Luck and Love: XIV

Michael’s life seemed fine after Zoë got back. He didn’t quite know how to deal with his nightly visits from Dana, but he figured it would work itself out as everything else had. He and Zoë had been dating for a week when she finally invited him over to her house for dinner.

“My parents decided that they’ve given us enough space,” Zoë rolled her eyes as she told Michael. They were sitting on the steps of the school after the last bell, cuddled up as close as they could be. The teachers passed them with scowls at their position, Zoë sitting in Michael’s lap as they waited for their respective rides with his arms around her and her hands in his. “They want to meet you for dinner at our house. Tonight.” Michael started at that news.

“Tonight? Without any warning or anything at all?” Zoë nodded.

“They want to make sure that you have no aversions to their little… plans I guess.” She sighed and leaned back against him a little more. He could tell how exasperated she was about her parents. “They think that having a last minute dinner plan that they might catch you doing something you aren’t supposed to.” Mike laughed out loud at that. He had told Zoë about his business with Candy and had even conquered his aversion to talking about Rose. Zoë had blindsided him on those. He remembered being dragged into the bathroom and finding both Candy and Rose standing there, which looking a little embarrassed. Especially since they hadn’t known about each other. Still, Mike had to thank Zoë for that. It had cleared the air, and now she and Candy were friends. Rose still had nothing to say on the subject of Mike and he didn’t know why. She wouldn’t even look at him.

“You know all of my business. Still I guess I get it. Lana’s going to give me hell for it but I’ll definitely be there. When?” Zoë titled her head back and looked into his eyes. He smiled at the sparkle in them.

“Six thirty. And… try and wear something nice please? Just this once I swear. They have this thing about first impressions. I need this to be perfect.” She looked almost sad. “Oh and my cousin is staying with us for the school year, her parents got sent on an emergency archeology thing so she’s there. She’s like sixteen or something close to that…”

“How do you not know how old your own cousin is?”

“We didn’t used to even know each other. I told you we moved here a few years ago, before that I didn’t even know that she was my cousin. She just kind of showed up in my life… But she’s really cool. We’re good friends, even if we do have to share a room.” Michael chuckled. The hole in his wall had made he and Dana very good friends. Lack of barriers didn’t seem to do more than make people better acquainted.

“Wait… if you two share a room, where are we going to sleep?” Zoë spun on his lap and slapped him playfully on the chest.

“Ow! That hurt!”

“Here let me fix it then!” Mike’s laughter was silenced as Zoë kissed him.

Ok, he’d been summoned not invited.


By the time five o clock rolled around, Mike was ready to scream. Lana had made his life hell since their little yelling session over the wall: She had made food he was allergic to one night and hadn’t told anyone, she had accidentally spilled a glass of wine on him not five minutes later, and the next morning his alarm hadn’t gone off. He had five minutes to get ready, and he knew that Lana had turned off the alarm. Numerous arguments had made the Mike’s father and Dana avoid the two of them constantly. Then Mike came home that night.
When he arrived he felt his gut drop. Lana’s car was in the drive. She wasn’t supposed to be home this early. But there it was. He walked in the front door and caught a glimpse through the kitchen window of something familiar out in the back yard. He stepped over to get a better look as he put his cell phone on the counter and stopped in his tracks. She had put all of his stuff, his entire bedroom, in the backyard. He sprinted up stairs and found his door was locked and covered in plastic. Just as he reached his door Lana came up the stairs.

“Oh, we found a termite and figured we’d rather be safe than sorry!”

“BITCH! You stupid, dumb slut! How the fuck did you find a termite in my room only? They live in the floor, you stupid…” Lana’s eyes narrowed at him.

“WHAT did you call me young man?”

“You FUCKING heard me, bitch!” Lana crossed the hall and slapped him across the face, a stinging open palm slap. One of her nails cut his cheek. She tried to slap him again and he caught her arm, gripping it for all he was worth. “You are doing this because I talked back to you, huh? All this? You’re just a little cunt. You aren’t even worth my time. I’ve got to put my bedroom back together.” He pushed her back away from him and tore the plastic from his door.

“Good luck, punk! I took some measures…” before she had finished her sentence he was in his room. He simply stood there. The hole had been repaired a few days ago, but now it was everything. His bed was in pieces, not broken but dissembled. His nightstands were the same. Everything he had was in boxes, everything that wasn’t out in the backyard. He heard the front door open and heard Dana’s voice.

“Mom? What are you doing home so… Why is Michael’s stuff out in the yard?” Footsteps on the stairs, then Dana and her mother embracing.

“Oh we found a termite in Michael’s room, so we decided…”

“Mom that doesn’t even make sense, termites would be in the base boards not the second story. You can’t just seal off Michael’s room for something like termites, it would have to be the whole house!” Michael stormed out of his room and faced the two women, Dana looking as confused with her mother as Michael was and Lana looking smug.

“This was what the man recommended…”

“Lying bitch.” Dana looked at Michael in shock. Lana did the same.

“You don’t get to call me…”

“Fuck yeah I do, when you pull shit like this! Don’t tell me that I can’t call you a liar! You’re too stupid to make up a good excuse to tear apart my room!” Michael stormed past her and down the stairs, grabbing his cell phone off of the counter. He punched the speed dial for his father and held the phone up to his ear. It rang twice before he got an answer.

“Mikey? Everything all right? You know not to call me unless it’s an emergency…”

“She took my room apart and threw it into the backyard! Everything, even my bed! She claims that there’s termites in my room and she was taking precautions!”

“Who, Lana? Oh god… why can’t you two get along? I’ll be home as early as I can. Don’t start anything else Mikey, alright?” Mike agreed and heard the click as his father hung up the phone. He looked at Lana, standing at the base of the stairs expectantly.

“Well?”

“He’ll be home early. And I’m going over to my girlfriend’s house for dinner, so I’ll let you two deal with this mess. If my room isn’t back together when I get back…”

“You can’t threaten me!”

“Oh yeah? You don’t even want to know where you’re taking this war. I swear to God you will wish you’d never done this.”

“What’ll you do?”

“I’ll give my dad the photos.” Instantly Lana paled. Mike smirked. Dana just looked confused.

“Mom… did you cheat on…”

“No! The little creep is lying!” Mike laughed.

“Want me to show her too? I’ve got you now.