Chapter 24 - Dane

Mom asked for both David and me to be here by the time she came back. I had plans with Lisa tonight, but I had a feeling the plans I had would need to be canceled, so I sent her a text. I knew she read the message, but she didn’t reply.

-Something’s come up. I’ll make it up to you tomorrow. Just can’t do it tonight. D

I sat there looking at my phone in the living room, stroking the leather sofa that I used to sleep on at night. It’d been only two weeks since the shit had hit the fan. David had fucked her when I told him she was mine and we were dating. Daxon had stuck to avoiding her, but David was greedy—not only by being the brainy one, but telling me it was inevitable. I couldn’t believe he was so calm about it all.

She replayed the night she spent with him, thinking it was me. I felt sick to my stomach as she told me about moves I never even knew my brother possessed. I thought the guy was a virgin, but clearly, he wasn’t as he didn’t just take her once, but all night long.

“How long did Mom say she would be?” I asked David, thinking that maybe it would break the silence and we could be civil to each other for once—something we used to do naturally, but lately it had become a chore.

“Any minute. I just sent her a text, and she said she wasn’t far.”

I realized after the confirmation from him, there was nothing more to say about the matter. I tried, racking my brain, thinking what more to say.

Nothing.

When did two guys who pretended to be the same person find it so hard to communicate?

I wondered if we would get called by the 49ers and I would make it professionally, or if all our efforts for all these years would officially come to a waste?

What a shame…

“Mom,” David said as he heard the key turning in the door, and it was as if he was as relieved as I was about spending as less time with each other as possible.

She smiled, but it was clear with her bloodshot eyes that she had been crying. It was as if she had aged ten years since the last time I saw her.

I ran to the door. “Mom, what happened? Where’s Daxon?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. We said some horrible things to each other, and he left.” I moved behind her to close the door; we didn’t need to give our neighbors something to watch, they loved real-time action and claimed it was better than daytime TV.

“Horrible things?”

“Gee, Dane, give her some space to breathe.” His eyes darted toward me, and I felt as if they were full of daggers as my mouth automatically closed after his scolding. I moved to the living room, thinking we could all sit down and talk. Mom and David slowly followed in the same direction.

“I’m okay, David. I could do with a tea. Just something to calm the nerves.”

“I’ll do it.”

David objected, “No, it’s fine. I asked her what she wanted, so I’ll do it.”

“Oh, the golden boy. Always desperate to shine!”

“Stop it, the two of you! You’re both driving me mad. This is why I wanted Daxon to be here, so we could all sit and talk together, but you two are not capable of doing that, are you? Dane, you left home and didn’t even bother to tell me. You just sent a text!”

I crossed my arms, unable to answer after she just spoke to us like we were a pair of little boys.

“Sorry, Mom,” David said. “I’ll go get the tea and we can all sit down and talk.”

I wanted to say something, but I bit my lip as she nodded and he gave her a warm hug. He didn’t look at me, but he didn’t have to, his coldness did it all for me. It was enough for me to know that he didn’t want me there. He hated me just as much as I hated him right now.

I sat by Mom on the sofa and she smiled at me as she continued to fight back the tears. David was in the kitchen making tea, but it felt as if he was taking forever to do it. I could hear the kettle being switched on, and then I could see him scuttling around looking for cups, or maybe some snacks—whatever it was, it was the only thing breaking the awkward silence between Mom and me. As we both sat in the living room, I turned around on the sofa to see what David was getting up to, just thinking maybe I could help him. I didn’t like the silence on the sofa, but I didn’t want to be anywhere near David, either.

I decided I would speak to Mom, but about what was another issue.

We could talk about what was going on in my life. But I knew the reason she wanted us all to be here was so we could all talk. Maybe settle the peace once and for all.

“So, have you been going to your classes?” she asked, and I realized she’d regained her composure and was just staring at me. “It’s tough, right?”

I choked, “Yeah, because I haven’t been to all of them since I started college. Imagine going to classes and being four years behind.”

She didn’t answer, but it was as if on cue when David appeared with, as I suspected, some snacks and her tea.

She held the cup as if her life depended on it and then she sipped it. As soon as she put it down, we both looked at her. David was still standing as if he was frozen after he put the tea on the table and waited anxiously for her to speak.

“I’m just going to spit it out. I tried this with Daxon, and it didn’t work. Your dad’s dead and he didn’t leave you a penny.” Her eyes shifted between the two of us, as if she was waiting for us to speak.

“Is this the big drama? When?” David asked.

“Four weeks ago. I just didn’t know how to tell you boys.”

“Tell us what?” I asked.

“Dad is dead and that he didn’t leave us anything,” David said.

I took a deep breath. I hated him being a smarty pants. There was a time and place for all of it, and this wasn’t the time. Yet, I should know better; he couldn’t resist himself.

“Why should we care? We haven’t seen the man for six years. If he didn’t give a shit about us when he was alive, why the hell would we care if he’s dead? I just don’t understand what’s the big secret or why we should be upset that he didn’t leave us anything. It’s the last thing we’re worrying about right now,” I said. My eyes darted to David as the last part was a stab at him for fucking everything up.

“I was afraid you would say that.” She sighed. “This was exactly what Daxon said, so it’s true, you all feel the same way about your dad.”

I shrugged. “Well, I agree with him.”

“But he’s still our dad,” David said as he bent down and took Mom’s hand.

Sucker!

He was trying to make out that he was the better one of us three. He had a tear in his eye, but knowing him, it was probably a fake one. I started to feel as if David didn’t have any feelings, he thought he was the smartest one of us three. I had a quick vision of him fucking Lisa and sticking his finger up in the air at me.

Look, my thick brother, I’m sticking it to your girlfriend!

I chuffed, “Why, ‘cause his sperm produced us? He’s a piece of shit, and I hope he had a painful death. How did he die?”

“Car accident,” she whispered.

“Good, couldn’t have happened to a better person.”

“Dane, you don’t mean that!” David screamed as he jumped away from Mom and drew closer to me. “All said and done, he was still our dad.”

“He left Mom penniless, with not one child, but three. Moved to damn England with all that money with a new wife. I’m surprised she didn’t give birth. He didn’t want to be with Mom. Fine, I get that. But we were his kids, and he treated us like that. So now we have to feel sorry because he’s dead. I just want to know where he’s buried so that I can go dance on his grave!”

It was then that I felt a fist on my face.

“Shut the fuck up! He was a shit, but he was still our fucking dad, whether you like it or not.”

I didn’t know what shocked me more, David defending Dad or punching me. I was just about to do the same in defense, but Mom must have read my mind as she jumped up between the two of us.

“Stop it! This was a big mistake! Dane, go cool off wherever you’ve been staying and David, go to your room and calm down!”

He laughed. “I’m not a little kid anymore, you can’t tell me what to do. I’ll do one better and leave.”

I could feel the gust of wind as he grabbed his keys and headed out of the apartment. It was as if Mom was holding her breath until he left. She rushed to me and held on to me. I wanted to attend to my eye, it was hurting like crazy, but I knew that it was nothing compared to the pain that Mom was going through now, because I realized she wasn’t crying because of the way we had reacted or even the fact that he had left us with no money—which was something she should have expected. He didn’t care about us, he took all their money and left.

I suppose once upon a time my parents married out of love. It was then I realized the reason she had been down lately, even though he had moved on. She never dated after he left. She still carried a torch for him, even if he didn’t feel the same way about her anymore. She loved him; she was crying because the love of her life was dead. She didn’t deserve to feel the pain she was feeling at the moment because he was a piece of shit—this part of the equation I knew for sure, he confirmed it when he left and he was no longer a part of our lives.