At your absolute best, you still won't be good enough for the wrong person. At you worst, you'll still be worth it to the right person.

Dedicated to MaddySmithDiAngelo for her words of encouragement.

Chapter Seventeen: Mother's wrath.

“Hey.”

Char nearly dropped the putty knife she was holding as she whirled to face Daniel the next morning. He'd slept over like he did the day before.

He gave her a quizzical look. “Sorry. Didn't mean to startle you.”

Despite the bruise on his jaw, he looked delicious in worn jeans and a dark gray T-shirt. Her heart did its usual kick-skip before resuming normal duties.

“I'm good. When did you go to change?”

“Some minutes ago.”

She didn't see him leave but she let it drop. “How are you feeling?”

“Nothing that won't heal.” he settled on the couch, remote in hand, surfing channels.

Char nodded, going back to what she was doing.

“The parentals, what time will they be back?”

Char checked her watch. 11:34. “Pretty soon.”

They sat in silence. Uncomfortable silence. Char's thoughts kept drifting back to last night, when Daniel had almost kissed her. She wasn't really sure. She didn't know if it was her mind playing tricks on her but she could've sworn she saw him lean in.

Shaking her head, she brushed off the thoughts that were threatening to drive her insane by just thinking about them. She didn't want to get her hopes up and watch them fall again.

A loud knock at the door brought her out of her reverie. She glanced to the couch but there were no signs of Daniel. He must've left during my space out.

Signing, she walked to the door and opening it, found herself staring at a grinning Mrs Winston. “Hey mom,” she whispered, planting a kiss on both cheeks.

“Char honey, I missed you so much.” Mrs Winston walked pass her and into the house.

“Dad, hey.” Char hugged her dad. Chuckling as her lifted her off the ground. For someone with a heart condition, he sure was strong.

“Baby, it's good to see you again. Ma Rose gave me an earful for leaving you behind. I swear that woman will be the end of me.” Mr Winston shook his head, a small smile playing at his face.

“I miss her too.” Char walked in with her dad, shutting the door behind them.

“We're gonna go unpack then have lunch. I'm starving.” Mrs Winston walked in the direction of their bedroom with her husband trailing behind her. Just one weekend and she'd missed them, badly. She knew her mother missed her kitchen. Mrs Winston was a great cook.

Too bad I can't cook a lick. I would've kicked ass at it.

She was about going up to her room when it hit her. The kitchen, the paint. She hadn't had time to think about it.

Oh shit.

She ran to her room, shutting the door and locking it. She'd forgotten to come up with a valid excuse for repainting the wall. Her mother loved her walls cream. She was in deep shit.

“You look like a constipated monkey.” She turned to face Daniel sitting on her bed, chuckling. “I'm guessing it's about the paint?”

“Yeah. Why'd you leave?”

“I saw them coming. Didn't want them to see this.” he motioned to the bruise on his face.

“Oh,” she heard footsteps down the hall. Her mom was nearing the kitchen.

Daniel laughed under his breath. Watching Char figdet and squirm was a sight to behold.

“Wait for it...” he smirked. This was going to be fun.

Char glared at him, she wasn't finding it funny.

“Wait for it...” he repeated.

“And....” he trailed off.

“Charlotte Marié Winston! Get your ass down here and explain to me why the hell my wall isn't cream!” Mrs Winston bellowed at the top of her voice, causing Daniel and Char to put their hands to their ears in a vain attempt to protect their eardrums.

Mrs Winston never cursed. At all.

“...I'll take that as my cue to leave.” Daniel completed his sentence.

It was Char's turn to smirk this time. “Oh, I'd love to see how you do that without running into mom and dad.”

“That's why there's a window, babe.” he chuckled, unlocking it and lifting it up, getting ready to jump. It'd been a while since he'd done that.

Char frowned.

Well, double shit.

“Come on, you can't just leave me here. We're in this together.” Char pleaded.

“Not this time, we're not.” Daniel climbed the windowsill, and jumped out. He wasn't ready to face Mrs Winston's wrath.

Char ran to the window, looking down. “Go fuck yourself.”

Daniel laughed. “Nah. It'll be much more fun if you do it.” he ran next door to his house.

