Chapter 26: Dinner Party

Christy stopped by Sunday afternoon, after she had lunch with her dad and he broke the news of her mother's departure to Buffalo. She was certainly less than happy about her mom and dad getting a divorce, but she knew it was inevitable. We went over some of the rules of the house and worked to establish what we thought would be a reasonable schedule. Mom told Christy she could spend the night if she needed. However, when Samantha and Maria moved in, there simply wouldn't be room to have her own space, at least until January. In the meantime, when Christy's dad was traveling, Christy was expected to be here for dinner and home by eleven. She was welcome to consider ours to be her second home.

Christy's dad was going to be in town most of the next week, but would be gone the following Monday. However, because he expected to work late each night, Christy vowed she would be around to share dinner with us, all week. As bad as Christy's day had been until this point, she had a pretty big smile on her face, and I knew why. She was being incorporated into a new family, hopefully one who would be a little more loving and attentive. I was certainly prepared to provide my share of the loving and attention.

Mom also told us that Maria, Samantha and Carlos would be by for dinner tonight, as well. I had mixed feelings as I was happy to see Samantha again, but worried about her reaction and her attitude. At the very least, it would be a preview of what dinner would be like in the very near future.

Christy took off for the mall to meet some other friends, giving me a couple of hours to catch a nap on the couch before Maria, Samantha and Carlos arrived for dinner. That was the plan, anyhow, until Mom woke me up about an hour later.

"You need to get up and help me with dinner."

I groaned and tried to roll away from her, but she was having none of that. I figured out pretty quickly, and somewhat tragically, that Christy was ticklish as all get out. Christy had yet to figure out I was just as bad off. Mom had known this for many, many years and used it to her great advantage. As soon as I rolled, she was on me, tickling ribs, underarms, knees and feet until I was bucking like a bronco on the couch.

"Okay, okay, I'm up, already!"

"C'mom, Phil, We need to work on your cooking skills. We can't keep paying the Chinese place to make up for your lack of culinary skills."

"They told me they would name a soup after me after five more orders", I mentioned.

"Really?"

"Yeah, she said they would call it "Cream of Sum Yun Guy."

Mom brought her hand to her mouth to help stifle a chuckle, but it didn't help. I tried to play the straight man and take it as far as I could. Looking like I completely lacked comprehension, I deadpanned, "What?"

Mom was obviously in a good mood. As she flitted around the kitchen preparing chicken parmesan, new potatoes and a salad, she would continually make contact with me is some way. Occasionally, she would rest her hand on my arm as she taught me the best way to chop vegetables for the salad or brush by me as she worked around me. There were a couple of hip checks thrown in for good measure and more than a couple of hugs from behind. I started to worry that one of my fingers was going to end up as a protein in the salad. Finger food, I chuckled to myself.

By five, Christy had returned and helped get the table set and the drinks prepared after she stowed her overnight bag in the guest bedroom. Mom and I provided some background on Maria, Samantha and Carlos, but I could tell Christy was mostly interested in hearing about Samantha. I figured she wanted as much information as possible about her future, part-time roommate.

At five-thirty, Maria, Samantha and Carlos arrived. I gave Maria a big hug and told her I was happy she would be staying with us for awhile. Carlos swallowed my hand in his and gave me a pat on the back as he asked about progress on the treehouse. I promised him I would take him for a tour after dinner.

And there she was, all five feet five inches of Samantha. She typically let her dark hair flow over her shoulders, but tonight, she had it pulled back and pinned behind her ears. I'd always adored her pretty face, but this was not the face I had known, growing up. Her dark brown eyes used to sparkle, but now they were distant, cold and angry. Her smile could melt your heart, but not tonight. Tonight her lips were tightly pursed.

Samantha and Christy couldn't be more polar opposites. Where Christy was small, almost pixie-like, Samantha was a little more broad and curvaceous. Her breasts were probably bigger than Christy's, but because Christy's frame was so small, hers looked much larger. Samantha's breasts were more proportional. This was not an area that Samantha had emphasized when her breasts had started to grow, as she wore primarily loose clothing to understate her figure. Her hips were definitely larger than Christy's, but I knew there was no fat hiding there. She might not pass for a Kardashian, but you could argue she had the figure to be in the family tree. If I had to use just a couple of words to describe her when she arrived, they would be pissed-off frumpy.

Moving towards her, I attempted to do what I had always done when she arrived for a visit; give her a big hug. I'm not sure her response could have been more distant if she had discovered I was a hungry walker (yes, I was a Walking Dead fan! Season 1 just blew me away and I couldn't wait for Season 2 to arrive next month!).

During dinner, Maria told us a little about a house she had in mind, which was not more than a mile or so from here. She said it was in a quiet neighborhood with lots of trees and a low crime rate. She couldn't wait to get there.

