Monday, October 27
1 week and 4 days later…
HELEN POV
"Helen could you pass the bread this way please?" Frank asked me from the other end of the long wooden table. All ten of us were sitting at the dining room table as we had prepared for a family dinner. Corn on the cob, hot dogs, hamburgers, tator tots, and bread and butter littered the table as various hands were reaching for the respective food. I passed the plate of bread to Ethan as he handed it down the line.
All of the kids were talking to each other, telling about their days and their planned tomorrows. Who would have thought that they would actually be getting along with each other a year later? My heart swelled as I watched Aldo and Ethan talking about the new Rescue Heros that they both had gotten for their birthdays. Dylan had just thrown a tator tot towards William who caught it in his mouth as they both high-fived and started laughing. Frank and I smiled at each other at the interactions going on between the kids. Joni and Harry were engaged in a debate about something as they always were, but I couldn't hear what the topic was this night.
I looked to my left as I saw Phoebe, absentmindedly playing with her food, her head low. She pushed around the tator tots on her plate with her fork as I frowned. Frank must have noticed the odd quietness of the two oldest girls, because he was watching Christina, who was a copy of Phoebe's movements.
Their odd behavior had been going on for around a week or so now. It seemed that they were both keen on avoiding the other at all costs, which was strange considering that they had become attached at the hip over the past year. No longer was there giggling coming from their room, or movie nights in the living room, and now they had come to changing the seating arrangement at dinner. Normally, Frank and I sat at either end of the table. To my left would be Aldo, Phoebe, Christina, and Joni. To my right, Harry, Dylan, William, and Ethan sat at the other end by Frank. But about a week ago that changed. As we all piled into the living room, Phoebe sat down in William's spot. It had created a bit of confusion at first but everyone just let it be.
So tonight at the table, Christina and Phoebe sat directly across from each other, dead quiet. Something had definitely happened between the two to cause such a rift between them. Just earlier this week, I had been doing loads of laundry they got into an argument over Christina wearing Phoebe's shirt. They had started sharing clothes about 3 months after both families had finally started to get along with each other, so whenever I did each of the kids' clothes, I just threw Christina's and Phoebe's in together.
FLASHBACK
"Mom have you seen my tan jacket?!" Phoebe yelled as she bounded down the stairs. I was currently throwing in a load of whites as my oldest daughter peeked around the door frame.
"No I haven't sweetie. Did you check the closet?" I asked her as I picked up a basket of clean clothes and followed her out the doorway, through the kitchen and into the living room. I set down the basket on the ottoman. Phoebe had started to walk over to the closet that was in the entry way.
I looked up as I heard the front door open and Christina walked in, wearing Phoebe's jacket. Phoebe stared at the girl before crossing her arms over her chest.
"Hey Christina, how was-"I started but Phoebe cut me off.
"Why are you wearing my jacket?" Phoebe questioned her as the words left her mouth rather harshly. Christina had just set her bag down as she looked up at Phoebe.
"Since when did we stop sharing?" Christina put her hand on her hip, her face quizzical. I watched the interaction between the two of them as I continued to fold some clothes.
"Take it off." Phoebe ignored her question as she held out her hand, waiting for the offending object to be returned to her. I was a little shocked to see that Phoebe was in fact 100% serious about not wanting to share her clothes anymore. Christina glared at Phoebe and rolled her eyes as she began to take off the jacket.
"Wow Phoebe." Was all that left the blonde's lips as she pulled her arms out of the jacket and tossed it to Phoebe. Phoebe caught it and slid it on as she adjusted the collar and straightened it out.
"I'm going out." Phoebe said over her shoulder as she walked by Christina and out the door. The door slammed shut as Christina stood there staring at the door. She shook her head as she grabbed her bag and took off towards her room. She ran up the steps as I heard her door slam a few seconds later.
I shook my head at the little incident and decided that it was just a bad day.
That was last week. Today was Monday and it seemed that things were only getting worse. More fights and arguments were going on between them and now it appeared that they weren't on speaking terms. Maybe a round of the 'talking stick' after dinner would help resolve the issue.
"Phoebe how was your day sweetheart?" I tried to get Phoebe to join in on the conversation as she remained staring at her plate. I caught sight of Christina in my peripheral vision as she raised her head just enough to gage Phoebe's response.
