The Struggle For Love

Chapter 7.5

*Stacie's POV*
        “I really enjoyed tonight, Alex.” I smile thinking about our kiss.
        “I did, too. We should do it again sometime. I could show you my cave.” Alex smiles back.
        “Are we still on for tomorrow?”
        “For your picture? Of course! I can’t wait,” Alex replies lighting up. A giggle escapes my lips. Alex’s grin grows bigger.
        “Neither can I.” Alex glances at my lips making me excited but at the same time nervous. He leans it; before I know it, my front door is opening as we are centimeters apart.
        “Stacie, oh I’m sorry,” my mom says shocked to see Alex. Alex instantly pulls apart.
        “Yes, Mom?” I ask sighing.
        “I’m sorry, sweety. I thought you were alone. I saw you waiting at the door, so I thought I would ask you what you were doing,” my mom says nervously. She sounds sincere, so I think I believe her. I’ve never had a boy at the house before, so I don’t know if she would ever do this to me. If she would, I’d be pretty surprised.
        “It’s okay, Mom.” I half-smile hoping to signal it really was okay when I know it wasn’t. She nods.
        “Um, I’ll see you tomorrow, Stacie,” Alex says nervously and probably freaked out.
        “Oh, okay. Yeah, I‘ll see you then.” Alex nods before quickly swimming away. “Ugh!” I groan as I swim inside. My mom follows closely behind.
        “I’m sorry, sweety. I really didn’t mean to.”
        “I know, Mom.”
        “So, who was that? Your partner?”
        “Yep. Marissa and I went over to his house to meet with our partners. I was partnered with him, and she was partnered with his friend.”
        “That’s all that happened? It seemed like more did.”
        “Well, Marissa thought he liked me before we had went, so she dressed me all cute. I didn’t really think so until now. He told me how he liked me and now, we’re dating.” I smile thinking about tonight. My mom smirks.
        “So, you like him too?” I nod blushing.
        “Yes.”
        “I’m happy for you honey. You deserve to be happy. You’re always helping me around the house and with your siblings when you don’t need to be. I appreciate it, but I still want you to act like a teenager. You should be going out and having fun.”
        “I know, Mom. I just hate to leave Avery alone, and no one here will help you if I don’t or am not able to. I can’t help but feel sorry for you. You have to take care of us with no help from anyone and yourself. You’re always cleaning, cooking, and much more. You go to work at night to provide for us. I feel it’s necessary to help you. Even though everyone has left us doesn’t mean there’s no one to help you,” I admit truthfully for once.
        “I know sweety. I don’t care about that though. You’re a teenager, and I want you to act like one. You need to go have fun. I want you to rebel a little. Go make mistakes and learn from them. Get out of your shell, honey. I’m glad that your going to hang out with that boy tomorrow. It will do great things for you in life.” My mouth drops hearing these words come out of my mom’s lips. She wants me to rebel? What parent has ever told their child they want them to rebel?
        “But, Mom-” I try to persist.
        “I’ll be fine alone. I can do things myself. I’m a grown woman after all. Where would we be without hardworking women? Mermaids would be extinct. What have I always told you guys? A woman is the head of the household. She takes cares of the house, the husband, and the children. Mothers cook, clean, and provide love. We have many jobs. We are made to have them all. I’ll be fine without you for a day though.”
        “If you say so,” I say sighing swimming towards my bedroom. She better be fine. I know Brittany’s not going to help her, so she’ll be all alone when it comes to help around the house.
        “What’s his name?” my mom asks stopping me.
        “Alex.”
        “Oh, what are you guys doing tomorrow?”
        “He’s going to draw a picture of me.”
        “That’s sweet.”
        “Yeah, he is.”
        I swim off into my room before my mom says anymore. Brittany is talking on her shell to some of her snobby friends. She glares up at me disgusted. I don’t know what I did to her. I turn to swim towards my bed only to find a shocking surprise. Avery is laying down in it sleeping. I throw my stuff down near my bed. I smile looking at how peaceful he looks. I can’t move him now. I kiss his head before swimming into Blythe and Avery’s room. Blythe looks like she’s sleeping already as she’s turned towards the wall. I kiss her on her head. She turns around startling me a smidge.
        “Stacie?”
        “Yes, Blythe?”
        “Where were you? You weren’t here to tuck us in,” she says frowning.
        “I’m sorry. I had to work on a school project at someone’s house.”
        “Are you going there tomorrow?”
        “Yes, but I promise I’ll be back home to tuck you in on time.” I half-smile hoping to reassure her.
        “Are you sure?”
        “Yes, I promise I’ll come home early to tuck you in. I’ll even tell you a story if you want.”
        “Okay. Can you tuck me in now?”
        “Sure, Blythe.” She gets comfortable in her bed. I tuck her in and kiss her head one last time. She smiles.
        “Goodnight, Stacie.” I smile.
        “Goodnight, Blythe. I love you.”
        “I love you too.”
        I swim out of her room and crack her door open. I swim  into the bathroom to take care of my hygiene, and then, back into my room. Brittany is getting off her shell when I do. I turn off the light and swim over to my bed. I remember Avery is lying down in it before I hop in. I move him over until I have enough room to lay down. Then, I hop in. I kiss his head and scoot him over towards me. The warmth of his body heats me up. I cuddle with him before slowly drifting off to sleep.
