Right in the middle

It would be pretty cramped in the back and although Sarah and Lucy had already opened both of the back car doors to get in, you quickly squeezed your way past Sarah and **** yourself into the middle between them. Sarah gave you a funny look but other than that she just accepted it as you being weird and got in after you before closing the door.

With you wearing jeans and your sisters wearing longer sleeved tops than usual, you thought your chances at getting any KDK progress would be slim but unexpectedly Sarah didn’t seem to mind that your hands were touching and kept herself firmly glued to your side. Lucy on the other hand, had her arm crossed under her chest and was leaning against the window trying to ignore the cramped conditions she was **** to be in. You assumed your father being in the vicinity was also an additional factor for making her mood worse so you just left her be.

The trip to Church was only around 10 minutes by car, even with you getting caught in the traffic of a usual Sunday morning. Your father had turned the radio on slightly too high for anyone to have a conversation without shouting to be heard, so everyone stayed silent and let the radio fill the dead air.

By the time you got there, nobody had said a word and you all got out of the car without saying anything either. Mom was the first to speak as she walked over to some of the other church-goers. You recognised a few of them from when you had been dragged here in the past but you, Sarah and Lucy were still hesitant to go over. Your father on the other hand just followed after Mom still checking his phone seemingly every other minute.

Mom carried on making small talk while you all stood around bored. Eventually, everyone started filing into the church and started filling up the pews. Your father had somehow managed to get in front of your mother and was the first to sit down. Mom was next, followed by yourself, then Sarah and finally Lucy, keeping herself at the end of the row and as far away as she could be from dad.

Once everyone had filtered in from outside the service started. Most of it was pretty boring for you and from the expressions on your sisters' faces it would seem they had the same opinion as you. The one thing that did lighten the mood for you was when you peaked at Mom’s face and she looked the happiest you had seen her recently. Getting the whole family together, even though it wasn’t under the best of circumstances, had brought a smile to her face and although the only thing you had done to help was slightly convincing Sarah and Lucy, you were glad that you had brought her some joy.

Unfortunately, the joyful expression disappeared from her face about halfway through the church service. Your father, who had continued looking at his phone even inside, quickly got up when the phone in question started to ring. All eyes were drawn to him as he left the pew and headed towards the door you had all entered through and out into the parking lot.

The priest had continued despite the interruption but you could tell that Mom was getting embarrassed by the stares that had focused on her and your father before he left. You were starting to get worked up at how hypocritical your father always seemed to be. First saying how important it is for the family to stick together and then leaving as soon as an opportunity presented itself.

Another look at Mom calmed you down once you realised she was probably feeling ten times worse and she was probably trying her hardest to keep herself together. With little else to do in the way of cheering her up, you reached out and held her hand closest to yours and squeezed it reassuringly, interlacing your fingers with hers as you did so. Mom turned her head to face you and although the gesture you gave was small, it seemed to be enough to raise Mom’s spirits as a small smile returned to her lips.

You continued to hold hands for the next few minutes until your father returned from outside. Mom let go of your hand as he leaned over towards her, whispering something in her ear. There were a few whispers back and forth between the two of them that you couldn’t quite make out but after only a couple of seconds, he got back up and headed for the door again.

You and Mom watched him leave and a frown appeared on her face.

“Are you alright?” you asked Mom, being more concerned about how she was doing, than wherever your father was wandering off to.

“Yeah, everything’s fine. Now come on, stop worrying about me and start paying attention” Mom replied, giving you a **** smile that only made you more concerned.

You couldn’t say anything in response without her chastising you again and grabbing her hand again didn’t seem appropriate this time. That left just the four of you focusing on the service which wasn’t the most exciting thing you could be doing with your time. Lucy seemed to be the one currently in the best mood when your father left but the slowly changed back to boredom as time ticked by.

After what felt like hours, the service finally ended and everyone got up to slowly file out of the building. A few people waved goodbye to Mom but seemed busy trying to get their own families back towards their cars. Your father was nowhere in sight and although you thought it best not to mention it, Sarah didn’t have the same opinion.

“Where’d dad go?” Sarah asked innocently, getting a nudge on the shoulder from Lucy who knew to also avoid the topic.

“...apparently he got a call from work and had to head back on short notice” Mom explained with very little emotion in her voice.

“Oh, fair enough” Sarah responded, giving a confused look to Lucy as she rubbed her shoulder. Mom’s car was still there so you presumed he had either walked home or more likely than not, took a taxi back to the house.

Sarah’s lack of awareness would have probably worsened the mood if not for the fact that she carried on bouncing from conversation to conversation. You and Lucy let her sit up front with Mom and she somehow managed to leave little room for anyone to jump in. With her driving the conversation forward, you sat back and relaxed as she lightened the mood. At one point she mentioned that her cheerleader friends had invited her to hang out so it was unlikely you would see her for most of the day.

Lucy revealed that she was planning on just hanging around the house and you were about to say the same when you realised it would probably be better to start discussing some of the finer details of your relationship with Emma. It wasn’t exactly a normal teen romance that the two of you had, especially when she wanted you to seduce her own mother but that had somehow become just one of the many things that blew your mind.

Thinking about it on your own for too long was bound to just frustrate you so you decided to call her as soon as you got home.

“I’m probably gonna go out with Emma so I probably won't be sticking around either” you revealed after Lucy had told everyone her plans.

You had expected the conversation to carry on as normal but Sarah stopped talking for the first time and Mom gave you a look through the rearview mirror.

“What?” you asked, confused by the unexpected silence.

“...Where are you planning on taking her?” Mom eventually replied, her attention switching between you and the road as you headed closer to home.

“I dunno, probably the park or something. It's pretty close and at least it's within walking distance. Why?” you asked back, still unsure what the fuss was about. You looked to Lucy for answers and were met with a knowing smirk that only seemed to annoy you further.

“No reason, no reason. I might pop in and see Grace later and it would be good to know where you’re taking her daughter if the topic comes up.” Mom answered before carrying on with a smile “It's just rare for you to be inviting her out and not the other way around”

Mom’s comment threw you off a little as you had never considered your behaviour around Emma before. Sure she was the one who had usually invited you to do stuff but it wasn’t exclusively her putting things forward right?