Unfaithful

14

Mother tried calling. First she called Mark a half a dozen times. Then she called me a half a dozen times. Mark called his lawyer and told him. He wasn't ready to speak to her just yet. He was still too angry about what she had done. Now that it was out about her blatant affair, he was receiving quite a bit of support.

At first she wouldn't accept the divorce papers. Then she took them and refused to sign them. She said it wasn't fair that he had put infidelity on there as a reason for the split. She didn't want to look bad and was determined he change it to 'irreconcilable differences.' He had laughed at her and refused to speak to her since.

"Your mother wants you at the meeting this afternoon. You don't have to come if you don't want to." He said when he hung up with his lawyer.

"What? Why?" I stared at him, mystified. He shrugged and finished making us a couple sandwiches. I grabbed my plate and took it into the other room with me. His bedroom door was open and I saw the lamp I bought him sitting on his small desk instead of the one that was there before. I smiled and went inside to carefully sit on my bed, eat and read the magazine I had picked up.

"Not sure. Maybe she just wants to talk to you." He said on his way by. I heard the click of a plate on the wooden surface. I flipped a page, only half paying attention to the pictures and articles. There were only a couple that I had actually wanted to read, now I was just skimming through the rest. I stopped on a rather fabulous underwear ad and glanced at the door before tearing it out and stashing it in my drawer.

Much better material than the man in the next room. Not better physically, just better mentally. Far less guilt fapping to an unknown model than my soon to be ex-stepfather. I grinned to myself. I really, really had a type though. The guy in the ad was blonde. Only difference were his blue eyes and the fact that he was easily thirty pounds lighter than Mark. Less muscle, boo.

I flipped through the rest of it and finished off the sandwiches. They were not quite as good as our old cook's had been, but they were still delicious. I couldn't complain if I didn't make them myself. I wasn't as good at making stuff as Mark yet, but I kept trying to make small dishes for us now and then. I should learn enough so I can give Mark a break sometimes.

My specialty was scrambled eggs. I made them for dinner once this week and Mark laughed himself silly. I don't know why because they are perfectly healthy food. I remembered we were getting low on eggs now that I thought about it. Peanut butter too. I liked toasted peanut butter sandwiches. They were easy to make also.

I rolled over and started to make a list. Maybe we could stop by on the way home and grab a few things. That would make the trip worthwhile anyways. Seeing my mother was going to be a chore. I was at the point right now where I didn't even want to acknowledge her existence. She kicked me out, she treated Mark and I both like crap, and despite her help setting me up financially I was not impressed.

I could see her pulling some sort of crazy move to try and take my money from me, just to spite me for not listening to her about school. Thank goodness it was all done in my name or she might have tried. I got dressed up a little nicer for the meeting, for Mark's sake. Wouldn't want her to say I was going downhill because of everything.

When we were both all set, we headed over to the lawyer's office. It was bright and clean, but felt oppressive because of the reason we were there. As we filed into the room, my mother made a strained smile and tried to move forward to hug and kiss me like she used to do. I flinched away from her and sidestepped to sit down quickly.

I couldn't help it. Did she honestly think that everything was just going to be the same as always between us? Mark admonished me for it quietly and the lawyers watched us with interest. Something was up. I could feel it in the air. My mother's grim face and sharp eyes held hidden meaning. Once we were all seated, it came out.

"I told you. It is ridiculous that I am made out to be the bad person when these two have obviously been fucking behind my back." She spat out to her lawyer. We looked at her with a mix of horror and shock.

"What the hell are you talking about Kelly?" Mark exclaimed. I was speechless.

"Oh don't act all innocent with me. You think I don't know what has been going on in my own house? You and him have been screwing around behind my back this whole time, haven't you?" She replied bitterly. I shook my head at her.

"Don't paint us with the same brush as you, mother. You have no idea what has been going on. You never have when it comes to me." I snapped back. I was pissed off. Was this seriously why she had dragged me in to this meeting? So she could accuse us of doing the same thing? Stupid woman!

"You two are telling me that all those times you were hanging out in that room he gave you, you never..." She looked incredulous, Mark interrupted her.

"NO! First of all, he is... or was underage. Second of all, if you bothered getting to know me, or came in to spend some time with the both of us, you would have known we were playing videogames. Unlike you, who was screwing around with your assistant since before our first Christmas together." He exclaimed. She looked a bit taken aback at the pronouncement. It surprised her and she blurted out:

"You knew?" She bit her lip and looked at her lawyer apologetically. Mark's lawyer looked rather triumphant now and was staring down her lawyer with a grim look. "Well, whatever... you two are screwing around now."

"No, actually we aren't. Unlike some people, I have morals." I retorted.

"Please. You two are living together." She snapped back.

"Yeah, it's called separate rooms. It may surprise you to know that people who are attracted to each other can behave themselves and just be friends when one of them is married." I said sarcastically. Our lawyer had his hand in front of his mouth as he tried to hold back a laugh. I just sat there with my arms folded and raised a brow at her blush.

"You can't tell me you have never done anything with him. You are a teenager for heavens sake!" She scoffed.

"Oh my god. Did you know I had never even kissed a person until my birthday last year? That's it! I kissed him once on my birthday so I wouldn't be eighteen and still not have had my first kiss!" Now I was blushing like mad and fighting the urge to run from the room in embarrassment. I covered my face and took a deep breath so I wouldn't have to look at the strange twist on her face.

Mark let out a strange snort at her when my mother let out a hooting laugh. I knew it. I shouldn't have said anything. I got up and hightailed it out of the room in a desperate attempt to escape both the laughter and the horrible tension of the room. I hid in the toilet like the coward that I was. I just couldn't face them again, and I didn't figure they needed me there anyways.

When I peeked my head out fifteen minutes later, the office staff were going about their business and the room was still closed. I tiptoed out to the waiting room and sat down to play with my phone. There was no way I was going back in there. Hopefully they weren't fighting about me anymore though. Mark was innocent, and I hoped my mother would be reasonable about it all now.

He came out to the waiting room looking far less stressed than he had going in. I hoped that meant it was good news. I blushed a little when I got up to leave with him, and I was grateful that he refrained from saying anything. He held the door for me and kept silent until we got to the car. Then he asked me if I wanted to eat out or just go home.

"We need to stop for groceries. I have a list. Now that I have my debit card, it is on me." I told him. He nodded as he started the car. I still wasn't in the mood to talk after the episode at the office. He turned on the radio and let me pick the station. I picked Octane of course, and was relieved to hear a fantastic song come on.

"Hey, uh, I know you don't want to talk about back there... but I just wanted to say thank you. For speaking up and defending me, I really appreciate what you did. I know it wasn't easy." He said to me. Then he fell silent and we listened to the music the rest of the way there.