“Hello, Alex,” Mary-Sue announced. “Here to see Lilith?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Good. She’s in the living room. Would you like something to drink?”
“No. No, it’s fine.” He followed her into the house and made way for the living room. He saw her sitting on the couch, watching the news. She looked up and the smile she gave melted his heart.
“Hey.”
“H-hey.”
“Sit down.” She moved over. “What’s up?”
“Just wanted to catch up.”
“…Did you get the stuff?”
“Course. There’s a party at Damon’s this Saturday; I know that there’s going to be a whole lot of whatever you want.”
“That sounds…promising…”
“…Hey, Lil, I have a question.”
“Yeah.”
“…What do you…how do you still feel about Dirk?”
The silence that quickly followed was bone-chilling. “…You know, you’re so inconsiderate.”
“I know.”
“And, you still dare to ask?”
“I just need to know.”
“Why?”
“…Well, so I can be sure that you’re happy.”
Lilith gave a sad smile. “I was happy until you asked.”
“So, you’re still sad over it.”
“You wouldn’t understand.”
“Uh, yeah I would.”
“Then, what do you understand?” She turned to face him.
“I…I understand that it was a very long relationship for the both of you. I understand that you can’t forget about him. And…and I understand that you still love-.”
“Love him? No, I don’t love him.”
“Why are you denying yourself? Everyone knows that you still love him!”
“And if I still did love him, do you really think that he would come back to love me? Hell no! Things don’t work that way, I found out. When we broke up, we broke up. I don’t understand why everyone is still pestering that I get back with him. Can’t you guys understand that people don’t come together after such a big break up? We’re done.”
“You can’t accept-.”
“I can’t accept it? You can’t accept it! Dirk and I have accepted it and we’ve moved on! For God’s sakes, I saw him checking out another girl, and I admit that I’ve been checking out other guys! If anyone is stubborn, it’s you guys. Why can’t you accept it?”
“…I just thought that you would be happier with him.”
She sighed and turned to look outside. “…I admit that I could be happier with him. But…but I won’t take the risk of getting back together just to find out that we can’t mesh as well as we did. I’m happy now, and that’s all that matters. I’d rather have a life time lasting happiness with myself than an ecstatic relationship that wouldn’t last for the rest of my life.” She crossed her legs. “True happiness doesn’t have to be shared with other people.”
Alex folded his hands. “Well, I thought I would’ve cheered you up.”
“Yeah. It was a fail.”
He smirked. “I suppose it was.”
“Where have you been?” Mortimer asked as Alex came in. It was nearing ten.
“I was at the Pleasant house. If you don’t believe me, you can call them.”
“It’s ten at night; you couldn’t have possibly spent almost seven hours there.”
“I was at the library with friends.”
“Friends?”
“Yeah, we went right after school.”
“…Hm…that’s interesting. Lawrence said he saw you leaving school alone.”
Alex cursed his nephew inside. “I picked them up at the mini-mart.”
“…How long are you going to lie to me, Son?”
“I’m not lying, Dad.”
“Is that so? Sebastian found your report card in one of your pants’ pockets.” Mortimer’s composure darkened. “You said that you were getting good grades. What I saw were D’s and F’s; your teachers’ comments said that you get the concepts, but you never do the homework or classwork.”
Alex shrugged.
“Alexander, what the hell are you doing?”
Alex looked at his father in the eyes. “I’m living my life.”
“By destroying yourself?”
“I am living, Dad. School and grades aren’t my life.”
“But, they will help you in your life. How long are you going to remain ignorant? Do you have to wait until the day that you need financial aid to actually know that you have turned into a complete failure to society?”
“I won’t wait till then. It’s a phase; I’ll do better.”
“It’s nearly too late. When I called the Crumplebottom academy, the reviewed your grades and said that if you don’t improve by the next report card, your spot in their school will be given to another kid! And, I—as well as you—have worked your whole life into securing that spot for you! You even said you wanted to go there…And…and now you’re going to flush it all down for this phase of your life that has become more than a phase?”
“It’s still a phase!”
“This attitude of yours has been this way ever since you’ve entered high school! When will it end? When will you grow up? I know I’ve raised you better than this!”
“But, I never had fun in the way you’ve raised me, Dad!”
Mortimer was stunned.
“That’s right, Dad, I want fun! I don’t want tutoring lessons in Chemistry or Biology. I want to go to parties or hang out with friends.”
Mortimer folded his hands and looked at the floor. “…Fun…Son, when I was your age, I had fun. Oh, yes, I had fun. But, now that I’m old, I rarely have fun. That is why you need to have fun at a later time in life. You’re young; you don’t know what fun is.”
Alex remained silent. He had already caused a scene and another compliment from him would make it even harder to face Mortimer in the morning. Instead, he walked up the stairs.
“Alexander.”
“I’m going to bed. Good night, Dad.”
Mortimer listened to the creaks of the stairs and the closing the Alex’s bedroom door,
He continued to stay in his armchair. He took one look out his window to take in an eyeful of the sunflowers.
But, the sunflowers kept their faces closed.
