they’re good, I think
Yeah
Did you ever do something
that really hurt one of your
parents? Or say something?
I’m doing it rn
Disappointing my mom
It sucks.
Yeah. I had to tell my mom
something that hurt her
She’s kinda not talking to me now.
Sorry
And same, actually
But IMO truth is important
even when it’s hard
Dots flashed and flashed. Zach shot a dirty look over at his brother, who was laughing like a manic donkey at some stupid prank video.
Lyra’s message came up:
I guess so
I’m sorry I chose truth tho
Hurts
Sorry you’re hurting
“Who are you talking to?” Jay asked. “Is it your girlfriend?”
“Fuck off, fuckface.”
“Man, if you get a chick in Laughlin, Mom is going lose it all the way. She’s gonna think you’re gonna do her like she did Grandma.”
“That’s stupid. Grandma and Mom had a full-on nuclear war.” Years ago, some kind of thing blew up between Mom and her mom. She’d never talked about it with Zach or Jay, but, not long after Grandpa died, Mom had had a series of angry phone calls with Grandma and tearful talks with Pop when they thought Zach and Jay were asleep, and then a few years where they’d been sent off on their own to West Texas for a week or two in the summer, when Grandma would try to pry information about Mom and Pop out of them. When Mom eventually decided they were old enough to choose for themselves if they wanted to go down for a visit, they’d both said no. Neither had seen their grandmother since.
They’d said no mainly, Zach thought, because West Texas was a miserable place to spend a week or two in July, but also because they were old enough to recognize the ice between Mom and Grandma and to choose loyalty to their mom. Zach and Jay had had a couple heavy discussions about just that.
He had no clear idea what had happened between those two, but he thought it had to do with him and Jay somehow. Whatever it was, he knew it was nothing like what was going on with him and Mom now.
“I’m just sayin’,” his brother pushed. “She’s gonna think she’s losing you, and she’s gonna lose her shit.”
“AndI’mjust sayin’fuck off.”
Jay made his stupid ‘whatever’ shrug and went back to YouTube.