The kid threw an epic temper tantrum and it seriously took a half hour to calm her down, only for her to insist on two billion bedtime stories and whatever the hell else she could come up with. Was Cerise a bad person for deeply disliking this child? Vicky looked exhausted and she could tell Terry was working really hard at not yelling at this devil spawn. In fact, it was pretty admirable how calm he was being. He kept talking to her in an even, stern voice and not backing down on anything. A few times Vicky gave in and let Britt have her way but Terry always held firm and insisted she didn’t need yet another glass of water or hug or whatever.
By the time she was finally down it was getting pretty late and Cerise just wanted to go home. At this point it was practically past her own bedtime! But she sucked it up and sat down on the couch with Terry and Vicky.
“She like that every night?” asked Terry.
Vicky shrugged. “I guess.”
“Ok well, listen, I wanted to talk to you about some stuff,” Terry went on.
“Oh shit, I’m sorry I didn’t even offer you guys a drink or anything,” Vicky sat up, rubbing her forehead.
“It’s ok, we don’t need anything,” said Terry.
Cerise wouldn’t have minded a glass of water, but she let Terry go on. He went into his whole rant about his parents and his bio-mom and stuff. Vicky was appropriately aghast and confirmed that she’d never known anything about it. She thanked Terry for the information, noting that it would be great fuel in case John tried to sue for custody. She rambled for a bit about what a dick he was and blah, blah, blah, Cerise was seriously having trouble keeping track of all the Trebichavsky dramas. She knew it was terribly insensitive of her to think that way but she couldn’t help it… maybe she was just tired.
Terry then went on about how he’d moved in with Cerise but that this could only be a temporary solution since they were now back together.
“Oh my god, why don’t you move in here?!” Vicky exclaimed before Terry had even finished his sentence.
Terry seemed quite grateful that he hadn’t had to ask directly but Cerise was starting to regret the entire idea. Visiting Terry here would be a huge pain in the ass, not just geographically but because Britt was such a terror. Cerise just knew that Vicky was going to rely on Terry to be the kid’s second parent but Terry was still a kid himself; he shouldn’t be taking care of a toddler.
“You’re going to live with that woman?”
Terry sighed. He knew it would be bullshit to tell his parents the news. But telling his parents was Vicky’s only condition for letting Terry move in. She thought that John would maybe try to use it against her in court or something if they were all secretive about it. So whatever, fine, he texted them that he wanted to talk and they all agreed to meet at his mom’s house the next weekend.
Cerise squeezed his hand as he glared at his mom. He was glad to have her along for moral support. Life was so much easier with a girlfriend.
“Mom, it totally makes sense for me to live there. Britt needs me.”
“That child? What she needs is a father,” Louise said snootily.
“Yeah, exactly,” Terry nodded. “She needs a stable male influence, someone she can actually count on,” he said pointedly, knowing his mom wouldn’t argue with a slam against his dad.
“Well, I certainly can’t argue with that,” Louise huffed. She turned to John. “Don’t you have anything to say about all this?”
He shrugged and sighed. “It’ll be good for Brittany
“And what about your brothers?” asked Louise.
“What about them?”
“There’s no one to drive Joey to soccer practice! And you’re supposed to be teaching Evan to drive! That was our deal. What am I supposed to do now?”
Terry exhaled, unable to think of a retort.
Cerise spoke up, softly, hesitantly. “Um, no offence but is that the only reason you adopted Terry?” She used air quotes on the word adopted. “So you’d have someone to take care of your real kids?”
Oh! Nice! Terry wanted to laugh out loud and kiss Cerise for coming up with such a good slam, but he restrained himself and simply cocked his head, staring his mother down.
“Oh honestly,” she said, shame-faced.
“Um, so anyway,” Cerise went on. “We were thinking Terry could take his bed from here, ‘cause it’s smaller than the bed at his dad’s house. And um, maybe a dresser and some stuff.”
“Why can’t you just move back home?” Louise asked, her eyes starting to tear up.
“God mom, what’s the big deal? I’m eighteen! I would’ve been moving out soon anyway!”
His mom was full-on crying now. “You called me mom,” she sputtered.
“Yeah.” Terry didn’t know what to say so he stood up and his mom jumped up and hugged him.
“Oh Terry, I’m so sorry! I’m so sorry I lied to you all those years! I never meant to hurt you.”
“Yeah, ok, there, there,” he said, trying to pull away.
She finally let go and wiped her eyes. “I’m so glad you two decided to get back together. It’s so nice to see my little Casanova stay with a girl for longer than a week. He was always the type who wanted to play the field… just like his father.”
“Must we?” asked John with a sigh.
“And we’re done,” snarked Terry. “Where’s Evan and Joey? I need them to help me move my shit.”
Louise called out for Evan and Joey to join them, and told them they’d have to help Terry get his things. They complained, predictably.
“Do you guys even know why I moved out?”
“I told them,” nodded Louise.
“So that means you’re not even my real brother, so why should I help you?” whined Joey.
“It means we’re half-brothers, retard,” said Evan.
“Like anything on dad’s side counts,” scoffed Joey.
“What the hell does that mean?” grumbled John.
“Dad, do you have any information on Bridget Thompson?” asked Terry, ignoring his stupid brothers.
His mom started crying again while his dad said he didn’t really have much info.
“Can you give me whatever you’ve got?”
“You’re going to try to find her?” asked Louise in between nose blows.
“Maybe,” shrugged Terry as he walked upstairs to get his shit.
With the very unhelpful help of his stupid brothers he managed to move his mattress, a bedside table with a lamp and a small dresser to Vicky’s place. Britt’s bed was moved into Vicky’s room and he set up his junk in Britt’s room, which she’d still use as her playroom so it was still painted pink and packed with toys.
Moving in was a pain in the ass because Brittany
He kind of knew that even though this would be his official house, he’d probably crash at Karine’s whenever he could, and maybe even at Cerise’s if her mom kept being cool about it.
“Uh, hey Cerise,” said Evan as he kicked Terry’s mattress into the least crowded corner of the room.
“Yeah?” Cerise responded, dropping a handful of sheets down on the bed.
“So um, how’s your sister?” asked Evan, not making eye contact.
“Julie? She’s good.” She shook out the sheets.
“That’s cool.” He grabbed at the sheets, still not meeting Cerise’s eye and helped her make the bed.
“I’ll tell her you asked.”
“No! I mean, no, that’s fine. Just say I said hi.” He shrugged like it was no big deal.
“Ok.”
“Chicken!” squealed Britt, swinging Stir-Fry by its leg.
“No, that’s my chicken,” said Terry, gently trying to pry the toy away from her hands. Her grip was like iron.
“Mine!” she shreaked.
“Britt, this is my special chicken. I’ll get you your own chicken.”
“Why I can’t play wif it?”
“Well, ‘cause someone I love gave it to me as a special present and it’s not for playing with, it’s for looking at.”
“Who give it?”
“Cerise,” Terry smiled, looking across the room. Cerise smiled back and Evan pretended to puke.
“No, I love her equally as much as you.” Terry pulled her into an embrace. “Same as you love mommy and me equally.”
“My chicken!”
“Brittany
Britt threw herself on the floor and yelled and cried and they all walked around her, bringing in the rest of Terry’s stuff and setting it up.
Yeah, maybe moving in here wasn’t such a great idea after all.
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