Stricken - LPF Family Saga continued

***​

Pressing the red button on her cell phone Sarah sighed and set it down again.
Why wasn’t he calling? She wondered with a miserable pout.
She tried hard to block out the thoughts that were suddenly rushing upon her but found her imagination running more rampant than usual in the unfamiliar silence. Frowning to herself she snatched up the phone again and proceeded to press a sequence of buttons before she stopped and deleted the message again. No, she thought, she had to make him realise those nasty things he’d said to her had hurt, even if he hadn’t really intended them. He had to learn she wasn’t just a dumb kid who didn’t know what she was talking about, but her defiant act didn’t last long as she glimpsed at his picture on the screen of her phone and crumbled.
The sound of movement out in the hall stole her attentions. She glimpsed up but no one was waiting there in her doorway. With a huff she uncurled her legs and pushed herself up off the mattress and made her way out of the room to survey the hallway with a dubious frown.
Where was everyone?
Hanging left she strode out towards the internal staircase and dropped her eyes as she turned just outside the master bedroom. The door was open and the big king size four-poster bed was thankfully vacant, but still a shudder ran the length of Sarah’s spine as she quickly hurried down to the ground floor to get away from it.
Through the glass double doors that led out to the backyard, muffled music beckoned. Out through the trees Sarah could see Jos down by the pool, sunning her pale skin as she lay flipping through some magazine. On the grass in her ghee Jessie was swinging what looked like a broom handle between her hands, striking out at invisible opponents. With a snort Sarah smirked at them and eventually strode out into the blinding midday sunshine.
“Hey,” she said, stopping short of the edge of the towel that Jos was laying on.
When she didn’t receive any answer Sarah strode around the younger woman and crouched to stab a button on the nearby CD player. The song cut off suddenly mid-word in jolting silence.
“Hey!” Jos snapped, squinting up over the rim of her sunglasses. “What the hell did you do that for?”
Rather than answer Sarah rose back up, enjoying the spectacle of her shadow towering over her would-be-adopted-half-sister. She smirked.
“Where’s mom?”
“Ravyn and David are out. They said they had to pick up some things from the printers or something, then they were heading over to see the Rabbi. Like I know. It’s their wedding, it’s none of my business.”
“A Rabbi?” Sarah echoed. She rolled her eyes. “Oi Vey.”
Returning her attentions to the magazine in front of her Jos turned another page and let the comment slip without so much as a hint of acknowledgement. The look on Sarah’s face darkened – as much as she hated to admit it she actually found herself missing Mel her hyperactive twin-sister. She relished in a memory of her sister’s Judaic rants, often aimed at mocking their father, and s******ed quietly to herself. When Jos glimpsed up at her with an arched brow Sarah’s smile slipped away and was replaced once more by a cool-faced apathy.
“Why do you call him David? Why don’t you call him ‘dad’ or ‘daddy’? I’m sure that big fat heart of his would get off on that,” she goaded, “if he even has one that is.”
Jos continued to scour her magazine and look by all outward accounts like she wasn’t even aware of Sarah’s presence looming over her. She shrugged.
“What’s your problem?”
“Where do I start? I’d like to say you but the list is already too long without adding to it.”
“You want to have a cry about it?”
“Do you want to?”
“Real mature.”
“Thanks.”
“Look, it’s not really any of your business is it what anyone else does, especially your mother. She’s old enough to control her own life.”
“It is if I say it is.”
“Really?”
“You know just because your father’s dumb enough to marry into this family doesn’t automatically make you the queen of everything, okay?” Sarah retaliated. “She’s my mother not yours. At least my mother wasn’t a dumb groupie that got knocked up by a strange bald fat man with no talent on the other side of the world, was she?”
Seeming to sense she’d struck a nerve Jos set her magazine down and arched her head skyward to face the other woman with her smile downright goading.
“You don’t know anything about my mother so don’t embarrass yourself,” she said. She folded her arms neatly in front of her, the very picture of innocence and virtue. “And just because you’re older than me doesn’t make you the boss, as much as you seem to think you are. You don’t have any jurisdiction here. You’re alone just like the both of us. You’re not special, and we’re not related so I don’t take orders from anyone, especially the likes of you.”
