Chapter two

Flawless 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter two

 

 

That night when Jennifer’s mother and little sister all sat down to have dinner, Jennifer smoothly remained composed, letting go of the day’s strange events and focusing more on her mother.

 

            It wasn’t normal, what they were doing, and for some reason Jennifer couldn’t figure out why her mother, Renee, demanded they all sat down to share a meal which caused Jennifer to miss her boyfriend’s phone call for the second time that day. It hadn’t necessarily gotten her angry but she was annoyed and little confused. It was something they hadn’t done in years so this wasn’t a regular day. Most of the time when Jennifer came home from school she’d make her own dinner, which was usually salad or leftover pasta. Later, after Renee came home from work and Riley came home from first grade, Renee would cook and leave it in the fridge for a free-for-all. At night, Harry would end up coming home to eat alone. It was something Jennifer’s father was okay with since he came home so late. He didn’t want everyone to wait for him, so he ate his portions alone.

 

This happened everyday, with the exception of holidays and family get-togethers with relatives.  But for the most part, Jennifer’s family never had a real dinner together.

 

Though, this wasn’t an actual family dinner since Harry wasn’t present; his chair remained empty, growing cold at the far end of the table.

 

“So…” Jennifer started, forcing down a ravioli. She chewed cautiously and then swallowed. It had been a while since she last had a conversation with her mother. She could hardly remember the last time they spoke, despite living in the same house. “How was your day?” it was a good start to a conversation. Jennifer gave herself credit for being the first to break the silence.

 

Renee placed her fork on the table and wiped her lips with a napkin. “It was nice,” she replied, unenthused.

 

Jennifer sighed; this was going to be harder than she thought. “What happened?” she pushed.

 

“Nothing exciting,” Renee answered. Again; it was indifferent. She picked up her glass and drank quietly, not saying more.

 

There was a feeling that formed in the pit of Jennifer’s stomach; exasperation. She was instantly irritated. “Tell me. I want to know,” Okay. That one was a lie. The last thing she wanted to hear was how her mother’s day went.

 

“All right,” the glass was placed neatly on the table again, and Renee smiled. “We’re starting something new soon; Impressionism. It’s a style where the artist captures an image of an object as someone would see it if they caught a glimpse of it. Vincent Van Gogh was famous for it and used those techniques to express his deeply felt emotions,” 

 

Renee was an art teacher; she worked in a middle school teaching students about art and artists. When Jennifer was in middle school she never had Renee as a teacher, since there were other art teachers available, so the only time she saw her mother was at home.

 

Renee was still into art and still taught at the middle school. She loved working with kids, but she hardly ever talked about it.

 

Frankly, Jennifer found it particularly boring and she didn’t give a damn for some dead guy’s deeply felt feelings. “Oh…” she managed to answer, almost awkwardly. “It seems interesting,” Their cat, Muta, rubbed against her leg. Jennifer felt the urge to kick it.

 

            Renee nodded and then frowned at Riley, whose fingers disappeared into her dinner. “Riley. Don’t play with your food, your going to make a mess,” she started to get up, but Jennifer waved her away.

 

            “I’ll get it,” she leaned over to Riley to remove her fingers from the ravioli, but Riley whined loudly once Jennifer got too close. Jennifer ignored it; they were all so use to it by now. She took each of Riley’s hands and cleaned them off with a napkin, murmuring, “Hold still,”

 

The whines soon turned into whimpers as Riley attempted to squirm away, growing more and more alarmed. As soon as Jennifer released her hands the whimpers died down and Riley stilled in her chair, holding onto the base of it tightly, her face in distress.

 

“I’m going over to Rachelle’s house tomorrow night,” Jennifer informed, watching Riley’s face and setting the sauce covered napkin aside.

 

Renee was quiet for a few seconds. “It’s a school day,”

 

Jennifer looked from her sister to her mother. “It’s to study.” She quickly explained. When Renee didn’t answer right away Jennifer looked at her hopefully. “I really need this,”

 

Renee remained quiet; her face composed as she picked up her fork again and stuck a single ravioli, bringing it to her mouth calmly. She chewed for a few moments, prolonging the silence purposely as she thought on this. “We’ll see,” she finally said, and then she lifted from her chair and collected her plate to take to the kitchen.

 

Jennifer knew she wouldn’t get an answer right away; it was her father’s response that counted the most.

 

And this was the policy of her family; if she ever needed to talk or ask a favor, she’d go straight to her mother. After that, her parents would discuss in private. If Harry had anything to say then Renee would relay the message to Jennifer. If Renee didn’t get back to her, that meant they agreed. So basically, Jennifer never had a real conversation with her father.

 

Some things just didn’t change.

Author's Note

So, here it is :) I've re-read and hopefully theres no mistakes.
Here's a bit of what her family's like. I'll explain what Riley has later on.

Reviews

[Daydreamer54]

It's sad that her famiy, doesn't communicate well and I wonder if her sister has a problem...

[halflives]

Well done! There were no mistakes that I caught, but then again, I'm awful at grammar and spelling myself :D

[Short.Nerd]

This was interesting. I didn't see any mistakes. Nice job:)