Julie got in my dad’s face now. “You don’t seem to understand, Scott. I’ll do whatever it takes to keep a delinquent like your son away from my daughter!”
“He’s just a kid! You make him sound like the scum of the earth!” He wasn’t backing down and it was clearly pissing Julie off.
“He’s not good enough for her! I bet she doesn’t even know half of the things he’s gotten up to!”
Gianna interrupted their argument, “I don’t care about his past, mom. I only care about his present and presently he’s my boyfriend. You can’t do anything about it.”
Julie slowly looked from Gianna to me to my dad. She had a strange look in her eyes now and her face was going pale. “Take your son and leave, Scott.”
My dad was taken aback. “What?” he asked faintly.
“I want your son out of my house and away from my daughter permanently. Take your degenerate son with you and leave.” She moved away from him toward the doorway. “You can come home when you send him back to live with his mom.”
“You fucking bitch,” my dad whispered. Julie’s face crumpled and she left the room.
Gianna jumped off my lap to follow her mom. A few seconds later, I heard Gianna and her mom fighting.
My dad still had a stunned look on his face. I didn’t really know what to say to him, so all I said was, “I’m sorry, dad.”
He cleared his throat. “Don’t worry about it, Caleb. I wouldn’t want to stay with a woman who looked down on my son, anyways. I think it’s best if we leave right away. I still have the condo and it’s in-between renters. We’ll go there. Go pack enough for the next few days.”
My dad looked defeated as he climbed the stairs. I’d never wanted to hit a woman before, but I was coming real close when it came to Julie.
I didn’t really see any choice but to do as he asked. I ran up to my bedroom and grabbed my largest duffel bag. I was throwing things in there when Gianna slammed into my room. “What are you doing? Where are you going?” She was panicking and I wanted to comfort her but didn’t know how. Things were so fucked up at the moment. More than anything, I was hurting for my dad. He loved that crazy bitch.
“Leaving. So is my dad. Since your mom kicked us out, we’re going to my dad’s condo.”
She had tears in her eyes. “Are you going to break up with me?”
Rushing over to her, I hugged her. “God no! It’ll be okay, don’t cry.” I used my thumbs to wipe away her tears. “Please stop crying, Gianna. It’s only twenty minutes from here.”
Taking a deep breath, she forced herself to stop crying. “It’s just that I’ve gotten so used to you always being here. Are you going to switch schools?”
“I don’t see why I should. It’s not that far. I can even pick you up every day.” That finally got a smile out of her.
“My mom would love that,” Gianna croaked sarcastically.
“She’ll probably sit on the front porch with a shotgun.” I laughed just picturing it. My Camaro would never survive.
“I’m trying not to freak out here,” Gianna explained. “I need to talk to my dad. I’ll be right back. Don’t leave yet. I have to go get my phone because my dad needs to hear about how crazy my mom is acting.”
Gianna went to her room to call her dad in Houston. Would he really back her up? Or would he agree with Julie that I wasn’t good enough for their daughter? Julie said she’d do anything to keep us apart, but how much crazier could she get? She’d already kicked me and my dad out of the house in an effort to get rid of me.
Could Julie talk Gianna into breaking up with me? I didn’t think so. Julie couldn’t talk Gianna into something as small as staying in cheerleading, so I doubted she’d succeed in getting her to break up with me. The thought of not being with Gianna caused an ache to my chest. I didn’t want to lose her.
Before I met Gianna, I’d thought I was living life to the fullest, wild and carefree. Now that I had her in my life I understood what it really meant to feel alive.
What could be done about Julie, though? Obviously something drastic would have to happen to get her to see reason. As I was zipping up my bag, an idea popped into my head.
Going into Gianna’s room, I found her crying while on the phone. “Dad, you have to talk to her. She’s gone psycho. You remember how crazy she can be.”
Gianna barely glanced at me as I went to her closet and pulled out a suitcase. Opening it on her bed, I started throwing clothes and shoes in. I took the suitcase to her dresser and tossed in bras, panties and socks.