Celeste

My heart swirls into small feelings of pain as I watch Caliver, his face growing as red as a tomato. It is highly embarrassing to be treated like this in front of others, even if it's family. It shows his little respect he has for his father, which makes me drop my fork onto my plate. "Excuse me" I say, pulling my chair out and leaving the dinner table. I slide the glass doors open and make my way through the large home, looking for any sign of him. The house is quiet, like always.

I cross the intimate living area that is dimmed with lights and find myself at the top of the corridor where his room would be.

His door is closed, as expected. Somehow, he was able to take a good amount of space, probably striding through the hall with those long legs he has. The peds of my feet make a chafe sound as I grow closer, and that isn't the only thing I can hear.

Glass collides to the floor just on the other side of the wall. It nearly scares me and makes me stray away from coming to see what was going on, although it isn't my place. Knock knock. I press my knuckles against the wooden door twice before it swings open, it's air nearly pulling me.

I stand up straight, looking at him. He blinks down at me.

"What do you want?" His tone is the harshest I've ever heard, and it honestly does more damage to me than the name calling he's done last night and this evening. He voice is thick, angry, and the spiraling in his eyes cause mine to burn.

I blink, looking down and away from his eyes as if it were a sin to look into them. With my eyes darting away from his, I open my mouth. "I came here to check on you. You seemed really angry" I admit, gnawing on my bottom lip and twiddling with my fingers. I fold one in front of the other, and then my pinky towards my thumb. I press my pointer against the palm of my hand. I press my hands together, and then pull them apart.

"I'm fine" he says sternly.

I don't believe his words. I lift my head a bit, pausing the movement of my hands and look into his room. Broken glass lies there in pieces, both large and small. I shake my head.

"You broke something?" I whisper. He's crazy. This isn't his home, nor is it my father or his father's. They both rented this place so we could all spend time together, not so he could come here and damage someone else's property.

He exhales, his chest decreasing in size. I lift my head even more, seeing him as he cranes his neck to see exactly what I'm talking about, as if he hadn't done what he did. He turns back to me and I pull my head down again.

"I didn't try to" his tone is thinner, and his voice isn't as loud, but still I call his bluff. He means to tell me that in a fit of a rage he came here and 'accidentally' knocked a lamp from the nightstand? He's not as clumsy as he was anymore. He's lying.

"I really didn't try to, Celeste, not that it's any of your business. I closed my eyes for a brief moment and I collided into the stand. The lamp fell and shattered across the floor. But don't worry Goody two shoes I'll replace it". I look at him with an eyebrow raised.

"You don't get it" I sigh.

Confusion takes over him. "What? What don't I get?".

I swallow, rolling my arm out to gesture at the mess he's made. "It's not about if you'll replace it, it shouldn't have been broken in the first place" I say, pulling my arm down. I shake my head. How could he have been so messed up to not see the principle of the situation? It wouldn't need to be fixed if it were not broken.

"It was a mistake, Celeste" he uses my name for a second time and it causes me to feel a shift in energy between us. This... this boy who's grown into a man who shields himself... he needs more than broken glass to help him see the severity in his actions.

I don't care enough to even go there with him. "You ruined dinner. Your father is so embarrassed of how you've acted" I say, and he scrunches his face.

"My father..." he scoffs, rolling his eyes like a kid. "Who gives a shit what Caliver thinks? He doesn't give a shit until he's..." he stops mid sentence and shakes his head, looking at me.

I'm not sure why he felt the need to add the most dehuman-izing facial expression he could make but he did. Knowing that this is the tall and stern man who only shows grimace on his face makes me want to hollow into my shell, but knowing that this is the boy who I've known all my life makes me want to stand up to him. He's crazy. He should know it.

"You really care what that prick feels?" He asks me.

I shrug. "So should you. He's your father".

"Does he give a shit about what I feel? Have you ever stopped to think about that, Celeste, before you came here opening your pathetic little mouth about a fucking lamp?" He asks me.

I inhale, feeling as though this is the breath to fuel my energy. "You're so self centered! You ruined dinner because of your stupid emotions and now everyone's appetite is done for! Did you think about that before you threw your little fit?" I ask, raising my voice a bit.

The left side of his jaw tenses as he looks at me, his eyes squinting a bit. "Are you done yelling at me?" He asks. He grounds me immediately. I step back, calming myself.

"Are you done breaking things?" I ask, biting back with a much cooler tone than before.

He brings his hand to the collar of his shirt and pulls at it a bit, loosening it before popping the first button to give his neck more breathing room. All of a sudden his calamities make his skin swell.

"If we're done here I'd like to go shower. Dinner was great, no need for checking on me, I'm fine, I'll replace the lamp, and I'll clean up the broken glass" he says. He pulls himself from the arch in the door and slams the door right on my face. The wind pulls my hair back for a brief moment and I stand there.