Sarah snorted angrily, noticing in her peripheral vision that Jessie had paused in her carters to watch on with sick amusement. Feeling her face blossom and her chest tighten with indignation Sarah scoffed, raised her nose in the air and strode a few metres away to sit on the edge of the rocky grotto overlooking the pool. Over the sound of cascading water and buzzing insects and the drone of traffic somewhere outside the yard, Sarah lit up a cigarette and drew in deeply as Jos pressed play on the CD player once again. She shook her head and locked her jaw – until she realised Jos was smirking back at her over her shoulder. She was tempted to speak but the volume of the music, some band she wasn’t used to, drowned out any possibility – and the look on Jos’ face looking so playful and mischievous made her frown back curiously. As she thought she huffed out a ribbon of thin grey smoke towards the sky. Her eyes wandered. Hearing the sound of her cell panicking in her pocket, Sarah snatched it up and pressed it to her ear without so much as glimpsing at the name or number on the screen.
“Jack?” she begged.
Her brow was knitted tightly and her heart pounding like a hammer at the back of her throat.
“Jack? Is that you?”
For a moment all that followed was silence, as much as was able through the music warbling from the CD player metres away, and it caused Sarah’s heart to clench as she waited for confirmation. She heard what sounded like a mutter then a s****** and was about to speak again when a voice finally answered her.
“What? Jack? Who the hell do you think this is?” a voice demanded of her.
As Sarah got up and strode away from the pool’s edge to better hear she realised it was a woman’s voice that had spoken to her. Cupping her free hand to her other ear she glowered, feeling sick at the sudden thoughts that jealously sprang to mind. She was about to mention Karen’s name when the sound of laughter erupted mockingly through the speaker.
“What the ****’s wrong with you? It’s me you idiot, Fox. Don’t you recognise your own half-sister? It hasn’t been that long, retard.”
“Fox? Where are you?”
“Never mind that. Are you ready yet or what?”
“Ready?” Sarah balked, “Ready for what?”
In her ear Fox groaned and muttered aside to someone whose voice Sarah immediately recognised as belonging to Chester, Fox’s dad, and felt her anger give way to something more familiar. Her heart stammered and her throat became dry as memories threatened to assail her. Over the din all she caught were the words ‘party’ and ‘hours’ and eventually realised what her wayward half-sibling was eluding to.
“Well? Are you going to stand there all day looking deaf dumb and stupid or are you going to come over and say hello?”
“Over where? To your place?”
“Look up and smile,” Fox said.
Dubiously Sarah raised her eyes and saw movement on the balcony just outside her guest bedroom.
A woman in black and red and with flaming red hair stood leaning against the railing holding her fist in the air. Upon closer inspection Sarah realised Fox wasn’t waving but giving her the finger.
“Surprise,” Fox laughed into the phone, “you practically walked straight past me. You haven’t changed at all, still as blind as you used to be. Good to see some things never change, except maybe your hair colour.”
“How- how did you get into the house?” Sarah stammered as behind her Jessie and eventually Jos caught on to the impromptu visitor.
Again Fox just laughed as she pushed herself away from the railing and backed towards the door.
“You’ve got to be kidding,” she said, “I have my secrets. They don’t call me Fox for nothing. Now get up here and get ready. Tell the others to move their asses too. Chas will be back any minute to pick us all up. He’s making calls and setting it all into place as we speak so move it. You don’t want to keep everyone waiting.”
“Everyone?” Sarah said. Her voice was laced with apprehension.
Though she thought of Jack’s face she doubted his ability to steal onto a plane and fly over to LA without telling her, especially disrupting his plans back home with his young kids and Karen – no, in all probability everyone was going to include everyone else but him, but despite her disappointment Sarah couldn’t help but smile back nervously at her sister. Her mind was a dizzying blur of possibilities, and unlike Jos and Jessie who were relatively new on the scene, she had a better idea of just who Fox had been referring to, and what the night might bring. Tucking her phone back in her pocket Sarah strode on ahead to meet with her half sister with strange feelings churning away in her stomach as the other two behind her tentatively followed. For the first time since arriving Sarah felt as if things were changing for the better for her, and she didn’t waste another second thinking about how much she hated her mother’s new attitude or her choice in potential life partner.
After some good-natured ribbing and playful insults for her half-sister, Sarah and Fox hugged briefly, acknowledging the time lost between them with brief lapses into silence, name-calling, and smiles to suit. Despite the fact that they had two new faces watching them, Sarah couldn’t help but feel albeit briefly that things were, in a way, returning to normal, and the way they should have been.

