Note: Ah yes, I once again thank my faithful readers for commenting. You are my driving force, which actually keeps me writing instead of ditching this story, like I sadly have so many others-really, if you saw all the documents I have saved on my computer, you'd drop over from shock, I kid you not. Well, I'll stop kissing every butt who's posted here and actually write now.
Another Note: Just so you know, I'm not really sure what the title-besides the A.K.A.-part really represents, so don't ask.
Chapter Four: Two by Two A.K.A. The Dinner Before Facing Destiny
Ok, so, like any other kid my age, I have a bit of a strain between me and my parents. What else is new? I mean, what normal teenage boy doesn't have moments where he just wants to find things to argue about? Well, I have a lot of these, for a few different reasons.
Reason number one: My mom hates loud noises. Ok, that pretty much just explained itself, but for the sake of storyline, I'll explain: You see, my mom gets migrains as easily as some people get colds. And when I play my drums...well, let's just say if I was in the basement, and she was in the attic, and I started playing, she'd be screaming for me to quiet down the moment my drumstick hit, clutching her head and searching for the Tylenol.
Reason number two: My dad's a sports fiend. He apparents doesn't have enough reasons to bug me about joining band instead of lacrosse or football or soccer or something. Whatever. My life, and I choose a drum over a ball.
Reason three: This is the biggest one so far: The car. Truthfully, the car I drive isn't really mine, per say. My family has two cars, an SUV, which my parents usually use, and then the Nissan, that I usually drive. I love that car to death, and would never leave damage it if my life depended on it, yet my parents refuse to give me complete ownership of it, and even insist on keeping the keys and having me ask for them when I need to go somewhere.
Well, these are just the normal argument starters, but tonight, it was going to be something completely different, and in the end, I was doomed to be the loser of the argument.
Well, there I was, sulking, trying to prepare myself for band camp which started the next day, tapping lightly, and quite frankly pathetically on my drum, when I heard a knock on my door.
"Mark? Mark, honey?" I heard my mom call through, immediately stopping the tapping. "Can I come in?"
"Yeah, sure mom," I said, turning back to my computer, switching off the music I had been tapping to as she opened the door. My mom was a quaint little person, with a kind heart-shaped face and short dark hair, with stern yet caring brown eyes. I gave her a small smile as she walked in, but she just scowled.
"Mark, really, we're barely moved in and your room already looks like a bomb site!" She exclaimed, kicking over a magazine I had left on the floor.
'We've been here for at least two weeks...' I thought to myself, rolling my eyes, before stopping, not wanting to suffer my mom's wrath. "What's up? I figure you could come up to comment on my messy room any day, so there must be news," I said wryly, while she crossed her arms, arching a brow.
"We were invited to have dinner at our neighbor's house tonight, so we're leaving in ten minutes," She said, shooting a glare at my drum. She always did that whenever it was in a room. It almost made me laugh.
"I'd rather not go out tonight, I have band camp tomorrow..." I said, actually with a bit of pain in my voice.
"That shouldn't matter. And besides, I heard they have a daughter who's also in band. You'll have something to talk about." It was then that I saw it; that look in my mother's eye when she gave the "they have a daughter your age" line, when she thought that there was someone I could get together with.
"Mom, in no way am I looking for a girlfriend..." I muttered, glaring down at my drum.
"I didn't say anything about finding a girlfriend. I don't know, maybe at least meeting her..." My mom said, a small smile playing on her lips, but I wasn't in the modd.
"Mom, I'm not going, alright!" I snapped.
"Don't take that tone with me, young man!" She snapped back, making me wince a little. I hated it when she said that, it was just so steryotypical parent. "Now, you're going with us tonight, whether you want to or not!"
"I thought this country was a democracy..." I said, rolling my eyes.
"Well, not in this house," She said wryly. "It's a dictatorship, and I'm the one in charge."
"You got that right..." I muttered, rolling my eyes. "This is a dictatorship..."
"Oh, ha ha, deal with it. Downstairs. Ten minutes." She then turned around, walking out of the room, leaving me alone to steam...at least, for ten more minutes.
You know, thinking about it, and thinking about how that day was going anyways, it shouldn't have surprised me which neighbor it was that we were invited to.
"Wonderful..." I muttered, standing behind my parents, my brother having already went back to college-thank the lord. I looked up at the house for the second time that week, while we waited for someone to answer the door. When it finally did open, Anali's brother, Sam, was standing there, and I was struck by how different he was from her. While she wasn't stick-thin, she wasn't exactly overweight either, and to be nice about it, her brother definitely was...well, chubby. He had a mop of sun-lightened blondish brown hair, though his brown eyes were similar to hers, though less defined.
"Oh, hey..." He said, just as Anali's mom came over, and I was once again struck. She looked like a super model, she was so pretty. She had sweeping auburn hair and stunning blue eyes, and a pretty good figure for a mother, and if I didn't know any better, I wouldn't think she were any older than her late twenties. It was almost a bit creepy how beautiful she was.
"Hey! Nice to see you," She said, and the parents got to work with all the chit chat and what not. I kind of just stood there while they did, when I heard the soft pitter-patter of something running closer, when I was almost knocked down by their two dogs-Nikki and Daphne, I think.
"Woah!" I yelled out as I caught the paws of Daphne, the bigger one, the smaller one, Nikki, scuttering around my feet. I chuckled a little as I rubbed Daphne's head, patting Nikki when she would stay still long enough to let me.
"Hey, you two, back off!" I looked up as I heard the familiar voice, seeing Anali at the top of the stairs. Her hair was in a low ponytail, away from her face, while she was dressed in dirty capris and a plain t-shirt, no socks or shoes. She looked down to me, then half smiled, shrugging a little. "Didn't think I'd see you until tomorrow. How're you doing?"
"Ok, I guess...considering..." I said, while she walked down the stairs, pulling Daphne off of me.
"I guess that's the best I could ask for," She said good naturedly, before turning to her mom. "Hey, can we order the food now, I'm getting hungry!" She looked at the rest of my family, tilting her head a little. "Chinese is good for all you, right?"
"Yes, that's fine," My mom said, nodding as she went back to talking to Anali's mom.
"Ok, I'm going back upstairs then. Mom, you know what I like, and if not, then Sam knows." Anali then nodded the rest of us, then dashed up the stairs, turning into one of the rooms up there.
After that, our parents ordered the food, and I played video games with Sam. After a while, I stopped playing and opted to watching him, and about half and hour later my dad went to get to food, bringing it back a short while later.
"Mark, why don't you go upstairs and get Anali?" My mom said, as I rolled my eyes.
"Whatever..." I said, pushing myself up from the couch, going up the stairs, turning into the room where Anali had disappeared into.
The room she had actually gone into was her mom's room, which actually consisted of three rooms, a computer room, a bathroom, and an actual bedroom, where Anali was watching TV, with Daphne sleeping on the bed next to her.
"Hey, the food's here," I said, making her jump a little bit.
"Oh...ok..." She said, sitting up and stretching her arms up, trying to scoot around Daphne to get off the bed, while I looked to the TV.
"What were you watching?" I asked with vague interest.
"House of Wax on On Demand," She said, pressing the stop button and dropping the remote on the bed. "Didn't get too far in it though."
"Oh..." I paused for a minute, before asking, "After dinner, can I watch too?"
She looked over at me, then shrugged, half smiling a little. "Sure."
And that was just what we did. Now that I think back on it, it wasn't a bad way to spend the night before band camp. It took my mind off of what exactly was going to happen the next day.
Well, that's chapter four. I hope you like it, so R&R!