About as well as you expected

Lucy sat there as the silence lingered and you knew she wasn’t getting any calmer as time passed on.

“Lucy, honey...” Mom said, attempting to defuse the situation but that only seemed to make it worse as Lucy got up from her seat.

“I’ve tried to sit here and act like nothings the matter but you just had to make a comment didn’t you. You know what, go fuck yourself!” she angrily shouted before storming out of the room.

“Lucy get back here!” Mom loudly responded, getting no reply from her as she left the room and headed for the stairs. You all listened to her footsteps as she got further through the house before hearing her slam her bedroom door shut. You turned from where she had left and back towards the table to see Mom with a complicated look on her face. You watched as she slowly sat back down before Sarah kicked your leg to get your attention.

She gestured with her head towards where Lucy had left and mouthed for you to go after her. The idea of leaving just Mom and Sarah to themselves to deal with the aftermath didn’t seem fair but it felt like your presence at the table wouldn't help as much as checking up on Lucy.

“I’ll go and take her plate up for her” you said, grabbing both yours and Lucy’s plates before taking a few extra wraps to have between you. Sarah gave an appreciative nod and Mom also seemed relieved that you were going, so you felt a little less guilty about cowarding out of the room.

A wave of relief hit you as you climbed the stairs but that only seemed to increase your guilt about bailing in the first place. The walk to Lucy’s door was a short one, so you shook your head in an attempt to clear your thoughts and knocked on her door.

“Go away!” Lucy shouted, from the other side.

“Hey, it's me. I can go away if you want but I’ve brought you your plate if you're still hungry?” you replied, getting nothing but silence in return.

You were about to put the food down in front of her door when you heard the handle start to turn and Lucy poked her head out through the crack. She took a peek at you and then the rest of the corridor before fully opening the door.

“Sorry, I thought it might have been Mom or she was hiding somewhere behind you” she admitted with a smile before inviting you into the room. Once inside, she closed the door behind you and without a lock on her door like you and Sarah now had, she wedged a piece of wood in the gap at the bottom and went over to her bed.

“Sarah learn that from you then?” you asked with a smile.

“Learn what?” she replied looking confused.

“You know... the door and… ah nevermind” you said, giving up when you realised she had no clue what you meant. You went over to where she was sat and handed over her plate before sitting beside her and starting to dig into your own food. Luckily the wraps were pretty much finger food and you both had no trouble carrying on eating without any cutlery. You sat there in silence that was a lot less awkward than at the dining room table while you finished the wraps before you started to ask.

“So, do you wanna talk about it or should I just shut up? I’m perfectly happy if you just wanna rant for a while” you said trying to act supportive. Lucy gave a long sigh as if getting herself ready to start a speech.

“He just makes me so fucking mad sometimes! I didn’t even talk for that long before he started running his mouth, pretending to act like a father figure. You know what I mean? If he actually cared about us he wouldn’t spend as much time fucking around with his mates and getting blackout drunk every weekend” she complained, giving you no chance to intervene as she continued.

“And Mom just lets him do whatever he wants as soon as he gets through the door. You’ve seen how she acts relieved when he's finished visiting. It's like he's just checking that his ‘possessions’ are still there and we haven’t ran away. I don’t know why Mom is still with him considering everything he’s done. I mean if she had a backbone then she would have kicked him to the curb as soon as he admitted that he… had… “Lucy said, stopping to censor herself.

“That he had?...” you asked, hoping for her to finish her sentence but only getting another worn down sigh in return.

“It doesn’t matter, Mom’s not gonna throw him out anyway so there's no point in talking about this” she replied, as her earlier gusto deflated almost instantly.

“No really tell me. I know you've never got on with him but it doesn’t take a genius to realise something must have happened before you went to college. There's no way the both of you would have been at each other's throats like that without him doing something to thoroughly piss you of” you said, hoping to get her to tell you.

You had always felt like there was a piece of the puzzle that you had never been given and from speaking with Sarah in the past, it seemed like she was also kept out of the loop. You’d both come up with theories and you had your own suspicions based on just the visceral reaction Lucy started to have, but there wasn’t enough information to narrow it down to just one explanation.

Lucy looked hesitant to give you a response and considering she had managed to keep it a secret for the past couple of years you knew you had to push a little bit harder.

“I promise not to tell Sarah if that’s what you’re worried about?” you asked.

“It's not that, it's just… I promised Mom to never mention it to the two of you” she replied, looking sheepish.

“Well considering she asked you to keep it a secret, she should be giving you a bit more help when it comes to dealing with him right? If she's still gonna stick up for him instead of you then what's the point in protecting her” you explained, before feeling a bit guilty towards your mother.

“Sorry, I probably shouldn’t phrase it to make her sound like the bad guy, especially as she's caught in the middle just as much as you. But at some point, somethings gotta change if either of you want this to be resolved in some shape or form” you said, calming down a little from your earlier comment.

Lucy stared at you for a while as she contemplated whether or not telling you would be the best course of action. Anything you could say at this point felt like it would only damage your case and begging more was unlikely to work with her. You carried on eating the rest of the food still on your plate to try and act like the decision wouldn’t matter but when Lucy finally went to reveal her answer, you were filled with anticipation.

“You really know how to get an answer out of someone don’t you? “ she grinned.

“So you're gonna tell me?” you asked.

“As long as you promise not to tell Sarah. Or tell Mom that I told you either. I don’t want her to start blaming me if the family starts falling apart” she said half-heartedly.

“Well I wouldn’t really call him family at this point anyway” you joked, getting a bigger grin out of Lucy before a stern expression returned to her face.

“Seriously you can’t tell Sarah” she reiterated.

“I promise, I promise” you added, raising your hands as if surrendering.

“Good, now…” she said, pausing for a few seconds to calm her nerves before telling her story.