***​
 
Thanks guys :)

***​

It had been a long flight but Vi had been relieved to see a familiar face when he stepped out of the arrivals gate.
A woman with red hair and a penchant for black attire stood waiting on her own at a distance from the thronging eager-faced crowd. Despite the fact halogen lights set the mood to virtually atmospheric Vi noticed she wore dark shades over her eyes, and her arms were, as always, folded defensively across her chest. Making his way towards her Vi scoured his surrounds and snorted to himself to notice that the young woman stood waiting alone. Although he had had only been gone a little over 18 months there was hardly an ounce of comfort to be gained from the feeling little if anything had changed in his absence.
“So, they finally let you out, huh?” he smirked as he came to a stop in front of the woman.
With a scoff Fox pursed her lips and rolled her shielded eyes away. When she looked back her act dissolved into a playful smile.
“You mean to say they let you back into the country?”
“Compared to you I’m a model citizen.”
“Model citizen my ass, remember the family you’re born into.”
“Criminal.”
“Closet-case.”
“Half breed.”
“Bourdon.”
Vi’s mouth opened in retaliation poised without speaking and grew to a smile. With a laugh he hugged his half-sister and made the most of her hospitality by squeezing her harder than she anticipated. Fox laughed and then, as if expected, put up a fight, pushing her affectionate sibling away from her. She whined with a scowl etched across her face and adjusted her glasses.
“It’s good to see you again,” Vi said in all honesty. His eyes strolled around the terminal again. “You look good. Prison food can’t be as bad as they say it is, you look like you’ve bulked up.”
“I could and still will kick your ass any day of the week,” Fox muttered, brushing her jacket down of all traces of human contact.
Though her voice was low and guarded Vi continued to smile at her knowing the young red head better than most to know she was acting tougher than her interior.
“You haven’t changed. Still the same bad tempered… well you know, as you always were.”
“And you still look like ****,” Fox said. She smirked back with a hint of her old mischievousness. “But we can’t expect miracles, given what genes you had to work with.”
Vi sighed. His smile though present since arriving was laboured. Hefting his carry bag over his shoulder he lingered in the direction of the luggage terminal before Fox relented and followed. As they walked side by side surrounded on all sides by people hugging and crying and kissing like mid-day movie extras, Vi looked up and scoured the corridor around him with the look of hope on his face fast fading.
“So… where is he?”
“Your old man or mine?”
Vi shrugged. He stood at the edge of the conveyor belt staring at the red light that signalled luggage was on its way out. His shoulders fell slowly.
“I dunno. Does it matter either way? I’m sure he’s… still too busy off doing the rock star thing to think of his only son flying in to the country. I’m sure whatever he’s doing it’s got to be important. Always was, wasn’t it?”
In his peripheral vision he saw Fox shake her head beside him.
“What?”
“Man, it just occurred to me how much you remind me of Mom when you talk like that. Damn defeatist, pessimistic bullshit.”
“And gee you don’t sound like Chester at all.”
“Screw you, you want to walk to Chas’ place you be my guest ass wipe,” Fox snapped.
She made to move but only drew a step away before Vi’s folded arms and defensive pose and pinched brow sapped the venom from her plight. She sighed and lingered watching him stare at the bags as if beseeching divine intervention from them. Snatching one up into his fist, Vi stepped in along side her – and abruptly stopped a few seconds later.
Fox, irritated by his constantly shifting pace, groaned and loomed closer trying to gauge in her colourful terminology just what her travel-weary half-sibling was doing. Following his trail of sight she saw some teenager barely a few years younger striding towards them wearing a black tee shirt with the word ‘Disturbed’ emblazoned across it. Both remained motionless watching the kid pass, the music blasting from his iPod speakers assailing their ears with a familiar voice and sending chills at least down one of their respective spines. Physically tense Vi let slip a loud breath as he turned and watched the kid’s head dissipate amidst the crowd thronging behind them. With his mouth dry and his stomach in a sunken knot, he repositioned the knapsack over his shoulder and shook his head, breathing a literal sigh of relief.
“What?” Fox challenged eventually, amused by the waxen expression on her sibling’s face. “You think he was going to recognise you or something just because Mom’s getting married to the band’s lead singer?” With a scoff Fox waved her hand, dismissing the notion, and the look on her brother’s face that was slowly becoming affronted, with a goading s******. “Oh please. Clearly you haven’t been in the country long enough to remember how it all works. No one knows, Vi; no one cares. It’s not like they’re on the news every night trying to keep the reporters at bay. This is LA, remember? If I scream Britney loud enough the media might give two shits. Believe me, if I scream David’s name the only people that might come running is that guy in the shirt, and Mom, period.”
Vi nodded, pushing his anxiety out through his nose. He nodded and agreed wordlessly that Fox, despite her usual high dosage of sarcasm and bluntness, was right – he had been away from this place and its icon-obsessed machinery too long – but still when his shoulders fell this time his expression and his heated gaze fell with them to the floor.
Amidst the voices calling out the number of other planes arriving, and amidst the gnawing chatter and movement of people swarming around them, Vi looked at that moment like he was standing alone in the centre of LAX and the world was still and silent and burdened with a lifetime of emptiness.
“I can’t believe she’s getting married again,” he said, “That she’s doing this. Again. It’s like a bad dream, isn’t it?”
 
