“But you wanted to speak to her Trent. You told me that you called her on a regular basis and wanted to reconnect with her.”
He spat out, “Fuck! The photos we saw online. The woman that walked around as if she was better than anyone else. That was the person I was calling, not some dead-beat hooker, because let’s face it J, that’s exactly what she looks like at the moment. She stinks to hell and looks even worse.”
We both sat in silence realizing that our conversation was getting heated, and both of us were taking it out on each other. The silence was broken by the server handing Trent his food, and me ordering the same thing again. Damn I was hungry!
Trent said, “Not even sure if Vicki’s in the Academy.”
“How come?”
He said, “Well when Mom called, she couldn’t construct a sentence together properly, so Hawk was translating for her, and when I asked him if Vicki was around, he didn’t answer.”
I said, “That doesn’t mean that Vicki isn’t around, besides why didn’t you just call her?” I noted that he’d said Hawk was translating for Mom, I could only take that to mean Hawk had found some since in the gibberish Mom was spouting.
“I can only handle so much drama in one day. I’m so fucking tired.”
“You thinking what I’m thinking?”
I said, “Without hesitation bro. Let’s eat up here, take our time. Then grab some clothes, something decent that doesn’t make us look as if we’re auditioning for a part in Miami Vice, then we’ll get a room and sleep it off. If we feel like it after some rest, then we’ll go back to the Academy. If not, then we’ll just have the day off. Deal?”
He nodded, “Loud, and clear. A fucking deal!”
Shortly after we made our deal, he dug into his plate of pancakes. I could tell by the gusto with which he ate that knew that as soon as mine arrived, Trent would order another plate. Technically, we had missed out on breakfast, and lunch so it made sense that we were hungry, and last night I was dancing as if I was auditioning for a part in Magic Mike. Even one of the girl’s said that I could easily have a part in Vegas, but then she was trying to take me to one of the rooms after. I thought men did that, not women. Anyway, it felt good to shake my butt, I hadn’t done that in a long time.
Trent, and I were close, and I knew he was suffering with the same demons that I did, in fact even more at times. Trent was my twin, and my better half, I loved him as much as he loved me, and that was enough for us to get through all of this together. I didn’t care if we would face Mom later or another time.
“I need to tell you something,” I said to him.
He shook his head, a grim look on his face. “Please whatever it is, I can’t deal with it right now. I’ve got a fucking headache, and whatever it is, it can wait.”
He laughed before I could even respond to his question, “The funny thing is that I wanted to speak to Mom for so long, and now, I can’t fucking stand the sight of her because it’s clear as fucking night, and day.”
“What is?”
“You were right all along J. Mom doesn’t give a fuck about us, she never wanted kids, and I can see it clearly. For so long I pretended that it wasn’t the case, but it is what it is. Some people are meant to be parents, and some aren’t. I need to fucking grow up and get with the program. Once we get out of the Academy, and go to the university, then we’ll have to grow up, and stop running around like kids who have been caught in the crossfire of the bitter divorce of their parents.”
“Shit, that must be it!” As I realized why she was back, “They must be getting a divorce. Hawk must finally be getting what he has been wanting for so long, to be free of her.”
He nodded in agreement as it became crystal clear that our Mom didn’t love us. Maybe she did at one time, but we could never figure out exactly when that time was. What did her love look like? I didn’t remember a time when she was sober, and when we were that happy family, the portrait of us all that hangs in the hallway. A lie that we were once subjected to, but we didn’t need to be anymore, including Hawk, because at last she was going to set him free.
Chapter Six
Trent, and I did as planned, we went shopping, and got a few basic things for the day, and then booked ourselves in the Four Season. We acted as if nothing was bothering us, well for a while it felt as if we were back to normal, and it felt good. I slept like a baby in the suite, and I could see when we did wake up, that we were exhausted, because it was nearly eight at night.
“What now? Back or another night?” He asked as he came into my room. We had the suite, so the living room was in the middle, and our rooms were at either end. Funny, because we’d been sleeping in the same bed lately with Vicki. But now we both needed our space.
“The funny thing is that we’ve never booked a room to sleep in alone. We’ve usually had guests.”
“Yeah” he laughed, “The last two were Sarah and Claire. I couldn’t think of anything worse than inviting them. Well, Sarah’s gone, and I was searching online about her dad, and it’s not pretty, looks like they’ve lost everything. House, cars, and all money, and her dad’s going away for a long time.”
“I wonder how Sarah’s doing?” I asked wondering if I should give her a call.
“Maybe, when we leave here, I’ll give her a call. Make sure that she’s ok?”
He choked, “But you can’t even call Claire to see if she’s ok? Why bother with Sarah?”
I shrugged, “Don’t know. Maybe because Sarah’s not around it’s just easier to deal with rather than Claire. She’s too much to handle.”
I was lying, I wanted to tell Trent the truth about Claire, but laziness or selfishness took over, and I kept my mouth shut.
“Can you imagine Sarah in a normal high school?”
“Hell no! I can’t even imagine us in a normal high school.”
I laughed at the idea of us just walking around a public high school as if we weren’t anyone special. This was the prime of our lives, and we both knew it, we would thrive on it until that day would come when we would leave the academy. I threw a pillow at him, as he sat down on the bed.
“Right now, it would be Claire and Goldie. I wonder if Claire’s even bothered to check up on Sarah? Fuck I sent Claire a text, I should have looked at my phone to see if she’s replied but it’s switched off. I’m sure that they’re fine,” I said with a shrug.
“Why did you turn it off? To avoid Goldie or someone else?”
“T, you have to ask, it’s pretty obvious. If Mom was calling you, and asking you to come back, then she would try calling me too. And the reason that I don’t want to speak to her, is the same exact reason that you don’t want to talk to her.”
We both sighed, and he laid down on the bed, and I did the same thing.
“I feel like having room service, getting a chess board up here so I can beat your ass, and chill out till tomorrow morning when we have to go back to reality.”
“Hell yeah!” I answered. I liked the idea of not going back and staying here.
Then he shot up as if he had a new wave of energy, and said, “I’m going to beat your ass big brother, so you better stock up, and eat whatever you need to eat, because it’s going to be a long night.”