Should I break the door down and strangle him? I smile, no.

I turn on my heels and press my hands against my dress to smoothen it out, even though I'm sure there are no visible wrinkles. I cross the dim living area again before stepping onto the porch. It makes me sad to see that my father is starting to clear the table. Caliver is holding a glass of champagne.

"Hey" my father smiles at me, collecting his plate but leaving mine.

"Hey" I sigh, walking around to the opposite side of the table.

"He's not coming back out to dinner. He's going to shower now" I say as I collect his barely eaten plate. The meat isn't touched, and neither are his vegetables. I take his cutlery and hold it in my hand as I steal a quick glance at Caliver. At first he seemed embarrassed but now he looks as if this is a reoccurring issue, which I'm sure it was when his son stayed at home with him when he was younger.

I follow my father into the house. I stand at the compost bin, scrapping the food away as he sits a champagne glass into the sink. He looks bummed as well, and it makes me frown. I stand next to him at the sink as he begins to wash the dishes.

"Is he okay?" I ask, talking about Caliver.

My father looks towards the sliding doors, sighing. "Yeah he's fine. He says he's pretty much used to him blowing up like that. I just wish we could have spent our last night here all together in the same home, together" he says.

I nod, wishing a bit of the same as well. "You can always visit Caliver" I suggest. I'll be moving further away from home soon.

He chuckles lightly. "Yeah, but without our kiddos there with us it isn't going to be the same" he tells me.

I smile. Kiddos?

"You can always set up lunch or something a few days or weeks from today. I'm sure the angry bird will have a change of emotions" I say quietly, not wanting him to hear me. Although he said he was going to shower, he may have postponed it for whatever woman he'll be calling tonight.

"That's a great idea... what are you doing after this? I think me and Caliver will sit outside and talk" he tells me, handing me the rinsed dish. I dry it with a clothed towel and place it into a cabinet.

"I'll be going in for a shower and then bed".

"You should call your mother. She asked about you earlier while you were with Dacre" he tells me, smiling about his wife.

I nod, taking the next dish he's handed me. "I'll call her before bed. Are you and Caliver going to be okay out here?" I ask and he nods.

After finishing the dishes with my father, I made sure to shower and make time for my mother who answered on the second ring. "My sweet Angel, oh goodness! I miss you so much, sweetie" she cooes, making me smile a bit from her overly loving tendencies. Seriously. I'm twenty two and she manages to come up with a new nickname for me every time we speak.

"I miss you too, mom" I say. I wish she could have joined us.

"Don't lie to me, honey. If you missed me you would just move home already. Instead, you choose to live alone. Your father and I miss tucking you in for bed each night" I can hear her pout over the phone and it makes me smile a bit more.

"I'm older now, mom. I hope you didn't expect me to stay at home forever". I know that in the back of my mind she would have wanted me to stay for as long as I wanted.

"Is it wrong that I did?" She asks.

"Don't forget about us, okay? Although Maverick isn't your biological father, adopting you assured that he loves you as if you were. He loves you, and so do I. Convince him to give you a sibling".

I giggle. "It's too late for that now".

"Really?" She has high hopes "I wouldn't mind a little one running around this place. What do you think Maverick will think?".

"He'll think that he's too old to be running after a kid, and so are you" I say and can hear her gasp.

"I am not... okay yes but don't say it again" she says and I laugh again.

"Okay. I just wanted to give you a quick call" I say before a big yawn takes over me. "Good night".

"Good night, chicken" she says and hangs the phone up before I can even give her a reaction. Chicken? I smile as I toss my phone onto the bed.

Walking towards the mirror, I pull my hair into a ponytail with one of my ribbons, a gold one to be exact. I stare at myself for a moment. I look drained, which would be the correct word for what I'm feeling in this very moment. Between having my face plastered at the state's contest, my heavy emotions taking over my body when I don't want them to, and the outburst of angry behavior from the rude man at the dinner table, I feel as if my day was a bit chaotic.

I pull away from the mirror, turning sound and pressing my lower back against the edge. I sigh, folding my arms as I think about the events. It doesn't take long for me to think about Daniel, but as I think of him I also think of the arrogant man who doesn't understand heartbreak, or doesn't want to. It's a wonder that a smile stifles my mouth before I can even consider crying again.

It's so silly to think that just this morning I was a complete mess, even this evening when he caught me. At the slightest notion of anything Daniel and I had ever done together, my lip would tremble and I'd burst into tears. My tears don't brim and I can't think straight. Both men roam my mind, both bad things about them each.

I shake my head, hoping to jumble the thoughts but they stay persistent. I begin to ignore them as I make way for the bedroom door to get a glass of water to drink, not expecting the rude man to be right outside of it shirtless, with his fist clasped and ready to alarm me that he was here.

X

"Just go slow, please"