He looked up to see if Fox had even heard him let alone cared to share an opinion either way but found her eyes wandering around listlessly watching a big guy with tattoos stroll past – he snorted bitterly. Of course she’d already had time to adjust to the news of her mother’s engagement but Vi felt as though he hadn’t. Though his parents had been legally divorced now for almost two years he still found old familiar pangs return like he hadn’t outgrown them, stripping him of his several years’ maturity he had gleaned while travelling and living abroad. Again Vi shook his head and opted for the silence rather than add anything. In truth nerves were starting to grow like a hunger in his belly. He had been looking forward to this trip in as many ways as he had been dreading it, and for more reasons than he cared stipulate, even to himself in his current mindset. With a decisive sigh he nodded and righted himself, pushing onward through the crowd to Fox’s open relief.
As they strolled the corridor and out towards the front doors Vi breathed in the taste of the city he had left behind, letting the sensations and the memories each one of them triggered to wash over him like waves. The city grew up before him, a towering choking jungle of people, noise and pollution – ah, in spite of it all it was still good to be home, he smiled.
Beside him Fox was motioning towards the car park. Once outside her stride increased and Vi was robbed of the chance of looking around in a tired and child-like sense of wonderment.
“We have to get back,” she urged, weaving through limbering cars and yellow cabs and the flow of mindless human traffic. “I’ve left Sarah with Dad and no doubt they’re about to rip each other’s heads off. That’s if Tyler hasn’t killed her first. Or Talinda. You know she hasn’t changed at all? Sarah I mean. In fact she has, she’s gotten more moody, if that’s possible, again, just like Mom. She gets worse as she gets older; I know it for a fact now.”
“Wait, Sarah’s here?”
“We’re all here. Well, Mel’s not, but we weren’t really expecting she was coming. No one’s heard from her for a month or so again. Mom’s a bit cut but she’ll get over it; she’s got two new half-breeds to dote her time on, or should I say, try and win over: Dave’s ******* kids Jos and Jessie.”
“What, are they twins too or something with names like that?”
“Huh. You wish. Looks like Mom’s lost her rank as slut of this family-”
“Hey!”
“Alright, town bicycle, but you get what I mean.”
Vi nodded, struggling to suppress his flash of indignation as he strode alongside his s******ing half-sister.
Could this already fractured family get any more complicated he wondered to himself, stung at the insinuation that their mother would lose interest in her offspring so easily in order to win over this guy she was so keen to marry. But in truth Vi was more dazed by the prospect that his wayward youngest sister, by blood, hadn’t decided to bight the proverbial bullet and join them – and wondered on impulse why he hadn’t done the same. Vi recalled the phone conversation where his mother had confessed her intentions and had stressed she would understand if he didn’t come, but it wasn’t so much that tentative tone of voice he’d heard too many times before that had swayed his decision as much as it had been impulse, that same hot sinking sensation in his belly persisted even now – He knew he would be burdened by guilt if he didn’t show up and suffocated by resentment and disappointment if he did, and either way it was a lose-lose situation, but at the end of the day he just wanted to see his mother happy – at least that was how he justified it to his inner critic. In truth he still wasn’t ready to face the fact that after everything this family had been through and after all he’d witnessed and that they had all endured Ravyn was in such a blind hurry to recommit to some guy she barely even knew and whom Vi only knew vicariously.
Fox was still rambling on in her usual egregious manner but Vi was only half listening, mentally going through the motions and all the possible scenarios in his head of the hours and days that lay before him - he wasn’t ready to face any of it. Tossing his luggage in the trunk of Chester’s car, Vi sunk in to the passenger seat, belted up, and sunk down. Fox revved the engine.
“Are you ready for this?” she asked.
Poised behind the steering wheel, her grin was goading, her expression playful, and her chuckle was downright menacing in its delivery.
Vi shrugged. His head was balanced on his fist propped up on the window’s ledge. “What? You mean about you driving? I grew up with three sisters remember, nothing you could do could ever scare me.”
Again Fox s******ed shifting the car into gear with a growl.
“I wasn’t talking about me,” she teased.
The car rolled forward and pulled out into the bright sunlit street. She didn’t say anything more on the subject and nor did she really have to. Staring out the window watching the bustling streets slip by, Vi huffed out another sigh trying to dispel the tension that was steadily growing within him. The further they drew away from the airport and the closer they drew towards one of Fox’s old family homes, the more Vi could feel the moment dawning upon him, looming above like a tidal wave about to crash down and drown him in his fruitless fight for survival. It didn’t matter what reasoning he tried to assert upon himself, he wasn’t ready to meet his mother’s future husband or this man’s offspring let alone try and contemplate calling this stranger ‘father.’ He already had one of those, for all the good it was worth – and all the pain that it caused. And as the car gently rocked and swayed in the late afternoon traffic Vi stared out through his reflection cast like a ghost on the glass of the window and tried hard not to think about Rob Bourdon at all.
 
