"You're so fucking stupid!" Ivory berated. "I don't understand what Elias sees in you."
"Still good at sucking dick," Amara said.
"You're fucking disgusting!" Ivory whined.
Sucking dick had become Amara's go-to answer whenever Ivory started one of her tantrums. For some reason that one, little sentence always got to Ivory. It never made her stop though. She would always continue but it was still a small win in Amara's book.
"I know best!" Ivory said firmly. "And Elias will agree with me so you better get on board right this second if you want this wedding to ever take place."
"Maybe I don't anymore," Amara said.
Ivory lost her words for a short moment. This was the first time Amara said out loud that she might not want to marry Elias anymore.
"Why do you look so surprised? You always say you don't want me to marry your son. You should be happy if I cancel the wedding," Amara said.
"If you break my son's heart, I will break your legs!" Ivory threatened.
"And you're threatening me now. Great, we've gone into new territory. There's never a boring moment with you. Guess you'll have to roll me down the aisle but I can still say no," Amara said.
The slap echoed through the room. Amara was too stunned to speak. Ivory had just slapped her. She had never been violent with her before. Ivory looked shocked for a second herself but then she turned back to her usual facial expression. She didn't believe she had done anything wrong.
"You're only here because Elias allows you to be," Ivory said. "You'll wear that wedding dress and that's final. I'm gonna go order it now."
Ivory walked up the stairs to the guest room. Amara sat down and sighed deeply.
"I need a vacation," she said.
She took out her phone and started scrolling. It was just a dream at first, looking at all the places she would like to go to escape this prison. How had they gone from being two people in love to this? She couldn't quite understand how his mother had destroyed that much. In the end she knew she couldn't only blame Ivory. Elias was to blame too for letting all this happen.
"And he let her move in without even asking you," she spoke to herself. "You were never his partner. You missed all the red flags. What the fuck have I become? I'm better than this."
She stopped scrolling when she came across a three months cruise. It was set to sail tomorrow and there were some cheap tickets for sale as a last minute thing because someone had canceled their trip.
"It would be nice," she said. "What's stopping you, girl? Seriously, just do it."
She stood up and shook her head. It was a silly dream. One she could act on but she wasn't sure she should.
"Amara!" Ivory yelled.
Amara walked up to Ivory's room and just looked at her. She didn't need to ask. Ivory would let her know. Ivory looked at her with a smug look on her face.
"I ordered the dress," Ivory said. "I need a cup of tea. Make me a cup while I look up decorations and flowers. I'm thinking red roses. It's classic and beautiful. I know there's not much classic about you but my son will love it. It's his wedding so we're going with roses."
Ivory turned around in her seat to look at her laptop again. Amara stood there for two seconds before quietly removing the key from the inside of Ivory's door. She closed the door, put the key in the keyhole, and locked the door.
She walked downstairs again and looked at her phone. The tickets were still on sale. Before she chickened out, she bought one of them. She heard knocking from upstairs. Clearly Ivory had just discovered the door was locked.
"Amara!" Ivory screamed. "Let me out of here!"
Ivory always left her phone in the kitchen and she had never figured out that she could use her laptop to call for help too. This worked in Amara's favor. She put on her favorite King Diamond album and turned the volume up so she couldn't hear Ivory screaming for her. She then went to the bedroom, packed her bags, and left the house.
When Elias returned home many hours later, he was shocked to hear the loud music blasting through the house. He was not a fan of metal and he had told Amara many times not to listen to it around him and his mother. He ran to the living room and turned off the stereo.
"Help!" Ivory screamed.
He heard his mother banging on a door. He ran up the stairs, unlocked the door, and opened it. She fell out into his arms and started sobbing.
"What happened?" He asked.
"She locked me in there," she cried.
"Who? Amara?" He asked.
"Who else?" She snerred. "That bitch locked me in there for hours. Where is she? I'm gonna give her a piece of my mind."
"I don't know," he said. "Amara?"
They both called for Amara while searching the house. She was nowhere to be found and there wasn't a note left either. He tried calling her but it went straight to voicemail.
"Did she leave you?" She asked.
He walked back to the bedroom and opened the closet that had Amara's clothes in it. Some of her clothes and two suitcases were gone.
"I think so," he said. "What did you do, mom?"
"Me?" She asked. "I did nothing wrong. I ordered her dress and started looking at flowers. She flew off the handle like always and fucking locked me inside."
"She'll be back," he said. "Where the hell is she gonna go? She'll probably check into a hotel for a few days and then come crawling back once she runs low on cash."
"You better put her straight when she does," she said.
"I will," he said. "Don't worry, mom. I got this. I gave her too long of a leash but that ends now."