TW for this chapter: TW for emotional and verbal abuse

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After wasting some time at the drugstore, Tessa finally started heading back home. When she got back inside, she realised that no one was home.

Tessa sighed as she moved to put the milk in the fright

As she closed the door, she spotted the numbers on the back of her hand. How long had it been since someone had given Tessa their number? It was definitely the first time she had been given someone else's number.

"Is it too soon to call? It had been like an hour, right? Are you supposed to wait for them to call?" Tessa mused to herself with a frown.

Tessa thought about it for another couple of seconds. Then she remembered back to what she had said to Marty. You just gotta put yourself out there.

Tessa moved over to the phone and punched in the number. A girl whose voice Tessa didn't recognise answered.

"Who is it?" A feminine voice answered.

"Oh, hi, is this Marty's house?" Tessa asked as she fiddled with the phone wire.

"Yeah, who are you?"

"My name's Tessa Thomson. Is Marty there?"

"He's busy."

"Well, could you let him know that I called?"

"Sure, whatever."

Before Tessa could thank the girl, she hung up. When did Tessa's hands get so sweaty?

Tessa let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. She started aimlessly pacing around the apartment.

At some point, she walked by the coffee table and noticed an opened photo album. Tessa kneeled down and started flipping through the pages. One of the pictures caught her eye. It was a polaroid of her and her mother standing on Santa Monica beach. It was the only time she had ever left Hill Valley. Tessa pulled it out of the sleeve to take a closer look.

Suddenly, there was a click at the door, and Tessa's mother walked in with her arms filled with grocery bags. Tessa tucked the picture into her pocket and walked over to her mother to help with the bags.

"Hey, baby girl." Tessa didn't like the way she said that. She was trying too hard to sound casual.

Tessa absent-mindedly slipped the picture into her pocket and moved to help her mother pack away the food. Talking idly as they did so.

"Why the sudden shopping trip?" Tessa asked as she put the sugar in the cupboard.

Eileen smiled. "Decided I wanted to make something special for your birthday."

Tessa blushed. "You don't have to do that, mom."

"But I want to," Eileen gave a fake cry.

Tessa laughed at her mother's bad acting. It's not that Tessa hated birthdays. She just didn't see the point in them for the last couple of years. Eileen, on the other hand, loved birthdays. Any excuse to doctorate a room and bake something Tessa knew.

"So what kind-" Tessa started to ask but stopped at the sound of the door unlocking.

A tall dark-haired man walked through. He had an annoyed look on his face as he tossed a briefcase on the couch.

"Hello, James," Eileen greeted her husband. He simply grunted in acknowledgement. He went straight to the bedroom without another word.

"Yeah, don't offer to help or anything," Tessa muttered.

Eileen cleared her throat and put on another smile. "Hoping for anything special tomorrow?"

Tessa hummed in thought for a moment. "Beach day?"

Eileen let out a fake sigh. "Bit short notice. Would you settle for a new vinyl?"

"Is it any good?" Tessa joked.

"Well, it's no Tina Turner or Chuck Berry," Eileen grinned. "But I have a feeling you'll like it a lot."

"You and your Chuck Berry," Tessa rolled her eyes playfully. "How many times have I listened to Johnny B-"

The phone started to ring. Tessa rushed over to it and snatched it.

"You're eager," Eileen blinked in surprise.

Tessa shushed her mother. She held the phone to her ear. Expecting to hear Marty's voice. "Hello?"

"Hey, where's your dad?" The gruff voice of Biff Tannen came out of the phone. Much to Tessa's disappointment.

"Dad! It's Biff!" Tessa shouted to the bedroom.

James walked into the bedroom and yacked the phone from Tessa. She gave him a dirty look as she made her way back to the kitchen.

"Biff," Tessa huffed as she crossed her arms. "Doesn't even sound like a real name. Sounds like a noise you make when you bleach."

"Tessa, there's no need for that," Eileen scolded. "Biff may be... prickly, but he's your father's friend."

"He's a prick?" Tessa gasped. "Mother-"

"Theresa!" Eillen shouted in surprise. There was a hint of amusement in her tone.

"You're the one who said prick-"

"Eileen!" James called.

"What is it?" Eileen called back.

"Do we have any beer?"

Eileen seemed a bit caught off guard. "N... No, I don't think so."

"Can you go get some?"

Eileen looked over the ingredients she had kept out and then let out a sigh. She walked out of the kitchen. Tessa stayed by the door. Keeping it open just a crack to listen in.

"Why do you need beer?" Eillen asked James.

"Biff was in a smash-up," James stated casually.

"Is he alright?" Eileen gasped.

"I dunno! He wanted to come over with the lads and have a drink."

Eileen went quiet.

"What? What!?" James huffed.

"I dunno... It's Tessa's birthday tomorrow, and I hoped to make her something tonight. And you all tend to get rowdy when you drink-"

"Can't you just do it in the morning?" James questions.