hey mum way to go!!! i love all the new story-ness!! i finally got my internet back and a new laptop woot. keep writing and you need to pm me about a few things lol
 
Thanks guys.
And Mel - PM you about what? *innocent face*

Had 'dropped' this a few weeks ago thinking it was rather pointless, but now that I've picked up my actual serious writing again (for my writer's course) I've decided to pick this up to as a kind of respite after the seriousness of study - this will be me indulging in my sillier side (not in content, I'm not comfortable with comedy, I meant I won't be as strict with myself writing this as I am my assigned pieces) - and well because as hard as I try I can't seem to let go of this family. Bizarre innit? :D
I wrote this earlier and have to get to bed. Hope it tides y'all over until I finish work tomorrow. See when I can get time to update more.

***​

It was, after the initial shock, like two worlds colliding.
Ravyn had been caught off guard by the surprise, more so for the fact that it had been arranged at Chester’s place of all things. Though there had been a degree of bad blood between them ever since the affair that brought about Fox’s conception, things had thankfully dwindled down in time. Now some twenty years, two failed marriages and bitter divorces between them, and a swag of natural, adopted and step-kids later, Ravyn and Chester were at last on some relatively common ground. He laughed as he welcomed them in, congratulating them with a face flushed from enthusiasm as much as the alcohol. Music blared over a chorus of conversation. People were mingling outside, out in the spacious back yard. Kids raced past. A baby was crying. Emerging with Tyler-Lee in her arms, Talinda greeted them each with her demure smile. With her one free arm she hugged and kissed them both, but Ravyn tried to ignore the look she caught flashing in the other woman’s narrowed eyes – it was nothing new, but still, familiar guilt still hurt. She smiled back under David’s draped arm and thanked her hosts. It wasn’t until she was led outside that the shock truly hit her.
“Surprise!”
Faces surrounded her; their voices filled the early evening air. She froze feeling like some zoo exhibit. David’s arm slid around her neck as he nuzzled a kiss atop her crown. With a nervous chuckle she fell against him. Though she hadn’t expected such attention, she wasn’t sure if she loved or loathed it. Surely she had never received this kind of attention with… Never mind. She smiled and thanked all those that congratulated them as David manoeuvred her around through the crowd. He seemed to know everyone. Ravyn had to force herself to hold her eyes up; uncomfortable and unaccustomed to being anywhere near the centre of attention. Surrounded by a bevy of starved and svelte figures and a rugged myriad of men, she felt sick as she drowned in her insecurities. The scents of alcohol and fried food and sweet perfume and sweat permeated the backyard as the sun slowly sunk behind the hazy urban foliage.
Night fell.
Crickets sung.
Music continued to blare.
Ravyn, drinking relief in the form of a whiskey and coke, found herself alone while David was swallowed up by the crowd and was confronted by faces she hadn’t seen or crossed paths with in ages. Mike Shinoda and his rock-star buddy Brad Delson.
“My god,” she exclaimed under her breath. She stood rigid a moment before Mike leant forward and cordially kissed her. She smiled but it screamed nervousness. Her eyes followed the tall Asian man as he withdrew and watched as his long time colleague did the same. “Mike, Brad, how- how are you?”
“Good. God. How long’s it been, a year, eighteen months?”
“Something like that.”
“And here you are man, settling down again. How’s it feel? Must be weird isn’t it?”
Ravyn shrugged in response to Mike’s question. It was vague but she hadn’t really considered such a question least of all to be coming from him. In the back of her mind, and in the time that had passed since she’d seen anyone from the Linkin Park group beyond Chester, she had somehow managed to convince herself that the band were avoiding her out of sheer spite for what she had arguably put their friend through. She had missed Mike’s council and his infectious smile and it was a physical relief to have them back again, but still Ravyn couldn’t help but feel defensive. As she studied the crowd mingling around her she felt her stomach lurch at the very real fear that Rob was here somewhere too and literally felt nauseas at the thought of having to face him – She didn’t want to see or speak or even argue with him anymore, the past was past and he was no longer part of it, but still in the presence of two of his dearest friends she couldn’t help but feel his absence keenly.
