Chapter 4

We didn’t speak for the rest of the afternoon. I studied for my finals in the living room while Colton watched cartoons and Micah finished his homework. My dad was kept away longer than expected, so he told us he would meet us at the restaurant. My mom noticed there was tension between Micah and me, but she didn’t bring it up. The ride was fairly quiet and I was looking forward to conversation.

           Henry got there first and then Mona. My dad got there last and I could tell they were sensing some tension as well. No one addressed it, so I decided to pretend nothing was wrong. If I could keep the topic of conversation off me, the more time I had to prepare for breaking the news to the rest of my family.

            My dad was usually easy to talk to, but he was known for his temper. When he got angry, he tended to yell, though he didn’t yell at me that much. Henry usually got the brunt of his fury. My mother often joked that his temper was what made his hair turn grey so early. He’d lost his hair color at the age of thirty, but his thick mustache was still dirty blonde.

            “How’s the case going?” I asked my dad and Henry.

            “We had to talk to the parents today,” my dad said. “I always hate doing that, and I don’t do it often. Not since we thought we’d incarcerated all of those parasites.”

            There hadn’t been any vampire attacks in nearly ten years. The government put all of their time and resources into eradicating them from the states, and they’d succeeded for the most part. No vampire would dare bite a human because they would be found within two days. The police would then incapacitate them and either kill them or put them incarcerate them in the deginated prison for immortals.

            “This guy knows what he’s doing,” Henry added. “He’s somehow eluding us and we can’t figure out how. We’ve uped our patrol, put up sketches from eye witnesses. We’re running out of ideas.”

            “How about them Sharks, huh?” Mona said, changing the subject. Everyone laughed,e asing the tension.

            We talked about normal things, for the most part. So far neither of my parents had brought up Yale, which I was grateful for. Colton told a long, eventful story about something that happened at preschool. Mona kept going on and on about the new guy to the point where I could see the concern on Micah’s face. I knew he had nothing to worry about. That was when I remembered what had happened after school. It was so bizarre that I was tempted to tell myself I’d just imagined the whole thing.

            According to Mona, Finn agreed to my Tom Cruise idea. She wanted to find him a Nicole Kidman and I thought it was weird that she wanted him and his date to be based off of an unsuccessful relationship.

            I needed to stop being a coward. The distracting conversation was nice, but there were important things I needed to address. My mom was bound to start crying, so I was thankful we’d been given a booth in the back where no one could see us. That is, if my dad didn’t start yelling and draw attention to us.

            I took a quick sip of my water then cleared my throat to get everyone’s attention. So far, only Mona knew what I was going to say, so this would be surprising to the rest of the table. I already knew Mona was on my family’s side, but she was there to support me nonetheless.

            “Um…everyone I have something I would like to tell you all,” I said.

            “Do you have finally have a girlfriend?” Henry asked.

            “That would require him to actually leave the comfort of his apartment,” Mona jabbed.

            “No, I don’t have a girlfriend. It’s…well….”

             I was at a loss for words. How could I say this without sounding like a horrible person? We were here having a nice dinner and I was about to ruin it.

            “I’m sorry, I can’t wait anymore. Lucas got into Yale,” my mom said before I could finish. I stared at her, hoping that it had been all in my head, but it wasn’t. She’d just made my news ten times harder to give.

             “That’s great!” my dad said. “I knew you would get in. I would rather you work with Henry and me but Yale is good too.” He gave me a pat on the shoulder. “My son. Twenty-two and off to law school. I’m proud of you, Lucas.”

            “Thanks, dad.”

            “You big fat liar,” Mona said. “That’s not your news.”

            I hadn’t thought of this idea. Usually I hated it when Mona ratted me out, but this was the perfect time for it. If she could give the news instead, it would save me from the guilt of making my mom cry. My dad could blame her for dampening the mood. This was probably a horrible thing to do to my friend, but I was not brave enough to speak again.

          “What is your news then?” my father asked.

          “He’s not going to law school,” Mona blurted out. “And he quit his job.”

           “What!” my father shouted, his face growing red with fury. “What do you mean you’re not going?”

           “Scott,” my mother said, gently rubbing his arm. “Lower your voice, sweetheart.”

           “I am not lowering my voice!” He pointed a finger at me. “You didn’t spend four years at the most prestigious school in the state to throw all of it away. You will go to Yale and you will make a career for yourself.”

            I should have known he would react like this. He always flew off the handle if either I or one of my brothers decided to do something he didn’t agree with. It either had to be his way or the highway. Whenever we didn’t give in to his demands, his face would get beet red and then he would start shouting and wagging a disapproving finger at us.

            “No. Dad, I’m not going. It’s because…I’d like to take a year to…travel. Do some self exploration.”

