The father shall maintain majority custodial rights.

The words that ended life as I knew it.

"The father will maintain majority custodial rights and be required to complete the necessary paperwork and process to allow the minor to gain residency with him within the next 120 days. If he fails to do so the secondary custodial petitioner may request a motion to gain temporary primary custody while the case is being reviewed. The secondary custodial petitioner acknowledges that they are not a biological parent but has asked that they maintain visitation rights with the minor during at least one school break a year.

This court finds after interviews with the minor, the minor's adult sibling, and both of the petitioners that this would be beneficial for the minor. This court finds that as long as the Secondary Petitioner can afford travel expenses and lodging for the minor and the minor does not have activities that travel would cause an unnecessary interruption to, the Secondary Petitioner can make a formal request to have the minor come during winter or summer breaks in the school year.

The Secondary Petitioner will maintain physical custody of the minor until the 7th of August. The Primary Petitioner has stated this as the date they wish to have the minor join them in Toronto, Canada. The Secondary Petitioner has stated that this arrangement is acceptable. This case will be considered closed unless further motions are formally made with the court. We are now adjourned."

The words had been read off of a sheet of paper by a clerk but had been drafted by the judge. His words felt so cold. The Minor. The Secondary Petitioner. Those labels failed to explain the fact this was a family being ripped apart.

I have a fucking name! Jordan has a fucking name!

Mom.

That title fit her so much more than Secondary Petitioner. She may not have been my biological parent as this asshole of a judge pointed out, but she was more of a mother than my own mother who acts more like an egg donor than a real parent. She hadn't even filed to fight dad on this custody move. She had even signed in favor of his case.

The four months the judge allowed for arrangements to be made somehow simultaneously flew by and dragged on at the same time.

Tim sent over mounds of paperwork and forms for Jordan and I to fill out. If he had been more of an actual father, he might have known more of the answers to the endless questions on them.

I was waiting on my sister Elyse to pick me up for the airport.

Looking up from my phone, I watched Patrick be as zoned out as I wish I could be. I had grown to love this gangly, pale, dweeb during our tenure as step siblings. Years of memories flooded through my mind.

My cheeks felt like they were on fire when the timeline got to this summer.

While we were no longer legally siblings, I had a feeling that it was still a little taboo for us to be attracted to each other. It didn't help that we slept down the hall from one another. I felt like I was living in an episode of the Brady Bunch when I thought about it.

Jordan would have killed us if she found out how many nights we spent trying not to get caught sneaking into each other's rooms. She would have given us a lecture on how we were still somehow a family, how fifteen and seventeen were too young to be hitting so many bases, and how what we were doing could lead to consequences we weren't ready for.

Or really, I wasn't ready for.

Fooling around with Patrick though was the only thing that had kept me going all summer.

It added another layer of resentment towards Tim as I had to leave Patrick behind now too.

I felt myself exhale loudly. Patrick moved his eyes off of his screen and tilted his eyebrows up at me in acknowledgement.

"Being a teenager is pointless."

"Why?"

"We cook, we clean, and do chores like adults, right?"

"Yeah?"

"We're old enough to have a part time job and can drive."

"You still need an adult in the car."

I rolled my eyes, "Not the point."

I tried to ignore the subtle eyeroll he gave me in return, "What is the point then?"

"That we are still at the bottom of adult food chain. I mean the true adults ignore our opinions, won't let us vote, drink, smoke, fuck, say words like fuck, stay out past our bed times or anything else that we might actually want to do. It's absolute bullshit."

"The fact you think you need to say fuck to make a point shows you're still a kid."

My nostrils flared, "You didn't think I was a kid when..."

"Shut up Lex." He said firmly, cutting me off. "Just forget this summer ever happened. It was fun, but it was fucked up. I still feel bad. Like I almost corrupted my little sister."

His eyes went back to his phone; the gesture showing he was done with the conversation. I choked back tears.

This summer did happen and I was in NO way his little sister.

I got up from my position on the couch and closed the cushion gap between us. I sat still, looking intently at Patrick. He was going to acknowledge me or I was about to kick his ass. I was never quite sure with him how to act.

He finally looked back up, rolled his eyes and inhaled deeply. "So, I guess it is really happening?"

"Yep, Tim is ruining my life forever."

He rolled his eyes, "Stop being so dramatic, Lex. He's your dad not some stranger. "

"I am not being dramatic."

Patrick dropped his phone into his lap and looked me square in the eyes. It was the first time he really looked at me during this conversation.

I felt myself gulp.

His brown eyes looked slightly pained.

Maybe he did feel as miserable as I did about me leaving?

I leaned in and closed the gap between our lips. I felt his hand in my hair grasping my neck, pulling me hard against him for a moment. Then he released me and shook his head. He was determined to leave whatever we had in the dust and there was nothing I could do about it.

My phone buzzed, luckily, giving me a distraction.

"Elyse?" he asked.

I nodded after looking down at my caller ID. My trip down Self-pity Lane was done.
For an older sister, Elyse sure acted like my mother. She practically was though. Elyse was there for me when the egg donor left, when Tim met Jordan, and every time they fought over the past six years.

I knew I had a couch to crash on if it got too bad. Most of the time I at least had Patrick to distract me. On the weekends that his dad had him though, I loved Elyse's couch. I would give anything to stay with her at this point. The judge however, didn't think a 20 year old should be the primary caregiver of a fifteen year old when there were other options. Not options I wanted, but they were there.

If he would only acknowledge the truth. Elyse had already done most of the work to raise me.

I finally left the clouds that were my thoughts when I answered her call.

"I'm here hun, do you need help grabbing your bags?"

"No, I got it. I'll be outside in a sec."
The call ended and I looked pitifully at Patrick. "She's here."

His eyes had lost that flicker of lust he had been letting show lately and were back to the cool expressionless amber I was used to.
"Well I guess this is it then. I'll go tell Mom."
I gave Patrick one last, long, look. I leaned in and kissed him softly goodbye. He let me but I didn't feel his lips move in for more so I stopped before I kept embarrassing myself.

Yep, this was it.