As much as I was happy for my mother to have some fun in her life, and not just work and me, I was also a bit concerned. We had been in London for only a few weeks now, so it was pretty natural that I was caring. Even though the guy seemed pretty decent. We never know a monster next to us, after all.
"Uhm, Mum?" I asked her, seeing she was paying attention to the piano she had been playing for about an hour already.
"Yes, sweetheart?"
I leaned onto the wall, which was kind of dividing the living room and kitchen, with a mug of tea in my hands as I took in a breath, "How long have you known this H-guy?"
"Henry," I heard her clarify, to which she started playing some new piece. "We've known each other for a few years already."
As a sign of understanding, I nodded. However, it still looked like she had something more to say, or maybe she just remembered some more of their encounters. A few years could even mean that they met in university or something like that.
"He was your uncle's classmate," she stated after playing a couple more notes.
So I was close. Mum's brother had studied music, and this Henry guy was playing in an orchestra. The family meetings in the future could be quite interesting if they started seriously dating. Or stayed dating. Or weren't they yet?
"How are the girls?"
Mum's voice stopped me just as I was prepared to leave for my bedroom. I did tell her some news my friends told me over the calls we made and some texts, but nothing over this weekend.
"Good," I shrugged. "Nothing special over there."
"Yeah, it was always such a peaceful town."
I smiled over the thought of my home town. She was right. At least from what I knew, there was never much going on in the district we lived in. The pregnant student was something extra, I heard for the first time from there.
Soon, I was back in my room, checking if I had forgotten to do something for school. Thankfully, there was nothing undone, so I had a few hours of free time. Nice.
Since it was Sunday, I had nothing to do. Of course, I could watch a movie or something, but I just didn't feel like it. Everything suddenly seemed so boring when I had time just for myself. I didn't even have anyone to hang out with. All my friends were far away, together, could hang out any time, and I was stuck here, all alone.
Sighing, I laid down on my bed and stared at the ceiling. It was so white. So empty. It felt good to look up there from time to time. Although now it didn't feel that way. It was just freaking lonely. It looked like a mental hospital—just as Amy had stated.
"Sidney?" I heard my mum's voice from the corridor. I turned my head to face the door as I could hear her steps behind it. "Your father called."
"Oh… Why?" I asked, waiting for her to come in.
Leaning on my door frame seconds later, she smiled. "He asked if they could be here for Christmas, with us."
Now, I had to sit up. First of all, I was surprised—not badly though. I just didn't expect Dad to spend Christmas with us and his new family together. Even though it sounded nice. Thankfully, this family wasn't on bad terms among the members. A dream of most, I could only guess. What a win.
"Okay," I shrugged, to which I remembered something. "And uh… the girls asked if they could come over for New Year's."
"Of course they can."
"Thanks," I gave her a smile before she turned around and left my room.
I sighed as I laid back down on my bed. That piece of furniture felt so big now. Maybe it was because this room was smaller than my previous one. Even then, I felt so small, so tiny, lying there.
Just as I was back to staring at the ceiling, my phone vibrated, which made me look at it to find out who was messaging me. For a short second, I got slightly startled, thinking it was that blonde chick from school. Although I could be almost sure she had no way of finding me on social media—she didn't even know my name. The one percent possibility scared me a little, even though I had nothing to be scared of. She was just a pathetic high school bully who had to scrub the floor as her job, part-time, probably. She was just a loser who was trying to get some attention.
Though the message was obviously from one of my friends. Delilah texted me and sent me a photo of her new dog. Cute little creature. Their old one died a year ago, and it seemed like her family wanted a short break from pets after having Ben for a long time.
Hearing my phone ring, I grabbed it, once again, soon seeing that my dad was the caller. Accepting the call, I spoke up, "Hi, Dad."
"Hi, sweetheart," he greeted me. I could hear someone in the background talking and sounds of traffic. He was probably in the city now. "I just talked to your mother, but she didn't tell me what you want for Christmas yet."
A smile crept over my lips at the thought of my dad in a shopping centre while trying to find out what to buy his teenage daughter. I would say that it would be easier if our family didn't get separated, but it probably wouldn't be much of a difference. No one really knows what others want anyway.
"I don't know, Dad," I answered, sighing. My words were the truth; I hadn't really known what I could want for that event for the past few years. Thankfully, for my parents, I always came up with something in the end. "Maybe the Absolution vinyl. You know—Muse."
There was silence for a moment on the other side of the call; perhaps the caller was thinking about the band. I already got Black Holes and Revelations as a Christmas present two years ago or so, but he probably forgot about it, and now he was thinking about where he knew the band's name from. Parents. They always want us to remember everything, but they themselves forget.
"Absolution, you said?" Dad asked after a few more seconds, making sure he heard the name right.
I nodded, although he couldn't see me at the moment, "Yeah, Absolution by Muse."
Dad hummed, to which there was silence on the other side once again, as well as on mine. The awkwardness could be smelled for hundreds of kilometres—we hadn't talked with each other that much since my parents' divorce. Just occasional calls. Although we did see each other face to face a few times since then, those weren't full of conversations, either.
"Uhm, what about you guys?"
"I've already talked to your mother about that, sweetheart," my dad said like I was worrying about something serious. "Just something small."
"Okay," I smiled. "So, how is Paris?"
There came a chuckle from the other side as my dad probably thought about something funny before he answered, "Daphné is all work and, well, same for me, but I'm more worried about the pregnancy."
Smiling, I nodded even though it still felt somewhat weird to hear him talk about his new wife. To tell the truth, he didn't talk about her and their little family much around me, as he was probably feeling bad for me and my mum. I couldn't blame him, but I also felt a bit bad for him—feeling like he did wrong, though he just wanted to be happy. And to think that everything was pretty peaceful on top of that. No one was the bad guy here—or so I thought.
"Your mum was the same," I heard him say, which made me chuckle. So even though he didn't love my mum anymore, he fell in love with a similar type of person.
"I'm not surprised."
"How's the new school?" he asked suddenly.
Sighing lightly, I shrugged, "It's alright."
"Any friends?"
"Nah, not yet," I rolled my eyes. That seemed to be the main concern of my parents—to make sure I did not end up alone for the rest of my high school studies.
"You'll find some soon, don't you worry."
Smiling again, I looked at the phone screen, the call had been ongoing for almost half an hour now. I had never called with anyone in my family this long when the three of us were still under one roof. Not even with my grandparents. Times really had changed.
"Alright, I need to go. New case," Dad announced seconds before we ended the call. He was a lawyer just like my mum—that was how they met. Or at least they had told me that they started dating after meeting as interns at a law firm. So romantic.