Chapter Four: 80's Style.
Mom, Becky, and I walked into the house, there was no longer evidence that a deer was here earlier that day.
"I'm going to start on dinner." Mom announced, Becky ran upstairs to her room, and I followed Mom,
"How was your last day of school?" She asked, pulling pots and pans out of the cabinets.
"Not bad," I shrugged.
"Well, we are going to have a party tonight." She said, I did a double take.
"A party? When did you decide this?" I asked.
"Your father did, today. It's no big deal, I think it'll be fun. Maybe we could even do a theme, huh?" She suggested, and I nodded.
"Sounds like fun." I said.
"You could invite Tanner." She said. I felt my stomach lurch at the thought of seeing him again.
"Actually, that would be rather awkward." I informed her, washing the vegetables she handed me. She stopped looking for spices and turned to me.
"Why is that?" She asked.
"Tanner and I broke up." I shrugged nonchalantly, turning back to the veggies.
"What do you mean?! What happened?!" She asked. I turned to her, feeling the urge to cry again.
"He got Megan pregnant." I replied, the words still sounded funny to me. Her jaw dropped, and opened and closed a few more times.
"Yep, that was my reaction." I chuckled, setting the veggies on the cutting board.
"Oh baby, I'm sorry." She pulled me into a hug, and I couldn't hold my tears in any longer. About 10 minutes passed, until I calmed down, pulling away and wiping away my tears.
"Sorry…" I whispered.
"Don't apologize baby. I understand." She assured. I nodded.
"Why don't you go wash up, calm down? I'll finish this." She gestured to the food and I nodded. I walked out of the kitchen and up to my room, I jumped in the shower, since those always made me feel better. Once I was finished, I dressed and walked downstairs, feeling a lot better. Mom was finishing up with dinner when I walked back in.
"There you are, I think I found a theme!" She declared. She knew me, she wasn't going to pry until I wanted to talk,
"What were you thinking?" I asked. She was cut off from replying by her phone ringing.
"Hello?" She asked. A minute or two passed and her calm expression changed to one of rage. And she all of a sudden started ranting in Spanish. I understood a little of what she was saying, and it sounded like my Dad had messed up in some way.
"I'll be there soon." Mom huffed. She hung the phone up and turned to me.
"I have to go meet your father at the hospital, Keithie broke his leg." She said. My jaw fell open.
"How did that happen?" I asked,
"I don't know. But can you finish this?" She asked, I nodded and took over the cooking. Greg arrived home shortly after, looking disgusted. I'm guessing Andre was at his driving test.
"What's wrong with you?" I asked,
"I saw something no kid should ever see." He shuddered, searching through the refrigerator
"Do I even want to know?" I asked. He looked at me.
"No you don't…." He said, I shrugged.
"How did your thing with Tanner go?" He asked
"Good, got the point across I think." I replied. He nodded and then walked out. A few hours later, we were all gathered around the table, eating dinner. I was sipping on my water when my Dad spoke, causing me to look up at him.
"Okay, everybody. It wasn't a perfect day, I admit. There were some downs. Sorry about the leg." He raised his glass of Pepsi in the air, casting a look over at Keithie who was propping his cast clad leg on the table. Keithie shrugged it off though, seeing as how it was an accident. Mom had finally calmed down too.
"The good news is the children got through another year of school, fabulously. You got older, even though I told you not to." He continued, looking at each of us before focusing on Becky, causing us to laugh.
"Especially you, stay young. Don't leave me. Either of you." Dad said, shifting to look at me and I laughed again. He turned back to Mom
"You prepared us your famous chicken-a-la-food poisoning, which we are all excited to eat. I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding." Dad added, Mom laughed and threw a vegetable at him.
"But the greatest thing is that it is my favorite part of the day with my five best friends." He waved his fingers at us, causing all of us to smile. I wouldn't trade my family for anything in the world. They were crazy, but I loved them.
"To the Feders." Dad hoisted his cup in the air then downed it.
"Yeah!" We all cheered, and continued eating. As dinner progressed, Dad turned to me.
"How did things go with cheer today, Gem?" He asked. My eyes widened and I smiled. I had been so caught up over Tanner, I forgot I made captain!
"Well… They went pretty good. I got it!" I said, and they all cheered.
"That's my girl!" Dad exclaimed, a little while later, Dad noticed Greg wasn't eating.
"Homeboy, why aren't you eating?" Dad asked him, pointing at his plate.
"Seriously? I worked hard on that food!" I added. Greg looked at our Dad with a weird expression on his face.
"Ah, I saw something today that made me lose my appetite." He explained.
"What was it? Me naked?" Dad chuckled. The look on my twin's face said it all. Greg was staring at our Dad with a horrified look that clearly asked how the hell did you know?
"What?" Dad asked, clearly confused.
"Anyway, Mom, before you left you said something about the party?" I filled the awkward silence that settled and Mom looked at me.
"What were you thinking?" Dad asked her,
"I think it would be fun to have a theme, no?" Mom said.
"What theme?" Greg and I asked at the same time.
"The 80s." Mom replied, placing her hands on the table.
"The 80s!?" Keithie questioned, looking at our Dad, who seemed to be liking the idea.