"Well, well, yes I can, but do you really want to be hungover on your daughter's birthday?" Eileen shuttered.

"It's not like she's gonna care. She's what fourteen-"

"Seventeen," Eileen corrected.

"My point is," James frowned. "She doesn't care about anything on a normal day and I don't expect to be different tomorrow."

"She'll care-"

"Will she? Or is she just gonna mope around like she does every day?"

"She's just having a hard time since her friends left for college. Change is hard. Especially for someone her age."

"Can you just stop nagging me for once?"

"I'm not-"

Tessa decided she heard enough. She snuck out of the kitchen and back to her bedroom. She hated the fact that her dad was right on some level. She wouldn't have cared if her dad was passed out for her birthday. Logically she shouldn't be upset.

But Eileen cared. Her mother cared. So much.

Tessa couldn't explain the funk she was in. Sometimes it was just easier to be numb to everything. Every time she tried to step out of this state, it ended up backfiring right in her face. Just like it did with Johnny.

Tessa sat on her bed as she waited for her parents to finish 'talking'. The faint sound of yelling went on for about three minutes. Not that Tessa was staring at the clock or anything.

Thankfully, the yelling stopped and after another minute there was a quiet knock at that door. "Tessa? Can I come in?"

Tessa opened the door for her mother. The older woman walked in while fiddling with her hands.

"Is everything okay?" Tessa asked. Eileen started looking around the room. She walked over to an old milk crate filled with various albums

"Everything is fine, sweetie. Your father is just having a couple of coworkers over for poker," Eileen said with the same forced smile Tessa had grown accustomed to over the years. "I'm just gonna step out for a bit to get them some drinks."

"Come on, really?" Tessa let out a loud groan of annoyance. James was a complete ass at the best of times, but beer plus his coworkers made everything ten times worse.

"Tessa, I thought that you could go spend the night at your uncle's place." Eileen was still trying too hard to stay calm.

Tessa frowned. "I dunno, Mom. Maybe I should just stay here with you?"

"No, no, no, there's no need to do that!" Eileen spun around. "Just go to Emmett's place, and come back in the morning."

The two of them just stood there, staring at each other for a while. Tessa was silently debating whether to do what her mother said.

"It'll be fine, sweetie," Eileen placed a comforting hand on Tessa's shoulder.

"Sure, Mom," Tessa tried to smile back.

"Thanks, baby girl. Say hi to Einstein for me." Eileen said while wrapping Tessa up in a tight hug for a second. "Grab your stuff."

Tessa walked over to her bed and grabbed the beat-up old backpack. Tessa and Eileen went their separate ways once they got outside.

It didn't take much strolling down the street to get to her uncle's house. Well, 'house' isn't the word Tessa would use to describe it. The place looked more like a tiny storage unit for all the crazy projects her uncle liked to create.

When she got there, Tessa checked the door, which must have been left unlocked earlier in the day.

"Einie? Uncle Emmett? Anyone home?"

It had been almost two years since she had last been to the place, and honestly, it hadn't changed much. It was still filled to the brim with equipment that had been accumulated over... well, who knows how long. The gear included a jet engine, piles of circuit boards, enough automobile parts to build at least two, maybe three cars, a short-wave radio, a jukebox of all things, remnants of a robot, and a shit ton of clocks.

Out of the abundance of things to look at, the first two things Tessa noticed were a blown-up speaker in the middle of the room, and a sizable pile of dog food on the floor.

"Come on, Uncle Em," Tessa huffed.

Tessa moved to pick up the dirty dog bowl and went outside to throw the old food and cans in the garbage. She also happened to notice an old orange bike chained near the door. She quickly realised it was her old bike that she must have left there the last time she and her mother had visited.

When she got back inside, she locked the front door behind her and moved to sit in a large red armchair. Slipping on a pair of headphones and zoning out.

Tessa thought back to the last time she was there. Was it Christmas? No, it was Halloween. James didn't like celebrating Christmas. He said it was a waste of money, which was rich coming from him. Tessa doesn't even remember why they came to visit that day. She thought that maybe it had something to do with inheritance.

Despite living in the same town, Tessa's mother and uncle barely ever talked. When she was a kid, James used to say that being around Emmett would have a bad effect on their daughter. That was bullshit, of course, just like how most of what he said was total crap.

Unfortunately, her mother was in no place to argue. James had too much of a tight hold on their lives at that point. Eileen was in constant fear of what her husband would do if she tried to leave.

Tessa hated it. She hated every single thing about that man. She would often daydream about running away from Hill Valley with her mother. Moving up the coast or something.

While in the middle of her daydreaming, she was suddenly brought back to reality by the sound of someone unlocking the front door.

I'm gonna be adding a cast and characters page to this blog soon. I'm just having issues with motivation and actually getting photoshop to work.