"Samantha", my mom asked, "what do you think of the neighborhood your mom is targeting?"

She shrugged and looked no one in the eye. "We're not in it, yet. Ask me in six months when we are still stuck living in this place." Her voice was dripping with contempt as she rolled her eyes.

Picking up on her tone, Mom focused more of the conversation towards Maria and Carlos. Carlos, on the other hand, still wanted to talk about the treehouse.

"Did you get the outlets wired, yet?" He asked me.

I nodded and swallowed. Mom's chicken parmesan was awesome. "Yeah, I've finished the outlets, I just need to get a couple outlet covers and hang the ceiling fan."

Samantha decided she had something to add to the conversation. "I don't know why you bothered to fix up that piece-of-shit. You're not a fuckin' kid, anymore. Why do you need a damn treehouse, anyway?"

What was interesting here, I found, were the reactions from everyone sitting around the table. Carlos looked like he wanted to take Samantha over his knee. He had a very determined, pissed off look on his face and I could tell he was biting his tongue. Mom initially had a shocked look on her face, but recovered quickly as she remembered Maria had told us what to expect from Samantha. Maria looked pissed, but almost resigned, but she couldn't let it go. "Watch your mouth, Samantha. I can still send you to your room."

"I don't have a room, here. I don't belong here!"

Maria ignored her jab. "I can still send you away and you can forget eating for the rest of the night!" Samantha looked like she wanted to say something, but ultimately decided against it.

The unexpected reaction, from my perspective, came from Christy. She looked like she was ready to take Samantha out. I knew from experience she could be a real handful when she got wound up and it looked like she was well on her way. But then I noticed a change come over her and her sweet smile appeared. "Phil, you know you haven't taken me to see the treehouse yet. Can you show it to me after dinner? After all, you built it to have a place for us to enjoy, didn't you?"

I just about swallowed my tongue, but managed to choke out, "Sure".

"I never understood why Mr. Phil wanted to rebuild the treehouse, either." Maria said.

"Well, Maria", my mom offered, gesturing towards me and Christy, "I think you just got your answer."

Maria looked at me quickly, then Christy, who was smiling like a Cheshire cat and then back to me as my blush deepened. "Oh!"

Carlos busted out laughing, almost falling out of his chair in the process. That set off the entire table, except Samantha who was still brooding. But I caught her. For just a flash of a moment, I could see her face change as she fought to suppress a giggle. She recovered quickly and the clouds gathered again. She was still in there somewhere, but someone was going to have to provide some pretty strong sunshine to punch through that cloud layer.

This, then, was my new family dynamic. I considered Carlos to be a member, even though he wasn't staying with us. From what Maria told us, Carlos would stop by often to check on her, so we could expect him for dinner several nights, as well. I had been working on Ken Nguyen to come by for meals, also, so our family could even expand a little more. After years of it just being my mom and me, I was getting the chance to experience life with a large family. Scanning the table, I knew I would be happier having them here.

When dinner was through, I started clearing the table. It wouldn't be fair to ask Mom to clean up after she worked so hard to make a nice meal. There was no way I was going to allow Maria to step foot in the kitchen during her day off, either, so I figured it would be best if I dove into it before the debate started. Once Christy saw what I was doing, she jumped to offer assistance. Moments later, I heard Maria tell Samantha she needed to help, also. There was a brief debate and a few threats made, but the end result was Samantha joining us in the kitchen. The adults grabbed their drinks and headed to the living room.

Christy took on the job of rinsing the dishes while Samantha loaded the dishwasher. I wrapped and stored the leftovers and began clearing the counters.

"I heard the two of you broke up." Samantha started in.

"We did", Christy said, "but we're still good friends."

"I heard it was really ugly, too." Samantha was not about to let this go. "Something about you going behind Phil's back and shacking up with Steve Williams."

Christy took a couple of seconds to maintain her composure. "Nothing like that happened, although I made some pretty big mistakes." Christy added.

"We both did." I interjected. Christy offered me a quick smile. It felt good to be somewhat of a team again.

"You seem awful chummy for having just broken up a couple weeks ago. Are you guys getting back together or are you just fuck buddies now?"

I was getting pissed off and I knew that Christy was as well, but I also realized this was the reaction Samantha was hoping to get from us. As long as she maintained the offensive, and kept us in a pissed off state, she would always be in control.

"Sammie," I started, knowing she no longer cared for my term of endearment for her, "we both realized that relationships, at our age, are not likely to last very long. If we tried to maintain it, we would probably have ended up hurting each other even more, in the long run. With Mom's help, we worked through it and found something better and longer lasting." I looked over at Christy and caught her eye. "I know now that I will always be Christy's friend and she will always be mine. Who knows what else could happen, in the future, but we will always have that foundation."