"Fine." Phoebe's said as she looked up at me and smiled. And just like that she was back to staring holes in her plate. Her smile was forced, it was an 'I don't want to talk about' smile. I contemplated pushing the subject by decided against it.
FLASHBACK
4 days ago, October 23rd
"Phoebe can I come in?" I asked as my knuckles met the oak wood of the bedroom door. I heard the strumming of her guitar stop as her voice yelled that it was okay.
I opened the door and saw Phoebe sitting at her desk in the corner of her side of the room. Her guitar was over her leg as she reached for a pen and began to write something down on the piece of paper. She took her pick out of her mouth as she began to strum a few chords together. I walked into the room and sat down on Christina's bed as I watched Phoebe. She was just like her father, her guitar, her music, was everything to her. I remember when she was barely older than 5 when he bought her her first guitar. He insisted that she learn earlier, but when in reality, he just wanted her to follow in his footsteps. Countless times I had come home to find him, Phoebe and Dylan sitting in the living room, playing songs for hours together. It was moments like those that I learned to cherish, moments that made me happiest. When Phillip died, Phoebe had stopped playing her guitar for a while, the memories of him playing with her all too painful. Dylan tried to break down the walls she had built up after that but he could only get so far before they were back up again.
"Your dad would be so proud of you sweetheart." I told her sincerely as I felt tears start to form in my eyes. Phoebe stopped playing as she turned to her left and looked out the bedroom window. I watched as her jaw clenched and she shut her eyes. I could tell she was trying to fight her tears but after so long of fighting, it looked as though she was about to finally let them fall.
"I miss him so much mom." She whispered to me as she took in a ragged breath of air. She set her guitar in the stand as the tears started to fall. "I miss him so freaking much mom." She said again as the walls she had spent years building up came down. We met each other halfway across the room as I wrapped my arms around her, cradling her securely in my chest. She choked out so more sobs as I felt my own tears fall down my face. I moved us to sit on her bed as Phoebe put her face in my shoulder. I rubbed her back trying to soothe her as I whispered soft 'shhs'.
"He loved you more than life Phoebe." I told her a few minutes later as she stayed quiet. Her breathing started to return to normal as she leaned away from me. She wiped at her eyes, trying to compose herself.
"Yeah…I know." She nodded as she avoided my gaze and went back to her desk, putting her walls back up.
WILLIAM POV
"So Admiral, Helen…I was wondering if I could bring Nick over for dinner sometime this week?" Me and Dylan both raised our eyebrows as Christina looked to the Admiral. I looked to me left as Christina was twiddling her fork nervously, waiting for their response.
"This Nick, is your boyfriend?" The Admiral asked skeptically, he looked down the table to Helen to see her reaction.
"Yeah he is, I've been wanting to introduce him to you guys to him for a while now." Christina added quietly. I was impressed that she had the courage to tell the Admiral about Nick. We had both made it an unspoken agreement to not mention our relationships at home, due to the fact that we were used to the Admiral going through back ground checks on the person we were seeing. I was thankful that Helen was able to help lower the level of discipline that we had become so used to. Helen instilled a motherly sense in all of us, the Admiral included. She allowed us to open up more, express ourselves more, and talk about how we were feeling and what bothered us.
"I'm sure that anyone who is special enough for you to want to meet us is a good individual." The Admiral said as he took a drink. I heard Christina let out a sigh of relief at the same time that Phoebe let out a chuckle. I looked across the table as Phoebe was smirking to herself. I felt myself too, start to laugh at the Admiral's choice of words. I tried to silence mine laughs with my napkin as I found myself grinning.
Nick was by all means, not an individual that the Admiral would approve of and the fact that Christina wanted him to meet the Admiral was astounding. Nick was immature and treated Christina poorly and everyone could see it, expect Christina.
"Is something funny?" Christina asked as she shot daggers at Phoebe. Her tone of voice dared anyone to answer her, but Phoebe was never one to back down from confrontation. Phoebe looked to Christina as she rolled her eyes.
"Nothing Cheerleader, just can't wait for everybody to meet Nick." Phoebe smirked at Christina as Christina continued to glare at her. Phoebe was still smirking as she took a sip of her water, pleased with herself. Unknowingly however, that she had released the flood gates.
"So how's Brooke by the way? Didn't you guys have something you needed to tell the family too?"