“I was… sorry to hear about Anna,” she started. “Chester told us.”
“Yeah,” Mike said. He swallowed hard before speaking. “Well, it’s only a trial separation. Just until we… sort a few things out. You know how it is.”
“Yeah,” Ravyn acknowledged. Her smile softened. It was rare that the emcee ever looked as pensive as his smile wavered. Ravyn wanted to say something consoling but didn’t. What would she be able to say to a master with words that would be adequate anyway, she scolded. But in a heartbeat Mike’s eyes and smile picked back up again, full of life as they always were only now surrounded by a wiry black beard. How old he now looked. With a shrug Mike paused and sipped the drink in his hand.
“Well, you know how this industry is. I can’t believe you want to go back and do it all over again, what are you, crazy?”
Ravyn shrugged. “Well, it’s a little different. I mean, the kids are all grown up now.”
“Yeah but David’s got kids. What with your kids, his kids, and the kids you two will have together - He’s told us all about it, well; we have known him for years. Man always wanted a big family, I guess it makes sense you two hooked up in some way, but-”
“Man,” Brad interjected his sliver of face visible beneath the bushy afro and the Wildman’s beard pinched with a goading smile. “Like, could you find anyone like more opposite to Rob or what?”
Ravyn frowned as the two men laughed and tried to tell herself that she was just being overly sensitive. It was an innocent joke, she had known the guys long enough to know what their bent humour was like, and yet the wheels in her mind were spinning out of control. She wasn’t accustomed to them anymore, to having to think on her feet and let her guard down at the same time, as anyone in close proximity to any one of them had to do, but she couldn’t shake the notion that the pair came along not out of due friendship with Chas but to play spies for her ex-husband. How much of any of this were they going to take back to Rob, she wanted to ask, and how much did they actually care about her intended answers? With a skewed smile she again shrugged as the sting of the insult created a thunder inside of her chest.
“I love him,” she said, raising her chin a fraction too high. “That’s all that matters.”
“Then that’s the main thing,” Mike acknowledged and clapped her on the shoulder. “We’re happy for you. We all are. What the hell, we’re still like family after all these years anyway, aren’t we? One big extended family.”
“Hey, speaking of,” Brad started. He was silenced as Mike nudged his side and bowed close to mutter something discreetly in Brad’s ear.
Ravyn flinched. Her smile set like plastic as the guys withdrew and Brad excused himself to fetch another drink. She watched him go feeling her heart now hammering, her mouth dry in anticipation as she watched Mike avoid her while the look on his face betrayed the fact he had something awkward he wanted to say. Mike cleared his throat and refocussed his attentions before he opened his mouth to start speaking.
“You know, Rave,” he began to say. “About that, I just think you should know-”
“I don’t want to hear it.”
“But, you have to understand, Rob didn’t go out intentionally like… I don’t think he meant to hurt you-”
“Please, don’t. Don’t… try and justify it to me, Mike. I’ve had all the justifying I can take from Joanna; I don’t need it from you too.”
“But he’s my friend, I’m just-”
“And she’s my sister, okay? Divorced or not, Mike, I don’t care what you say, the both of them should have known better than to go round ****ing one another behind my back like it was nothing. She’s my family okay, my flesh and blood, my little sister for god’s sake, what right did he have to think that he could just-”
“I’m not here to argue.”
“Good, then we’ll end it,” a low voice interjected.
 
