I know she meant so much to you. I mean, she gave you a home when you just needed to get away. She was such a sweet lady, she always cared for others rather than herself." "How... how did she die?" "...Heart failure..." Stacy hugged her mom as she started bawling.
They were in Stacy's room for a while before Pizza Steve knocked on the door. Stacy got up, wiped the tears from her eyes, and got the door. "Hey, you guys doing alright in here?" "Sorta.." "Wow, you look..." "Mhm..?" "Are you sure everything is alright?" "Nope." She gave Pizza Steve a big hug and started crying again. "Oh, Pizza Steve! It's awful! My grandma passed away!" "Um... I'm sorry... Is there anything i can... do to... help?" "Just hug me." Pizza Steve walked over to Stacy's bed, with Stacy still clinging to him. Diane hopped off her bed and let Pizza Steve sit down with Stacy. "That's so sweet of you to comfort her, Pizza Steve." "Yeah.." "It's really difficult to deal with. My mother was my best friend. Now she's gone..." "I'm sorry to hear that." "Would you like to stay for lunch, Mother? Mr. Gus said he is going to make some steak." "That sounds wonderful, dear. I would love to." They walked out to the kitchen to see what Uncle Grandpa and Mr. Gus were up to. "Hey, Mr. Gus, is it ok if my mom stays for lunch?" "Yeah!"
They all sat at the kitchen table and talked while Mr. Gus made lunch. Diane helped wash dishes as Mr. Gus cooked. Once they finished lunch, Diane had to head out. "Thanks for lunch, and letting me hang out here, but i have to get going. I don't want to worry your father." She kissed Stacy's cheek then left.
She was still in shambles but was rushing home. When she arrived, her husband was sitting on the couch reading the news paper. "Where have you been?" He asked. "Did you leave the house looking like that?" He continued. "That's none of your business, and what does it matter to you?" "We have neighbors! I can not believe you went out looking like that! Go brush your hair! And fix your lipstick while you're at it." "Why do you care about what others think?" "I pride myself in my image." "Right, because that's all you care about!" "Go to the office, i don't have time to deal with this." "Do not tell me what to do! You're not my boss." Just then, he grabbed her wrist tightly and pulled her close violently. "Who do you think you are!?" He shouted. "Stanley, please stop! You're hurting me!" She begged, trying to pull away. He dragged her to the office and forced her in. "What do you think you're doing?" She asked, as he pulled out a key. He didn't respond to her, he slamed the door shut and locked it from the outside. "You'll stay in here till i feel you've calmed down!" She ran up to the door and started banging on it. "You can't do this! Let me out!" She slowly slid down the door, as she started to sob.
About an hour later, the doorknob started to jiggly. Then it slowly opened. She looked up, wipping away her tears, to see her husband standing in the door way. "Are you feeling better?" "No. How could you lock me in here? I'm a grown lady, I don't need you bossing me around." "That's not why i put you in here." "So what? Now you're treating like a child and putting me in time out?" "No, you obviously needed to cool down. I made some tea, you can come out and have some if you'd like. And we can talk about.. things." Diane stood up and walked out of the room to the kitchen. Her husband took a second and watched her before he followed behind her.
They sat down and he poured her a cup of tea. "You're obviously going through some stuff and are not yourself." "My mother just passed away, Stanley. Does that mean anything to you?" "Yes, i understand. It's hard on me too. Your mother was such a wonderful woman, and you know she would hate to see you like this. I mean, come on! You left the house without brushing your hair! You look like an animal. What will the neighbors think?" "...You don't care about me! You care about your image! You always have! When is it going to be about me? And not about others? For a second i thought you understood. But your using my mother's death against me. Saying that my mother would not like me leaving the house undignified, but she wouldn't care. Because she never cared for her own needs, she cared for everyone else's. As should you." Diane got up and went into her bed room to cool down.
Back at the RV, Stacy was sitting at the kitchen table with all her friends, as she was trying to choke back tears. "I'm really glad you're all here to support me and help me through this." "What are friends for?" Uncle Grandpa replied, as he handed her a cup of water to help her relax. "It's hard to believe that if i were to go to my grandma's house, she wouldn't be there. She was always there for me when i needed her. What am i going to do without her?" "Hey, you've got us!" Pizza Steve exclaimed. "*ROAR MEOW ROAR*" "You guys are so nice to me! I love you all so much!" "We love you too." Mr. Gus proclaimed. "I can't believe the year started off like this. What if this is the worst year ever, and things only get worst from here!?" She panicked. "What could top losing your best friend?" Pizza Steve asked. "Losing you guys..." She whimpered. "Aw, Stacy. You know no matter what ,we'll never ask you to leave. Or leave you." Uncle Grandpa insisted, as he held Stacy's hand and looked her right in her eyes. "Yeah. I mean, just look, Pizza Steve is still here." Mr. Gus assured, jokingly. "Hey!" "Thanks for everything guys, you're all so wonderful!" "Hey, cici.. wanna go hang in your room?" "Um... sure." They hopped down from the booth and ran off to Stacy's room.