I almost spit out my food as the words left Christina's mouth. The silence in the room was deafening as I looked between the two. Phoebe's jaw had dropped and her mouth was literally in an 'o' shape as she was completely caught off guard from Christina's remark. I watched as her mouth open and closed, trying to think of something to say and failing.
"Christina." Dylan spoke up as his voice was stern, cutting through the tension building in the room, trying to signal to Christina to drop the subject. He was staring at Christina with a frightening look, which honestly even intimidated me.
"Phoebe is there something we need to know?" the Admiral asked confused as he waited for the brunette to answer.
"No. Everything is perfect." Phoebe looked back at Christina, her face showing how hurt she had been by what Christina had said. "I'm not feeling too well...I'm just gonna-" She pointed to upstairs as she set her napkin down on the table and got up. I looked beside me to Christina who was following Phoebe with her eyes. As soon as Phoebe was out of sight, Christina cleared her throat and looked down to her hands in her lap.
Everyone looked around at each other confused as to what had just happened. I knew what I should do as an 'older brother', but I knew I had to do it because I needed to let Phoebe know that I was there for support. Sure, me and Phoebe butted heads, all of us kids had at some point. But something had seriously happened between Christina and Phoebe for them to be this nasty to one another. I felt like an ass ever since the night of the party when I saw her and Brooke together. I remember what we had said to each other that night and I regretted my actions.
"I'm gonna make sure she's alright." I said as I excused myself. I quickly left the table before I could see how everyone else would react.
Taking the steps 2 at a time, I was outside of Phoebe and Christina's room as I didn't hear any music coming from the room, which told me that Phoebe was seriously hurt. There was ALWAYS some type of music being played from their room, whether it be from Phoebe playing her guitar or music blasting from her speakers.
I knocked at the door silently, as I waited.
"Go away." Came her response as I rolled my eyes and laughed, I should have known to expect that from her. Ignoring her request, I began to turn the knob and come inside. Phoebe looked up from where she had been sitting on her bed. I smiled nervously towards her as I shut the door.
"Did you not hear me? I said to go away." She said again with more annoyance in her voice. She crossed her arms over her chest as she eyed me curiously. She was leaning against the wall as I sat on the foot of her bed.
"Look I know we haven't always seen eye to eye on alo-"
"More like anything." She interrupted me as I took a breath to compose myself.
"Okay hardly anything. But I just wanted to let you know that I'm sorry about what I said about you at the party the other night. About threatening to tell everyone about you and Brooke. It was a dick move and I regret it. I just wanted you to know that I'm here if you need to talk or anything okay?"
I finished my little speech as she remained silent and looked anywhere in the room but at me. I nodded silently, moving to leave her alone like she had asked. As I reached for the handle she stopped me.
"Wait! Thank you William…I' – I don't know what to say honestly, I was never expecting you to say that." She said sheepishly as she stood and put her hands in the back of her jeans pockets.
"People are full of surprises if you let them in Phoebe." I told her sincerely.
"Yeah apparently…" She mumbled as she looked away once again. I watched her jaw clench as I saw unshed tears start to form in her eyes.
"I don't know why Christina said that Phoebe, I really don't. I never, EVER thought that she would pull something like that." I told her.
"Yeah me either." She said quietly as breathed out a chuckle and shook her head, "so stupid."
"Look, I'm not trying to defend her, but I honestly don't think Christina meant to hurt you." Phoebe scoffed at my words as we both sat down on her bed.
"Yeah right, you heard her say it William, there was pure venom in her voice." She argued as I shook my head.
"What happened between you two? Seriously like you guys were attached at the hip and now you can't even sit beside each other at dinner, let alone talk to each other. You're throwing insults at each other left and right and acting like you did when we first moved in, if not worse."
"I really don't want to talk about it William. Not right now." She told me as she ran her hands through her hair and. "I don't know what's going on right now either." We stayed quiet for a few moments when Phoebe laughed.
"You know, we'd actually get along pretty good if we just hung out more and stopped judging each other." Phoebe told me as she smiled at me. I returned it as we both laughed.
"Yeah well who else would I have to fight with? Dylan isn't as much as a smart ass as you." I teased her, trying to lighten the mood. She laughed as she hit my arm lightly and rolled her eyes."
"Touche."