Almost choking on her words that had mounted like a fist on the back of her tongue, Ravyn dropped her eyes as David stepped in along side her. The feel of his arm snaking around her waist was welcome yet territorial and final. Closing her eyes she pushed out a shaky breath feeling like a kid who had just completed an intensive exam – she wasn’t sure if she had passed the test if that was indeed what it had been or had given the impression she badly needed to convey. When she opened her eyes Mike too had rescinded and the three of them sipped their drinks as the tension reluctantly abated to the backdrop of the music. David’s grumbling inquisition against her temple had Ravyn shaking her head in response to him. She didn’t tell him what was said and nor did he ask her, but from his arrival all notion of the past or old wounds were left to fester in an uneasy silence. Together they stood, physically united, as Mike, either sensing his pleas were useless or whether his need to converse had run its course, bid them both his congratulations and too excused himself away. Feeling David snake both his arms around her from behind Ravyn practically swooned against him, physically relieved to have someone standing there in her corner for once, and glad in a guilty way that she finally had some measure of proof for Mike to run back to Rob with. She didn’t mind as the two of them continued to drink and he was soon draping himself all over her, figuratively gesturing that she was out of bounds to everyone in attendance. She liked the feeling of his strong arms around her just in the way as a baby needed it’s mother’s touch, and though his constant contact was restrictive against her fledgling independence she felt safe and needed against him, and didn’t care who was smirking snidely at the two of them or why.
When a tall man young man with pale skin and fair mousy-brown hair laid a hand upon her not long afterwards she jumped, more startled initially by the way she felt David tense up behind her. Staring over her shoulder Ravyn frowned then her eyes opened wide with alarm and surprise.
“Oh my god, is that – Vi?” she gasped. She was practically sobbing before she’d managed to wrangle her way out of David’s hold to wrap her arms around her son. “Oh my god, oh my god- you’re here!”
Vi chuckled. He had obviously been startled by the reaction of both of them and met David’s eyes cautiously across his mother’s shoulder.
After squeezing him to her chest, then apologizing for the drunken manner in which she was suddenly self-consciously speaking, she held him out at arms length and studied his face with her own softly dampening.
“Look at you. I can’t believe it’s you,” she said. She sighed as she swept a hand against his hollowed cheek and flinched at the slight graze of stubble scratching her palm. Her little boy was a man now, all grown up, and looking down at her now not as a child but as an equal. “God,” she lamented, “you look just like your father…”
“Thanks,” Vi pouted.
He smirked, showing he bore no will against the brief look of insult he had worn, and it grew to a grin before he self-consciously bowed it from view. He chuckled again as Ravyn fawned over him, brushing his hair, his shoulder that had bulked a little since she had last seen him, marvelling as only a mother can do in those brief moments between tears and relief and elation.
When they parted Vi had stood then, face to face for the first time with his mother’s fiancé. Leaning against the balcony rail, David stared back at him, the two men briefly sizing one another up from shoe to scalp in that brief moment of silence. Leaning forward the older man set his drink down, cleared his throat and got to his feet still saying nothing. Though he smiled, and by the look on Vi’s face it appeared to be received affably enough, there was still some underlying tension as David reached out and extended his hand and waited for the younger man to accept it.
Ravyn made the introductions though they clearly weren’t needed. A few words were exchanged but they were drowned out as the hurried approach of others had all heads turning with distraction. Sarah raced up and threw her arms around her older brother, knocking him back a few steps, and away from David’s hand, in so doing. Sarah squealed like a kid half her age and Ravyn already knew her daughter had been drinking. She watched as her only son and eldest daughter jostled, shoved, and drew away, their faces both rosy with familiarity and to a lesser-demonstrative degree with Vi, excitement.
“Big brother! Look at you! The half-breed said you were here but I was too busy getting ready. Can you believe this ****; us all getting back together like this? I mean seriously, what the ****?”
“The half-breed?” David murmured with his brow pinched.