Char contemplated going downstairs. She had two options. Either jump down and run for dear life or turn around, answer to her mother and get it over with. She chose the second. There was no freaking way she was jumping from here, not if she wanted to die a very excruciating death.

“Charlotte!” her mother yelled again.

“I'm coming,” she yelled back. Char shook her head in disbelief. She couldn't believe that she still shook with fear every time her mother was angry at her. She was twenty four for goodness sake.

“Mom, I can explain. I stained the wall with ketchup and I couldn't get it off so I decided to repaint it. I didn't want you to be angry mom. They didn't have any cream and the only other option was to buy white. You wouldn't have liked brown, would you?” Char explained to her mom, making sure to stay really far away from her.

“Les, it was a mistake. I told you. I could even repaint it again. Let the girl go, we have more important things to discuss.” her dad said.

Leslie sighed. “That seems like a reasonable excuse. Fine, I'll let it go.”

Char smiled internally. That was easier than she though it would be. But important things to discuss?

“Char, come sit. We have something to tell you.” her dad motioned the couch he was sitting on.

Char hesitated. Whenever someone said ‘we have something to tell you’, it's usually bad news. She went to sit by her dad.

“Char,” her mom spoke up. “we've been thinking, you're twenty four, beautiful, nice, and a very good person.” she stopped for about five seconds before continuing. “Okay, I'm just going to come out and say it.”

Char was confused. What was going on? Were they kicking her out? She was terri-

“Are you a lesbian?” her mom blurted out of nowhere.

Wait, what?

“What?” she asked, looking from her mom to her dad.

“Are you gay?” her dad spoke up this time.

Char stood up and walked away from them to stand at another spot. How could her parent think she was a lesbian? Was that the vibe she'd been giving them? Obviously.

“Honey, we don't want to you be angry. It's just that you're an adult now. And even when you were a teenager, you never for once brought a boy home. Char, we're your parents. We don't want you to end up as an old woman, living in a hut with thirty cats keeping her company. Because eventually, she turns into a witch and then uses her cats for evil. She even sacrifices them once in a while. Char, please you can't end up like that. Are you even happy like this? I-”

“Mom,” Char cut her mother's ranting short. She hated to see her mom cry. “I'm gay and I'm fine like this.”

“What?” her parents yelled simultaneously, before what she said registered in her head.

“No no no. I mean gay as in happy.” she corrected, sighing when she saw the relieved look on their dad's face. Her mom still wasn't budging.

“Charlotte, I won't accept a girl as my son in-law. I won't do that. So you better go out there and get yourself a man, do you hear me?” she paused, then gasped and looked at her husband. “Ryan, what about the sex? Our daughter is gonna have girl sex... or maybe she already have. Oh my God... Oh my...” she turned to Char. “Do you know you can't get pregnant by sex with a girl? Unless she has a penis which I'm sure no woman has. Then I can't be a grandmother. Do you plan on adopting? No, no. Charlotte, listen to me. Please, I don't want to die without getting to see my grandchild. My legitimate grandchild. Don't do this to me. After all my effort, this is how you're gonna repay me?” Leslie was holding her daughter by now, crying uncontrollably.

Char couldn't speak. She stood as her mother held her, crying. What was she supposed to say? That the man she loved didn't love her back? That she didn't want anyone that wasn't Daniel? Besides, she was only twenty four. She had her entire life ahead of her. Her career. She hadn't thought about marriage. How could she? She hadn't even had a boyfriend. What did she know about marriage? She wanted to make something of herself before settling down. She wanted to be independent. She didn't have a job and she'd been crashing at her parent's for over a year, leaving her apartment for them cobwebs and spiders to habitate.

‘Up until now I have sworn to myself
that I'm content with loneliness,
because none of it was ever worth the risk.’

She made up her mind. No way was she going to become an old woman who live in a hut with thirty cats she'll probably sacrifice.
She needed to move one. From him. From everything and now was the time.

“Mom, look at me,” she lifted her head up to look at her. “I promise, that at the end of next month I'll bring a guy home to you. I solemnly swear.”

Leslie looked relieved and grinned widely. “Really?”

“Really.”

Char smiled as she saw her mother relax. Though she didn't know what pushed her to make that promise.

She knew she'd do anything to make her mother happy. But what she didn't know was that she'd signed up for rollercoaster of emotions and there was only one way out.