Someone to be there for him, keep him company while he feels like shit - someone to fill up this empty goddamn house, that echoes more and more every day, threatening to swallow him whole. #Metallica ride the lightning shirt movie"I'm not wasting my night watching a movie Steve, we're not in fucking grade school anymore," Carol says in a snotty voice. Tommy looks like he could maybe be persuaded, but Carol looks completely disgusted. Tommy and Carol look at each other, sharing one of those silent communications common to long-time couples. "I just want to hang out, watch a movie or something," Steve says. Steve already explained that he had a migraine earlier, that he's still not feeling great - but it apparently went in one ear and out the other with Carol. Tell me again why we can’t have a party?” His dad hardly ever touches the Stoli, but when Tommy reaches for the whiskey, Steve speaks up. At this point, there’s probably more water than vodka in the thing. Tommy steals another sip, filling the vodka bottle back up to the line he has marked with his finger with water from the tap. He doesn’t bother to mention it when his parents come home on Thursday. He ends up taking third place, which everyone assures him is great for his first meet. He's out of breath and sweating by the time he gets there, and Coach frowns at him during warmups. On Saturday morning he rides his bike to the pool, even though it takes thirty minutes of hard pedaling. Neither one wishes him luck for the swim meet. #Metallica ride the lightning shirt fullThey leave Steve with a freezer full of microwave dinners, money for pizza on the counter and the number for their hotel stuck to the refrigerator door. His parents leave to catch their flight on Friday morning. He just watches his mother carefully pack her clothes, her jewelry and makeup and perfume, each one a weapon that she will use to fend off her rivals - fighting for the love of a man who isn't capable of the emotion. Why won't you just stay here with me?īut he doesn't. He wouldn't treat you like this if he loved you. He knows that his father fired his secretary two days later, and he also knows that the new one is just as pretty as the old one. He knows that his parents shut themselves carefully away behind closed doors and had a screaming fight that lasted for hours, forgetting that Steve was outside and could hear them through the window overlooking the pool. Steve knows that after the last big trip, his father came back with lipstick stains on the collar of his nice blue shirt and incriminating receipts shoved into the pockets of his suit pants. She tosses a pale cream dress onto the pile on the floor, pulls out a blouse instead. But he really wanted his mom to be there. He’ll probably do better without his father watching – he’ll have more fun at least. Richard Harrington is a hard man to please: second is just the first to lose, Steven – he’s heard it more times than he can count. He doesn't care that his dad won't be there - he actually feels a little relieved. This is an important trip for him - he's trying to land a new account." "Honey, you know your father has to work. Coach said he wouldn't normally have a beginner compete so early, but Steve impressed him. "My first swim meet is Saturday," he says. It's only a five-day trip, but she's packing like she plans to be gone for a month. The winners are added to her garment bag, or folded in neat, precise lines and tucked into her suitcase, while the losers are discarded in a steadily growing heap on the floor. She considers all of them carefully, holding each garment out at arm’s length, before bringing it in front of her body in the mirror, biting her lip as she studies her reflection every time. She lingers over every choice, pulling dress after dress from the closet: black, red, and blue evening gowns, sundresses and shifts, even the horrible floral print dress that Grandma Harrington gave her one Christmas, which she never wears. Steve sits on the edge of the bed, watching his mother pack.
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