I could tell from Samantha's brief silence, this was not the response she expected. But, to her credit, she recovered quickly. "So, you two are just fuck buddies now?"

Christy and I responded at the same time. I started to tell her it was none of her business, but only got the first couple of words out before Christy responded rather forcefully with, "Yes, we are."

Again, Samantha was silent.

"Samantha," Christy began, "you and I are going to essentially be roommates for the next few months. I doubt there are going to be many secrets between us, as close as we are likely to be, even if it's just because of the proximity to each other. I'm not going to hide who I am from anyone in this household." Christy stepped away from the sink and addressed Samantha face-to-face. "If you want to trash your family and your lot in life, that's your business and your choice, but Phil and his mom have offered to include me in their family because I no longer have one. I'll do whatever they ask me to do for as long as they allow me to be part of their family."

"What do you mean you don't have a family? I know where you live. Your house is four times the size of the houses in the neighborhood Mom's looking! Don't give me that shit about not having anything!"

"That's just stuff, Samantha." Christy's voice was quickly rising. "That house has a bunch of stuff in it, but it might as well be a museum. My mom left us and moved back to Buffalo. I love my dad, but he's going to be traveling most of the time. Who wants to live alone in a museum? What Phil and his mom are offering is far more valuable to me than anything I own, especially now. I've felt more like a part of their family over the last twenty-four hours than I have in my own family for the past six months. You should be thankful. At least you have a mother around who loves you and a father-figure to guide you."

"He's not my fuckin' father."

"Well, it's your choice to shut him out. He seems like a nice man, to me."

Samantha put the dish she was holding into the dishwasher, threw the towel into the sink and stormed upstairs, slamming one of the bedroom doors. Mom, Maria and Carlos were standing next to the kitchen door when Samantha passed. Carlos looked like he could eat nails about now, he was so pissed. Maria had tears in her eyes as she turned to Carlos and hugged him for support. Mom looked over at me first and then Christy. There was some unspoken interaction between the two of them before Christy rushed over to my mom and the two of them wrapped each other together in an embrace. I could hear Christy crying as she buried her head into mom's shoulder. Christy was a stronger person than I ever could have imagined.

After Christy and I finished cleaning the kitchen, we all went to tour the treehouse. All of us did include Samantha, at that point, as Maria spent some time talking with her and calming her down.

Carlos assured us the treehouse could support all six of us, though it would be incredibly cramped. Although I did want Maria and Mom to see the treehouse, they begged off climbing the stairs, for now, so Samantha, Christy, Carlos and I went up to take a look. The interior was pretty sparse still, with only two beanbag chairs on the floor and a comforter folded up in the corner.

"Wow", Christy said, "this has some nice potential, Phil."

"Be careful of the outlets. I haven't had a chance to get covers for them yet and they're hot."

"Looks a lot like the house we are living in now", said Samantha.

We all ignored her comment.

"What about decorating? Don't you think this place could use a little wallpaper?" Christy inquired a devious smile on her lips.

I yelled down the stairs, "Mom, stop with the wallpaper already. That is so NOT happening." She looked up at me, arms out to the side as she shrugged.

When I turned away from the stairs, I could hear her tell Maria, "We'll just see about that."

Great. I knew how that was going to turn out. I was horribly outnumbered and it was only going to get worse. I needed an ally; someone who wouldn't be so quick to agree with Mom, Christy or Maria.

"What do you think about wallpaper, Sammie?" I winked at her, but she showed no sign of acknowledgement.

She looked around at the walls, eventually nodding her head. "Wallpaper would look good in here."

Doomed.

Before Samantha got in the car to leave, I pulled her aside for a quick conversation.

"Sammie, I know you may not like us or the situation you're in, at the moment, but I hope you'll give us a chance."

She shrugged her shoulders and said nothing. She was really testing my limits.

"What did I do to piss you off so badly? Why do you hate me now? We used to be so close."

She stared at me for several moments, before letting out a big sigh and dropping her head. "I don't know, Phil. We've just gone different directions. It's just ... nothing about this seems fair. Why am I stuck living in the shithole I'm in while you and Christy live like royalty? What did I do to deserve that?"

"You're not homeless, Sammie. You have more going for you than most. I would be willing to bet Christy would have gladly traded places with you, recently."

"Fine by me!"

"Say what you want, Sammie, I know you don't really believe it. All I'm asking is that you give us a chance."

Samantha looked at me again, but I saw nothing there. She was so closed off, it was killing me. She got in the car and closed the door. As I stood next to the car, staring at her, I felt like I was losing the war. I turned to walk away, but only got a couple steps before I heard Samantha call my name.

