My Short Story - Some Things Never Change

Some Things Never Change
By Marlee Besel

It was another sunny summer day in California. I could smell the ocean near by, hear the seagulls screeching… and my parents fighting downstairs. They’ve been doing that a lot recently. I just can‘t figure out why. The worst part is that I know as soon as I go down stairs they will stop and pretend like nothing was happening. I reluctantly got up out of bed and started down the stairs. There voices were becoming clearer now.
“We have to tell her.” My dad said in a very serious voice. I’d never heard him talk that way to anyone. His voice scared me. He almost sounded… worried? My dad was always so sure. Taking charge and going out on limb, this was weird, different. I stopped. Tell me what?
“At least wait a week.” My mom said. I could tell she was worried to. Worried about what? I waned to go comfort my mom. She always looked so fragile and weak. She had thin long red hair with light brown eyes that were framed with thin red eyelashes. She always wears plad shirts that are two sizes too big with jeans that she rolls up to her knees.
“That’s to late. It needs to be sooner.”
“Three days?”
“I really think we should tell her today, she needs to-“
I’d hit the squeaky stair. I should have known it was coming. I really hated my house. It is a very small blue house with green-carpeted stairs that look like they are from the 60’s. The windows are just regular squares, nothing special. And on top of all that we live in the middle if nowhere. You’d think that since we live in California there would be plenty of people near by and plenty to see, but no. We live near the edge of a cliff looking out towards the ocean, which really doesn’t bother me except that we are the only ones around. It is nice sometimes when I need peace and quiet, but most of the time just dull and boring.
“What is it?” I heard my mom ask.
“I heard someone on the stairs. Natalie’s awake.”
Dang. He did hear me. I kept walking down the stairs. When I reached the bottom of the stairs I saw my parents standing in the kitchen pretending like nothing had happened.
“Good morning sweetie.” My mom said with a big smile on her face. Of course, she would pretend like nothing was wrong.
I glanced at my dad. He looked like he was trying to smile, but it was no where near the dazzling smile that I loved. My dad always had a way to make me feel better even if I was in my worst mood ever. I think it’s because he can always find something good about any situation. Or maybe it’s because of how he looks, with his big smile, dark curly hair and blue eyes. He just somehow always looks happy. Not this morning though.
“Good morning.” I said flatly.
“Natalie…” It was my dad talking this time.
“Yeah?” I said nervously
“We need to have a talk. Sit down.”
Oh please, please no. We rarely ever had family discussions and when we did they always turned out badly for me. Like when I was 7 and they sat me down to tell me my fish had died. Or the time when I was 10 and my birthday party was canceled because everyone couldn’t make it or just didn’t want to come. I’m 15 now. They shouldn’t have to make a big deal out of everything. Why can’t they just tell me? I sat down, scared about what he was going to say.
“I got offered a promotion.” He said seriously.
“Dad, that’s great!” I said with a big smile on my face. If he got a promotion then why was he so sad?
He smiled half a smile. “Yeah, thanks. But there’s one bad thing about it.” He sighed. “The promotion is in Seattle.”
I was about to protest. Scream, yell and maybe cry about how I would not move to Seattle, but my dad saw this coming and intercepted.
“Now just wait a second, I’m not done.”
I waited impatiently for him to tell me.
“Thank you. Now, your mother and I were thinking that maybe I could go try out the job for a while and see how I like it. Then decide if we are moving or not.”
I thought that over for a little while, and decided I could win this one. He hated the rain, that’s why we moved here. He always said that the rain puts a damper on things, and the sun always brightens his mood.
“Okay.” I said with a little bit of a smile on my face.

Over the next few days I helped my dad with his packing. He had trouble finding matching suits and ties, which always made me laugh. He was trying to tell me that his blue and red polka dot tie matched his brown pants and his yellow jacket, that’s when I just gave up.
The night before he left we had a nice family dinner; well nice for my family. We ordered some pizza and Dr. Pepper then we sat down to watch a movie. We all ended up falling asleep on the couch.
“Natalie. Natalie. Natalie, wake up sweetie.” I heard my dad say.
I slowly opened my eyes to find his face right in front of mine. “Are you leaving?” I asked.
“Yeah, my ride is here.”
I sat up and gave him a big long hug and said good bye. Then me and my mom watched his car drive away and then another one drove up.
“He’s here!” My mom said.
“Who’s here?”
“Oh. Did I forget to tell you? I hired Paul to redo our living room as a surprise to your father when he gets back. Well if he comes back. If we move it just means our house will be worth more.” She said as she walked over to greet him.
When Paul stepped out of the car I knew I was in trouble. He was a tall muscular man with light brown hair and green eyes. He was wearing a long sleeve dark blue shirt that fit tightly around his body. He was also wearing light blue jeans that had a little bit of paint stains on them. There was no doubt about it, my mom found him attractive. Great.
Paul seemed like a nice guy. We would have gotten along okay if I hadn’t wanted to kill him so badly. Him and my mom started spending every second of every day together. They went hiking, swimming, to parties, they even went dancing, which is something my mom never did with my dad. I really can’t blame her though, he can’t dance, but she could have at least not gone with Paul.

“I can’t take it anymore!” I said to Lindsey. She was my best friend I could tell her anything. It was the worst day of my life when I found out she had to go live with her grandma for the summer in Montana. So the best I could do was talk to her on the phone.
“Maybe it’s not as bad as you think.” She said. “Maybe there just friends.”
“Yeah right! There down stairs drinking wine together right now!” I love Lindsey, but how could she be taking the other side with this?
“Okay! Geez! You don’t have to flip out on me!”
“Sorry, I just don’t understand how my mom could do this. I mean, my mom and my dad love each other. Or they did before Paul came into the picture.”
“I’m really sorry. The best you can do is-. Oh no my grandma is coming. I’m not supposed to be on the phone! I have to go. Sorry. Bye!”
“Bye.” I said, but she had already hung up.
I got up out of my bed and went down stairs to get some dinner.
“Natalie, look! We finished the living room!” My mom said with a big smile on her face. “Do you like it?”
They had painted our tan walls light green, replaced our old couch with a new black velvet one, added a love seat and arm chair that matched the couch. They even put in a glass coffee table and new flat screen TV.
I couldn‘t hide my excitement. I loved it. “Wow, mom. It looks amazing!”
“Well, I think I will leave you two to your new living room.” Paul said. “Ill call you to see the next time we can hang out Lisa.” He told my mom.
“Okay.” She said and gave him a hug on his way out.
“I almost forgot to tell you.” She said with a big grin. “Your father called. He said he didn’t like it in Seattle and is coming back! He will be here the day after tomorrow.”
I smiled too. “So you guys aren’t getting a divorce?”
She looked shocked. “A divorce? Why in earth would you think we would be getting a divorce?”
Now I was embarrassed. “Well… you and Paul were spending so much time together…It just looked like um… you um… liked him more than dad.”
She giggled
“What is so funny?” I said getting defensive now.
“Natalie.”
I had to wait a while before she stopped giggling.
“What?” I finally asked, getting impatient.
She calmed down enough to tell me.
“Paul has a boyfriend.” She said.