Ravyn smirked, feeling her cheeks still simmering thanks to the alcohol and emotion, and dipped her eyes, explaining coyly that it was Sarah’s pet name for her half-sister, a little family ‘thing’ they had always done. David didn’t look terribly impressed with the explanation. He mentioned something aside about Sarah’s colourful vocabulary but Sarah rolled her eyes and waved her hand, dismissing the notion and any intended opinion of his aside. She fired a few more questions at her brother before Fox emerged and pushed the duo out of her way. She held a cell phone aloft in front of her mother and urged her wordlessly to take it.
“Who’s that?” Ravyn balked, her attentions still momentarily averted.
Fox had all but thrown the phone into her mother’s hands and strode past to wrap her arms about David’s neck in greeting. She heard them exchange a brief cordial kiss and say something by way of hello but Ravyn’s focus was torn elsewhere. With a palm cupped over one ear and the cell phone pressed to the other, she bowed her head and turned her back, trying to diminish the noise of too many conversations and loud music and laughter so that she could hear.
“You know this is sick,” Sarah told her step-father as Fox settled in along side him. She mimicked his pose with the ledge of the balcony once more at the small of his back. “I don’t know if you know it or not but the half-breed here used to have the biggest crush on you in high school, didn’t you?”
“Shut up!” Fox cried.
David’s brows rose, his drink poised in front of his lips. The rings around his chin flashed in the bright light.
“I bet you didn’t think when you were kissing the posters on your walls one day you’d be calling him daddy dearest, you sick little pervert-”
Fox, with her face suddenly a hot red, leapt from her seat with a murderous growl and her hands outstretched and threatening.
“I’m gonna ****ing kill you, you dog!” she cursed.
Sarah squealed and darted away with Fox in hot pursuit after. Left in their wake Vi dug his fists in his hip pockets and sighed to himself, left alone now in an awkward silence as David just sat there chuckling.
“Hello?” Ravyn repeated into the cell phone, frowning hard as she strained to hear some hint of who it was calling her in the middle of her surprise engagement party.
At last a woman’s voice answered. It was quiet at first and hesitant, barely a rumble against the backdrop of her girls yelling and people laughing. David murmured something as he wrapped his arm around her waist and drew her backwards to sit against his lap once more.
“Mom? Is that you?” the voice asked, and Ravyn felt her heart seize inside of her chest expectantly. Her eyes grew wide with renewed shock and anticipation.
“Mel?” Ravyn begged. She could scarcely believe it. “Honey, where are you? Oh my god, it’s been so long since I- where are you, sweetheart? You sound so far away.”
Mel paused before speaking, or it could have been she was deliberating her response, as the sound of a loud bass-ridden song began thundering its way across the balcony and spewed out across the dark evening sky. Pulling herself away from her fiancé and son, Ravyn stood alone as much as she was able amidst the crowd and the shadows and repeated her daughter’s name with a frantic tone in her voice.
“I’m here, mom,” Mel said. She lowered her voice and sounded as if she were addressing another before speaking. Then, just as Ravyn was about to ask her what she had said, Mel continued, “I want to come and see you, soon, but not yet. I can’t… not at the moment. Okay, I can but I don’t want to. Mom… I’m at dad’s place. I’m staying here with him and Aunt Jo. Just for a little while... Okay?”
Ravyn felt her heart sink and a moment later lowered the phone, tucking it in against her shoulder blade as she struggled to get abreast of her emotions. Whiskey and coke bubbled at the back of her tongue and as giddy and weak as she suddenly felt, she was desperate to throw down several glasses more. Without saying anything she thumbed a button and disconnected the call, feeling tears and accompanying guilt wash over her then like a tidal wave. Vi found her on her slow walk back and could tell by the strange look on her face that something was wrong. Rather than answer any questions she merely shook her head and forced a smile and tried where physically possible to slide an arm around her grown son and lean thankfully against him. She didn’t want to lend a voice to the thoughts raging around in her head and preceded to drown them out, one by one, until the noise like the faces of those around her, dwindled away behind a heavy blanketing fog. The last thing Ravyn remembered was cuddling in against David’s shoulder crying at some ungodly hour, unable to speak and just howl until the contents of her stomach left her, several times. She didn’t even see out the end of the party as she fell into an unconscious state, her night of celebrations ending prematurely in a drunken haze and then darkness.
 
yay an update!! w00t my day is looking to be an awesome one. oh i got that piccy for you rav. im gonna try to pm it to you. if it dosent work then i dunno. maybe I'll draw it for you.
 

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