"Phil?" She had rolled down the car window.

I walked back to her and squatted in front of her door, our faces only a few inches apart.

"Look, I don't hate you, Phil", she said.

"You had me convinced."

"I know, but I don't hate you. I just don't like anyone, right now, myself included."

I smiled at her. Maybe the war wasn't over. "That's okay, Sammie. I'd still like to be your friend. We were very close, once."

"You mean, friends like you and Christy are friends?"

I couldn't tell if she looked hopeful or worried. "Maybe without that one benefit, but otherwise, yeah."

"I don't think Christy likes me very much."

I chuckled. "Well, you were a little rough on her, but give her a chance." I looked at Christy who was trying her best not to appear to be eavesdropping, but failing miserably. I cupped my hand and whispered into Samantha's ear, just loud enough for Christy to hear. "Just, whatever you do, don't tickle her feet. The woman is like the Hulk when you do that." I looked over to Christy, smiling, while she flipped me the bird.

"Did she just call you an asshole?" Samantha asked.

"Mmm, hmm."

"I'm beginning to like her already."

There was no staying up to watch movies that night, as Mom had to be up and moving by three in the morning and Christy and I had school. Before heading to bed, Mom gave me a hug and a kiss on the lips and did the same to Christy.

"If that makes you uncomfortable, Christy, let me know. It's a habit Phil and I have gotten in to before I go to bed every night."

Christy smiled at Mom. "No, that's alright. I think I'd like that."

Although it was early, I was pooped as well, considering the late night adventures Christy and I had engaged the night before. "I'm going to bed, too." With that, I pulled Christy into a tight hug and then gave her a friendly kiss, similar to the one Mom gave us. "G'night, Christy."

Christy smiled at me. "I think I'm going to like staying here. Good luck getting rid of me."

I headed for the stairs. "After what you told Sammie tonight, in front of Mom? Never happen." I responded. "You're in for life, just like me with no chance for parole."

The next three days went by pretty quickly. Jessica came over Tuesday night and continued to tell me how happy she was to have Mrs. Parkman to talk to. I told her about the situation with Christy, the disintegration of her family and her inclusion in ours. Jessica was proud that Mom and I were willing to take Christy in, but she was skeptical.

"Are you going to be able to get along? You two didn't end well a couple weeks ago and I haven't heard you pass more than five words between the two of you since!"

I couldn't answer her. What I was capable of doing was blush, and I did that profusely.

Now, Jessica Baker is not a person to be toyed with, not if you valued your survival. I found it next to impossible to surprise her or embarrass her and I had known her and done all kinds of stupid and embarrassing things in front of her. She just didn't allow it to affect her and she would mock you in the process. Cool people wished they could be as cool as her. Water would simply freeze in her presence. You get the idea.

But, after seeing me blush so completely, Jessica Baker's demeanor cracked and her jaw dropped to her chest for at least five seconds, I'm sure of that.

"Are you telling me..." I shrugged. " ... you and Christy..." I shrugged again. It wasn't polite to expose Christy like that, but Jessica knew what had happened.

"Are you getting back together?" At some point, I was going to construct an automated response. Maybe some sort of message I could play back from my iPhone. "Hi, this is Phil and, no, we are NOT getting back together!"

Thursday afternoon, I was told that Coach Dolan wanted to see me in his office after school. The only thing I could think was that this was going to relate to the conversation Doug and Boyd Jenkins had with Coach Dolan the week before.

"Grab a seat, Marlowe." Coach Dolan gestured towards a really uncomfortable looking chair stationed in front of his desk. "I'm sure you know, by now, I've had a conversation or two with your friends Doug Jenkins and Boyd Jenkins." I nodded my head. "I don't know why they give a shit about you and, honestly, I don't really care. All I care about is my family and my team. You made a mistake a few years back attacking my family like you did."

I really had to hold my tongue. Yes, I did intentionally throw at Bill Dolan, but I wasn't trying to hit him in the head. When Bill's brother and uncle essentially attacked me, I didn't have a choice but to defend myself. I still don't know what they expected otherwise.

"But it has been a couple of years. Doug asked me to give you a chance to make the team. I don't know what he sees in you, but you were nothing special back then and, without playing for the last three years (he was smiling when he said that), I can't imagine you are any better now. In any case, I did make them a promise. We'll let you try out for the team in March. If you make the cut, fine, but you'll get no special treatment from any of my staff. Any questions?"

I had none for the moment and I wanted to digest this bit of information, so I shook my head and got ready to leave.

"Marlowe, just so you know. This deal I made with the Jenkins' is entirely dependent on your good behavior. If you so much as get a tardy notice, the deal is off. From what I heard about you and some guy at a football game recently, I doubt it will take too long for you to blow it. Have a nice day."