~
        “Stacie! Get up, Stacie! It’s time to get up!” I hear Avery scream in my dream. It was such a good dream too. I open my eyes unhappily to see Avery sitting on my stomach grinning. I chuckle. I can’t be mad at him. “Stacie! Are you up, Stacie? It’s time to get up!” he says poking my arm. I blink my eyes for a quick second trying to wake myself up. “Stacie!”
        “I’m up, Avery! I’m up!” I reply laughing.
        “Good. Can you make me breakfast? I’m hungry. You tell me not to wake mommy up, so I didn’t.” I glance at my alarm fish. It’s seven in the morning. I want to groan, but I decide to keep it to myself.
        “Sure. Are we having cereal today?”
        “Yes! I’ll go get it!” He hops off me and hastily swims off out my bedroom door towards the kitchen. I chuckle quietly to myself.
        I’m shocked to see Brittany isn’t in her bed. She’s always in her bed at least until ten on the weekend. I hop out of my bed and swim into Blythe’s room. She’s not in her bed either. There’s something strange going on. Did I miss something?
        I swim into the kitchen to see Avery trying to get a bowl for his cereal. I quickly swim over and grab one for him.
        “Thanks you,” he says smiling. He grabs the bowl out of my hands and swims towards the table. His cereal is already waiting on the table. I swim over and pour him some. He eats it happily.
        “Where is everyone?”
        “They went outside. Mommy has them hepping. She’s doing stuff in the yawd with pwetty flowers.” I smile hearing his speech impediment. Wait! Did he say Mom is up? Who woke her up? I told them to allow her to sleep.
        “Avery, I’ll be right back. I’m going to go talk to Mommy for a second. Then, I’ll eat some cereal with you. Okay?” He nods.
        I swim outside looking around for my mom. I don’t see her. I swim to the back. I might not see her, but I see Brittany. I quickly swim towards her wanting answers.
        “Who woke Mom up? Why is she up? I told you guys not to wake her up. She works very late at night and needs to sleep in the morning. You guys shouldn’t have woken her up.”
        “We didn’t. She woke us up. We ate breakfast. Then, she made us help her in the garden. You should really get your facts straight before you start yelling at me.” Brittany says offended.
        “Oh, sorry. Where is she?”
        “Blythe and her are on the side of the house planting some flowers.” She points to the left side of the house. I nod as I swim away towards it. As I get nearer, I see Blythe’s bright red tail glistening in the water. She’s bent over digging in the dirt. I can see my mom’s pink tail as I inch closer. She’s holding some flowers in her hand as she waits for Blythe I assume considering she’s hovering over her. She glances up to see me. She smiles and waves me over.
        “Hi, honey. Is Avery up?” I nod. “Good. What time are you leaving today?”
        “I don’t know, We never set up a time.”
        “Oh, is he coming to get you, or are you going there?”
        “I don’t know. We didn’t get to talk about that either. We were going to last night, but you…”
        “I’m sorry about that.”
        “I know. Why did you wake up today? You always sleep in. Did something happen at work?”
        “About that…” Uh oh.
        “What happened?” I ask freaking out.
        “For a couple months now, I’ve been sending some of my ideas to the owners of the company I work for. Last night, they told me they liked them! I got promoted! I won’t be working nights anymore. While you guys are at school, I’ll be going to work.”
        “What about Avery?” I ask worried.
        “He’ll be going to a day care for the day, and then I’ll pick him up when I finish with work.”
        “I don’t think he would like that. How about I just pick him up after school? He wouldn’t want to stay with some strangers all day until night.”
        “He’s only three, Stacie. I think he’ll be fine.”
        “I’ll pick him up after school. Tell the daycare I’ll be there after school ends,” I say as I storm off into my house slamming the door behind me.
        “What’s wrong, Stacie?” Avery’s cute little voice asks behind me. I turn around to see him with a cute confused look.
        “Nothing, Avery. I just got a little mad for a second. It’s nothing to worry about.” I smile awkwardly.
        “Oh ok. Are you going to eat with me?”
        “Right, I forgot. Come on, let’s go eat.” Avery grabs my hand and leads me into the kitchen. I pour myself a bowl of cereal. I sit down next to Avery. We both finish our cereals talking about nonsense as we do so. I take care of our dirty dishes and swim back over towards Avery.
        “Avery, I have to go get ready since I’m leaving later. Why don’t you go play with Mommy and Blythe?”
        “You’re weaving me?”
        “I’m sorry, sweety. I have to again, but I’ll be back later to tuck you and Blythe into bed. I promise.”
        “You didn’t wast time. You came back too wate,” Avery says pouting.
        “I won’t this time. I’ll leave extra early.”
        “You better,” Avery says seriously. I chuckle quietly to myself. He swims outside, so I swim into the bathroom to prep myself.
~
        An hour later, I am ready to go. I tried to do my make-up just like Marissa did the day before. It didn’t come out the same, but I think I still look cute. I called Marissa up on my shell to ask if I could borrow a bra of hers. Thankfully, she said yes. Marissa brought me an orange one that ties in the front which she thought would look really good on me. She was right. Marissa even said my make-up looked great. That made me feel better about it.
        I still don’t know if I should go over to Alex’s house or if he is coming to get me. I think I’ll just start swimming over there and maybe he’ll meet me halfway. I can’t wait until I see my picture. Hopefully, I look great in it.