I despised him from the moment I saw him.
His high waisted pants with visible ankles barely covered by his plaid socks.
His maroon shirt tucked into his dark jeans, hoisted with a large pirate buckle type belt.
"Yo man!" I said. It wasn't hard to force a pleasant smile -- I was already laughing at his tacky attempt to impress my mother.
"He's not good at meeting people" my mother said.
"He's not good at anything" I said, frowning.
He had tried so desperately to get my sister and I to like him. He brought over apple pie, snickers, and diet coke.
"This is what you kids eat these days . . . right?" he asked.
"Oh sure. I think I'll gain about 8 pounds from the apple pie and snickers. But the diet coke should act like a laxative" my sister replied, smirking.
My mother's jaw dropped at this comment. She quickly called my sister and I to the kitchen.
"You have NO RIGHT to speak to him in that way, young lady" she said, glaring at my sister. My sister simply rolled her eyes.
"And you -- stop referring to him as 'you' and 'yo man'. I told you what to call him" my mother said to me.
"Mom I am not calling him 'father' because he is NOT my father. Why can't I just call him Stanley like you do?" I questioned.
"Because calling him Stanley is like calling him 'geek'" my sister joked.
"Stan did nothing to get this hostility from you. Now start behaving or you're both grounded for two weeks"
Stan had done nothing for us to be hostile to him? Is that a joke? What about keeping my mother -- a lawyer -- away from her job? What about forcing her to tag along to dance clubs and dancing the night away? I recalled when my sister and I lay awake, worrying about when my mother would come home.
"Mother, you taught us to express our thoughts openly. Well, my thought is that I hate him and I don't want him here. It's NOT fair. Everything changes for him but you don't make any changes for us!" my sister shouted.
And she was right. Everything had changed for Stanley. My mother met this pathetic excuse for a man at the local clinic. My mother felt exhausted and dizzy so she had gone to the doctor's for a check-up. The doctor told her that she was too stressed. Upon hearing this, Stanley began talking with my mother about stress reducing methods. Stanley told her that he was rarely stressed out; he always felt free and loose. He had offered to teach her how to balance her mind through yoga. She immediately took him up on his offer when he informed her that the cost of these yoga lessons would be one date. One date. HAH. I laughed at this thought.
We were seated at the dinner table -- just us four. My sister and I were so quiet that I could hear the neighbor's sprinklers. Shisshh. Shisshh. I decided to tune into the conversation. Stanley and my mother were going over weekend plans. Ohh no, not another date.
"Mom remember . . . you're busy on Thursday" I said quickly, "We have that thing . . . remember?"
"No sweetie, I don't think we've got anything planned. Maybe you're thinking of next Thursday" she replied.
"No it's been moved to this Thursday. Remember mom, our movie-manicure night? It's a tradition and next week I've got a sleepover at Abby's. You always say traditions are important and it seems like now, you don't even care -- " I was interrupted by the phone.
"I'LL GET IT" my sister dashed to the phone, "Ooh yeah. Yeah I know Stacey. I remember. Okay, okay 8 PM on Thursday. I'll be there. It's going to be awesome!"
"Be where?" my mother asked, raising a brow.
"Oh Stacey and I. We have plans and in fact, Holly's invited"
"Whaatt?" I asked.
"Okay, well then everyone's got plans" said my mother, "Holly we'll reschedule movie-manicure night."
Stanley began talking to my mother. I didn't catch the topic because I kept glaring at my sister. What plans had she made for me?
"How does this dress look on me?" asked my sister. She was holding a sparkly, red dress and waving it in my face.
"Umm . . . short" I replied, "Who are you trying to impress?"
"Jon from the track team. I think it's perfect for Thursday" she was dancing in front of the mirror.
"What do you have planned for Thursday anyway? How does it involve me?" I asked.
"Oh . . ." she said, smirking "There's this really big party. It's gonna have some high school kids and college guys. I knew you'd totally want to come, so wear something skimpy and hope the boys like it. Or . . . you could always hang with Stanley and mom. I think they're watching re-runs of 'Touched by an Angel' Cute college guys or Stanley?"
I sighed, "Awesome!"
Stanley came over at 6:00 PM even though his plans with my mother didn't start until 7:30 PM. Ugh, he was so unfashionably early. My sister were in our rooms until 7:45, until we could hear my mother and Stanley laughing away in the den. We slowly crept down the stairs and yelled 'Bye mom' before leaving. Stacey was waiting down the street to drive us.
I had rarely ever been to college parties. My sister and I had gone our separate ways when I was approached by a cute, obviously older, boy. We had only talked for half an hour when he began leading me to a bedroom. I knew where this 'relationship' was heading. He held the door open and gestured for me to come inside. "Umm, I have to go find my sister" I said as I made a quick dash for the stairs.
"These guys are jerks. They're thoughtless pigs!" I told my sister, practically yelling over the music. A crowd of people looked my way.
"I know. We need to get out of here. We can't call mom to pick us up. Her date's over by now so she won't be in a good mood."
Who could we call?
"What are you doing here?" his bushy eyebrows were raised almost up to his forehead.
"It's a party" I replied "young people go to parties."
"Not people as young as you" he said, grabbing our arms and leading us out of the house. Stanley pushed us inside the backseat of the car and locked the doors quickly.
"I know I'm not your father. But I'd like to be. I know that we're not friends. But I want us to be" he told us, "And friends don't let friends do stupid things like this. Well, at least good friends don't."
"Just take me home" I said. I wasn't even looking at him. I was staring at my shoes.
"You know what? I think that you two do like me. Or at least you know that you can rely on me. That would make me a friend" Stanley said.
"Look. We don't like you. We don't want to like you or be your friend. Now just drive us home like you promised to on the phone. No one has to know about this" my sister said sharply.
The car started heading home . . .
My sister stepped out quickly and ran inside the house. Before I followed her, I opened the front seat of the car and looked at Stanley in the eyes. "Thanks so much" I said, "It takes a while for my sister to warm up to people." I smiled at him. This time, it was a sincere smile. He smiled his toothy grin back at me and closed the door. Then he drove back home as I, too, ran inside.
holiday50
Author's Note: This is a fictional story.