             I couldn’t get the words out. All it would take was my being honest about my prognosis and all the yelling would stop. But maybe it would be easier on them if I broke the news of my school decisions first and then later on explain myself. They’d been through so much in the past fifteen years, living every day with the possibility that I could die at any moment. I didn’t want to put them through that again.

            “Lucas, you can do all the soul searching you want but in the end, you’ll still be a dork,” Micah said.

           I punched him in the shoulder. “Not helping!”

           My dad’s nostrils flared and I was sure that if he wanted, he would break the table with his fist. Henry didn’t even say a word nor do anything to try and calm him down. At least we’d eaten most of our food already. I doubted anybody would want to eat after this revelation.

            “If you pass up this chance to go to Yale, you will be making a big mistake. I won’t have you throwing your life away because you want to take time to find yourself.”

             My mom started sobbing and Henry put an arm around her. Mona handed her some tissues from her purse, but my father continued to turn redder from fury.

            “You’re being irrational, Lucas,” my dad said. “You can travel during the summer, but you are not skipping out on grad school, young man.”

            “I don’t understand why you’re so mad. I paid for the police academy with savings. I got into Artemus by scholarship. My job paid for my apartment and my car. It’s not your money that’s being wasted. This won’t effect you at all.”

            “I’m so sure, Lucas. Your car needs two grand in repair and your apartment is five hundred and fifty a month. Without a job, how are you going to take care of those things? And what happens if you get evicted? Do you expect your mom and me to let you live at home? That won’t fly with me.”

          “Since you’re not leaving in the fall, can I move in with you?” Micah asked.

          “Babe!” Mona said. She lowered her voice. “Not a good time.”

           I could feel the anxiety attack coming. Everything was getting blurry and it was harder to hear my dad’s voice. I started breathing hard and trying to focus on something; anything besides the darkness that wanted so badly to drag me in. I took a bite of food then drank a long sip of my water.

           “Dad…,” I said, finding it easier to speak than I’d predicted. My vision was clearing and I could see everyone’s faces again. “It’s my choice and I’m asking that you respect that.”

            He brought his fist down, causing everyone at our table, plus those who were nearby to flinch.

            “Fine. If you want to be an adult and make your own decisions, then do that. Don’t come crawling to me when you can no longer afford your apartment. Unless you can start acting like an adult, you aren’t welcome at my house.”

            “Scott!” my mother exclaimed. I’d seen that coming. I had no idea how I was going to pay for my apartment without a job, but I was determined to do so. Being banned from the house was a tad much, though. It was his favorite threat to us boys as soon as we were old enough to be on our own.

           “Don’t defend him, Regina. He made his choices and I’m making mine.”

          That was a sign that it was time to leave. I got up and Micah started to follow when my dad spoke again.

          “If you leave with him, you’ll be banned from the house too.”

             Micah looked at me and I could see in his eyes that he wanted to come, but I wouldn’t let him. I shook my head and he sat back down. Mona kissed Micah goodbye then followed after me. Maybe saying that I wanted to find myself wasn’t the best idea, but I didn’t know how else to get my argument across. At the same time, I could see where he was coming from.

           I rode with Mona back to my place. I let her in and she looked around while I hung up my jacket. I didn’t want to be in jeans anymore, so I went to the laundry room and put on some sweats. I always kept a pair in there in case I wanted a quick change of clothing.

           I went back to the living room and found Mona looking at my book collection.

           “Your place is clean,” she said. “It smells good too.”

           “Henry’s the slob, not me. Besides, I’m not here enough to mess it up.”

           She sat on the couch and I went into the kitchen. Thankfully, I’d gone grocery shopping on my last day off and because of my busy schedule, I’d eaten more takeout than I’d cooked.

          “Do you want some water?” I asked her.

          “Got anything stronger?”

          “Tequila?”

          “Sure, I guess I’m up for it.

          I got out the bottle and two shot glasses. I hadn’t planned on getting drunk for my birthday, but after the night I had, that idea was sounding better and better. I did want to do something crazy, though. I didn’t start playing it safe until I got to college and playing it safe was no longer cutting it with me.

            “Let’s get crazy,” I said. “My apartment is boring. Let’s go somewhere.”

            “Why don’t we go to the cemetery? Oh! We should do a séance! I have candles in my car.”

            “Why do you have candles?”
            “Emergencies, duh! Do you think we’ll have electricity during the apocalypse? Let’s get out of here and be reckless for once in our lives. We’re twenty-two now. Our childhood is over, and our adulthood has begun. We won’t get many more chances to do this. We’ll have it be a rite of passage.”

          “What would your boyfriend think?”

           She shrugged. “He doesn’t have to know. Tonight is your night and we can have ourselves a little fun.”