"Why don't you ask Nancy Arbuckle come by for the get together? Or do you prefer the imaginary shower version?" Keithie grinned up at Greg, turning back to finish his dinner. I laughed until Greg grabbed Keithie's broken leg, which was propped up on the table, and slammed it back on the table.
"AHH!" Keithie howled, causing Mom to glare at him and Dad, Becky, and I to wince. Dinner was over quickly, and each of us ran off to go get ready. Greg had to go to work, so he would miss the beginning of the party, and I had no idea what to wear.
"What did people wear in the 80s?" I asked, helping my mother put the dishes in the dish washer.
"You've seen movies, just base it off that!" Mom replied, seeming very distracted. I hopped up on the counter and watched as she tried to put the left overs in the cabinet.
"You okay Momma?" I asked. She stopped flitting about and looked at me.
"Yes, sorry, I am a bit distracted myself." She replied.
"What's going on? Is it serious?" I asked, she shook her head,
"Nothing we can't handle." She assured, merely confusing me more.
"Well, I will go get ready then," I hopped down off the counter and walked out of the kitchen. Once in my room, I pulled out my phone and saw Lyssa had texted me about the party. Realizing it was only a few hours away, I jumped up and started burrowing threw my closet. I decided to go with Flashdance. I set the outfit out on my bed and turned when I heard a knock on the door.
"Come in!" I called. My Dad walked in.
"We are going to the store, want to come?" He asked,
"Sure!" I nodded, anything to get out of the house would be welcome. I grabbed my phone and followed dad out and as we walked downstairs, he asked me the dreaded question.
"Where's Tanner?" I tensed. I didn't want to lie to him, but I didn't want to tell him the whole truth either.
"He and I broke up." I replied, his head whipped around
"Really?" It was shocking to them too. Okay, at least I wasn't crazy in thinking he and I had been fine.
"Daddy, if it's alright…. Can we not talk about it?" I asked, he looked a little put out, but then nodded.
"Thank you!" I sighed, I walked into the kitchen where Becky and Mom were waiting.
"Ready to go?" Mom asked, I nodded, looking at Dad. He nodded and we all walked out of the house. We walked through the grocery store, and Mom turned to me, tearing the list down the middle.
"Why don't you take care of this half?" She asked, handing me a side.
"Yes ma'am." I took the sheet from her and began my search for the items. I was on my way to grab a basket when I ran square into someone.
"Oomph, sorry!" I gasped, looking up to find Braden. I backed away, Braden glared at first but his face softened when he saw me.
"It's okay…. ?" He looked at me in curiosity, and then I realized I hadn't even introduced myself earlier.
"I'm Gemma, Greg's twin sister." I said. He nodded,
"What are you doing?" He asked. I held the list up,
"Shopping with my parents for tonight." I replied, pointing back in the general direction they had come.
"Need some help?" He asked,
"Sure." I smiled, I grabbed the basket I had set my sights on originally, and began walking toward the chip isle.
"What brings you here?" I asked, looking up at him in curiosity.
"My Dad needs me to get some hair gel for our costumes." He shrugged.
"Ah, what are y'all going as?" I asked.
"Hall and Oates." He replied, I nodded, Marcus would choose something like that.
"What about you?" He asked.
"Alex from Flashdance," I replied. He looked surprised.
"Does that even count?" He chuckled, I laughed too,
"I don't know, but that's what I'm going for." I replied, placing some chips into the cart. He nodded. We walked through the isles, grabbing what was necessary, just talking about random things. He told me about his Mom in Florida, and about being unsure about Marcus.
"Well, if you don't mind me saying…. Marcus may be a pig, but he's a really great guy." I said. Marcus was always there when you needed someone to talk too, or even just general cheering up. Like a wacky uncle, who slept around a lot. We were finished with the list, and I noticed my Mom and Dad weren't done yet.
"Well, I better go." He said, holding his hair gel, nodding the growing lines of the dinner rush.
"Okay, I should find my family before I'm stuck paying for this on my own…. See you tonight?" I asked, he smiled at me, I found myself grinning back, I mean, he had an adorable smile!
"Definitely." He nodded, he walked into the far 10 items or less line, and I felt very excited for tonight all of a sudden. I smiled again, and went to find my family, and I found my Dad, and Becky by the drinks.
"I used to but twelve cases of beer for my parties, now I buy 12 cases of juice." Dad was grumbling as I walked up.
"It's not that bad, daddy." I sighed, he looked at me, going to respond when the same hot guy from earlier walked up
"Beckster!" He called,
"Hey stud muffin!" Becky grinned back,
"Becky!" I gasped, laughing slightly at the nickname. She turned to me.
"What? Mommy calls him stud muffin, so I call him stud muffin." She shrugged, my eyes widened and I looked at my Dad, whose jaw was set, in anger or horror, I am not sure.
"So, uh, how is it you know my wife again, er, mud stuffing?" Dad asked, and I gasped yet again. The guy didn't seem to notice,
"Oh, I worked her out this morning." He replied. And I about fainted on the spot.
"Really? Because I worked her out this morning too, pretty good." Dad nodded and I shook my head. This was insane. All of a sudden, some lady walked up and gasped when she saw my Dad. This ought to be good.