“This guy asked you to marry him and you said yes?”
I folded my arms, ignoring them until they were done.
“He asked me to marry him yesterday,” I said sternly. “I said yes. I love him. End of story.”
My mom gave me a wave of disgust. “Love,” she scoffed, “you’re too young to know what that is, let alone get married.”
My father turned to Dex who was still standing beside Rebecca and taking their comments in stride. “Didn’t you know that it’s customary to ask the father’s permission before you propose to his daughter?”
“Well, I thought about it,” Dex said slowly. “But I figured you’d say no.”
“Damn right I’d say no!” he yelled at him, his face starting to go red. I really hoped this didn’t start a major argument because as sharp-tongued as Dex was, my dad’s temper was worse.
“Hey, dad,” I said, pointing at him. “This little reaction right here? Maybe that’s the reason I don’t live here anymore.”
“Oh, where did we go wrong?” my mom cried out dramatically. She turned away and started shuffling to the living room, probably to get the wine out. “It’s our fault, Daniel,” she muttered hopelessly as she went. “We pushed her away.”
Well, she wasn’t entirely wrong about that. I looked at my dad who wasn’t too happy about me talking back to him. But you know what, fuck that. I just watched Dex—my fiancé—get verbally slaughtered by my parents and he just stood there, taking it and not backing down. I wasn’t going to back down either.
“I’m sorry if you think I’ve made a mistake,” I told him. “I’m sorry if you think he’s not good enough for me or maybe I’m not good enough for him, or we’re just not good enough for you. I’m sorry I moved out, and that I’m, once again, not living the life you wanted me to. I’m sorry I’m just a big disappointment to you and I’m making all the wrong choices. I’m sorry…actually, you know what, Dad, I’m not sorry about any of that.”
His eyes grew larger behind his glasses.
I went on, pointing behind me at Dex. “I love that man and that man loves me. He loves me for who I am, no matter what I look like, what I do, how I act. He loves me and he understands me, and whatever he doesn’t understand, he tries damn hard to. You and mom can disapprove of him all you want, and you can disapprove of me all you want, but I really don’t give a shit anymore. I’m done trying to please you, to make you love me, to make you proud of me. I don’t need any of that anymore because that man over there gives that to me and he gives it freely. I’m happy, okay, and once the two of you realize that, maybe the happier you will be. Because you’re both looking pretty damn miserable with your lives.”
I was breathless by the time I finished my speech, breathless and feeling high, and it was punctuated by the sound of breaking glass.
I turned my head to see my mother standing in the hall, a wine bottle smashed at her feet. Droplets of it had splattered on her pants, looking like blood.
“Oh,” she said distantly, looking down at the floor in slow motion. “It’s okay, I’ll clean it up.”
Suddenly Rebecca was jogging down the hall to help my mother, leading her into the kitchen. Whatever I said had just stung the hell out of her.
Good.
I looked back at my dad who was totally acting like my mom didn’t just drop a whole bottle of wine. He was speechless. This was a first for him.
I felt Dex come up behind me, resting his hand on my shoulder as Rebecca came out of the kitchen with paper towels and started wiping up the floor.
“Mr. Palomino,” he said, reverting back to being formal. “I love your daughter. I promise I’ll keep loving her for as long as we’re together. I know she’s important to you, I know she’s precious. And I know she can be a pain in the ass. But I just want you to know that I have her best interests—and your best interests—at heart.”
My father slowly nodded, eyeing the both of us like he was unsure what we were going to say or do next. Having my father be afraid of me wasn’t a new thing, but this time it felt good. I felt like he was respecting me. I felt like I got some power back.
He cleared his throat and straightened his shoulders. He gave us a smile that might have been forced, but it was still there and that’s what counted. “Well, I hope you both like roast. It’s been in the slow cooker all day.”
Then he turned and walked over to Rebecca, helping her clean up the floor.
I looked up at Dex and twisted my lips as if to say, well that’s that.
He smiled warmly at me as if he were proud as fuck and kissed my forehead. That was that.
***
After the altercation, the rest of the evening went smoothly. Ada came home right after school and she burst into tears the minute she saw me, mascara running down her cheeks.
“You should have worn waterproof,” I said to her as I held her in a tight hug and she sobbed into my shoulder.
“I tried a new brand,” she said, pulling out a monogrammed handkerchief that was probably by some hip designer and dotted her cheeks with it. “It was too clumpy,” she sobbed.
We went out to the car and moved our bags inside, including the camera with all our footage. Dex and I were taking over my old bedroom while Rebecca was sleeping on the pull-out couch in my father’s den. While dinner was getting ready—my mom feeling more chipper despite the wine incident—we set up a makeshift studio in my room and invited Ada in to watch. We went through all the footage together and even though it was hard to watch sometimes, reliving the fear that was stalking us just yesterday, it also felt good. Without any editing yet or music or anything to enhance it, we could tell we had made the best Experiment in Terror episode ever.
Ada leaned into me as we sat together on the bed, while Rebecca and Dex sat on the edge of it, staring up at the computer monitor on my desk. “Having second thoughts now?”
I smiled and shook my head. “Nope. I’m sad that it’s over but I know we’re doing the right thing. Going out with a bang.”
She brushed her blonde bangs out of her eyes and put her head on my shoulder. “I’m glad I don’t have to worry about you anymore.”
“I just hope I don’t have to worry about you,” I said.
She tensed up for a moment, and I waited for her to say something but she never did. I’d have to come back to that later. Finally she stuck out her long leg and tapped Dex on the back with her foot. “Hey, bro.”
Dex eyed her over his shoulder. “Hey watch it, Little Fifteen.”
“Well you’re my big brother now, aren’t you?”
“I will be,” he said. “And when I am, you can expect fifteen years worth of wedgies and atomic wedgies and noogies until I’m all caught up.”
She stuck her tongue out at him. “I turn sixteen next month.”
“It gets even worse for you then,” he said with a grin. “Too bad there is no song called Little Sixteen.”
“I’m sure you’ll think of something,” I told him dryly.
I settled back into the pillows, and with my sister at my side and my fiancé and best friend in the same room with me, I was struck by how damn lucky I was. Maybe I was jobless, and maybe my parents would never understand me, but I had these people in my life who did.
I stared down at my ring.
I was the luckiest bitch in the world.