Suck it and See

The summer after graduating high school, for most people, is one of the best summer's of their life. Eighteen, graduated—finally done with being treated like a child—three glorious months of freedom spent getting drunk with your friends before going your separate ways for college.

That was supposed to be my summer.

Instead, my three months of liberation would be spent incarcerated at my grandma’s—who I last saw, along with the rest of my family, when I was eight for my grandpa’s funeral—beach house in Malibu. The incredible house, with its own private section of beach, was the only silver lining I had found in this shit situation. At least school was finally done. It had only been two weeks and none of my so-called friends had called me yet. I perked up at the sound of the door opening, tossing my cigarette off the deck and quickly scrambling up to my feet from the lounge chair, “See, this hasn’t been that bad, Rose,” My mother approached me, a warm smile on her face.

I took a deep breath, letting the ocean air envelop me entirely. My hair whipped around my face as I stared at the ocean that was meters in front of me. The sound of waves crashing against the shore echoed peacefully through the air, “Yeah, but it’s only been two weeks, I’m sure it’ll get much worse.” My attitude made the smile leave my mom’s face and made one grow on my own. “How was dinner?”

“It was good, I still don’t know why you didn’t want to come,” I felt the tone in her voice change as I felt a lecture coming. She went on about the same stuff she had been yammering at me about all week. I chose to tone it out, “You haven’t seen any of your cousins since you were little, Claudia and Heather are practically your age and you haven’t spent any time with them, this summer is your chance to reconnect.”

Her words made me cringe as I tried to map out an escape route, “They’re like twelve.”

My response wasn’t good enough for her as her voice raised slightly, “Claudia is finishing up her driver’s ED course to get her license and Heather just got done with her junior year in high school... Them being younger than you is not the problem; Melissa is 21—you used to look up to her—and now the two of you barely speak to each other.”

“Mom, I keep telling you, we lost touch and now we’re just too different for it to work... Please stop, I am sick of having this conversation,” I wonder if she knew that her words meant nothing to me. Nothing would ever make me reach out. I didn’t want to be here, but I had to be, so it was going to be under my terms, and that meant I was going to be a beach bum by myself. No family bonding time for me.

“Well, Nana heard your aunt’s and I talking and she was on the same page about seeing you get along better with the girls'...” I gave my mother a skeptical look, already knowing I wasn’t going to like what she was going to say next, “She went ahead and bought you all tickets to the One Direction concert tonight, just you girls! Doesn’t that sound like so much fun?”

I stared blankly at my mom, unable to find the words as the information continued to process through my brain. I didn’t want to go to the One Direction concert at all, and now I was being forced to go listen to some boyband with a group of snobby bitches, who unfortunately share the same bloodline as me.

“I don’t want to go to a stupid One Direction concert!”

I tried not to audibly groan, but failed miserably as my mother’s eyes narrowed on me, “I’m getting real sick of your attitude, Rosie,” It took every ounce of self-control to not roll my eyes at her. “Your Nana spent a lot of money on these tickets as a gift for you girls to rekindle your relationship, your cousin's are friends you will have for life, I don’t want you to miss out on the opportunity to get close to them.”

I couldn’t suppress the eye roll much longer. “Why doesn’t Greg have to spend the summer rekindling his relationships? They’re not just my cousins, you know...”

“Your brother wanted to come, but he is taking a few classes this summer to get ahead on his studies,” By get ahead on his studies, she meant retake the classes he failed the semester before, “Besides, your Nana wanted to spend this summer with just us gals. She is getting pretty old now and you never know how much time she has left, all she wants is to see her grandchildren not treat each other like strangers. So you are going to shut your mouth, go in there to thank her like the perfect granddaughter you are, and then run your but upstairs to get ready for this concert.”

I went to move past her, accepting my defeat with my head hung low. Her hand came up, pressing against my shoulder to stop me, “Rosie, I swear, if you go to this concert looking like a bum I will make your life extra hard this summer.”

“Okay mom, I’ll dress up,” My words brought a satisfied smile to my mother’s face, we began walking back towards the patio door together.

She slid it open, closing it behind us. “If you promise to put in an effort, I’ll even let you drink a glass of wine or two with Melissa before the show; Claudia will be driving to get more practice.”

I laughed at my mother’s attempt to blackmail me into having a good time, “How very European of you, mom.”

She cracked a smile, “I was once your age too, I remember how to have a good time. Every summer from age fourteen to twenty-one I spent in Germany with your Nana. Your grandpa would always be working and your aunts would only come out for the first week or two, but I would stay the whole summer, every summer.” She lead her way through the kitchen to the living room, “What my parents and sisters didn’t realize is that almost every night I would sneak out with the neighbor’s daughter and we would hit up all the nightclubs and discos in town, drinking until the sun came up. The drinking age was sixteen in Germany, but they never checked, every night we were left rushing home to get in before our parents woke up. We kept it going for years; Nana never found out.”

I smiled at my mom’s story, she was who I had to thank for my wild, rebellious side. She calmed down when she met my father, they started dating at twenty-seven and he killed her spirit by age thirty when he convinced her to marry him and bear his children. My father—an investment banker—is possibly the most boring man on this planet; all he does is work. He is who I blame for my lack of interest in interacting with the rest of t the world. He also awarded me my dry sense of humor and my bitchy resting face, which makes me look disinterested and irritated at all times.

My mother’s smile beamed as we came into view of my Nana and aunt Kathy, “Rose is so excited for the concert tonight,” She spoke up for me, earning an equally enthusiastic responses back from my aunt and grandma.

I forced on a fake smile, “Yep. So excited,” I bared my teeth, walking over to give my Nana a hug. “Thank you so much for the surprise, Nana, I can’t wait for tonight.”

I averted my gaze to my mother’s earning a nod of approval, “I’m glad you like it sweetheart, I just want my girls to enjoy their time together.”

Her words made me want to vomit, but I just smiled and nodded instead. “Why don’t you and Melissa get ready together?” Before I had a chance to speak, Kathy was shouting, “Melly, come down please.”

Seconds later, the sounds of footsteps descended down the stairs, “Yeah, mom?” Melissa stood with her hand on her hip, half of her long, blonde, hair was pulled into a bun on the top of her head and the other half was pin straight, reaching the middle of her back. There was no way her hair was real.

“Why don’t you take Rosie upstairs to join you girls in getting ready for the concert?”

Melissa’s eyes moved to me, she looked me up and down, putting on her plastic smile, “Of course!” The fake energy pulsated off her and I was the only one who seemed to notice. “Come on Rose, let’s go pick you out something to wear!”

I rolled my eyes, forcing my feet to move as I shuffled along behind her; this summer was going to be a long one.

Notes

Comment for the next chapter. Things get very NC17 when Harry arrives so if you are underage please stop reading.