Devon Hartford - Reckless

“What, like a sweepstakes? That doesn’t make any sense.”

“Yeah it does. They have an awesome daughter who’s taking charge of her own life in admirable ways. Sounds like the big win to me.”

I giggled. “You always know the right things to say, agápi mou,” I said.

“You keep talking with that sexy Greek accent you’ve picked up, and we won’t make it to the phone call,” he said suggestively.

“Fine by me!”

He laughed. “I knew you were trying to distract me. Call them, Samantha. Let’s get this over with. How bad can they be?”

I took a shaky breath. I didn’t want to make any predictions lest they come true. “Fine,” I said and grabbed my phone. I plopped down on the couch and Christos sat next to me.

 “Here goes nothing,” I said as I dialed and set the phone to speaker.

“Hello?” my mom said.

I sighed, wishing my dad had answered. He would’ve given me a slight buffer before everything went nuts. “Hey, Mom.”

“To what do we owe this honor?” she said sarcastically. “Considering you didn’t bother to answer any of our previous messages.”

I rolled my eyes at Christos. He took my hand and held it.

“Sam?” my mom asked.

“I’m here,” I said rolling my eyes, already sounding whinier than I’d planned.

“What do you want?” she snapped bluntly. She was never this bad.

“You might want to get Dad on the phone.”

“Why,” my mom chuckled, “are you eloping with that Christos? Getting married in Las Vegas? Or have you already gotten hitched and dropped out of school?”

Wow, she sure knew how to set me at ease. I wondered if the State Department needed any more diplomats to bridge gaps between warring nations and rekindle world peace. I’d totally recommend my mom. Not. “No, Mom,” I sighed. “Just get Dad. Please?”

“Fine.” She put the phone down. A minute later the other phone line clicked on.

“Hello?” my dad said. “Sam?”

“Hey, Dad,” I sighed. Would he be as bad as Mom?

“Is everything all right?” he asked. “Your mother and I were worrying about you.”

More like yelling about me, would be my guess.

My mom was back on the phone, “So what was your big announcement?” she grated.

Here went nothing. Or everything. “I’m moving in with Christos. I gave my 30-day notice to the manager at my apartment.”

“You what?!” Mom shouted.

Christos squeezed my hand supportively.

“I’m moving in with Christos,” I said confidently. Ironically, my mom’s sudden anger strengthened my resolve.

My dad started nervously, “Sam, are you sure this is a guh—“

Like she’d been on a time-delay fuse, my mom blew up again, “Over my dead body you will!!”

Maybe I shouldn’t have told them?

“You will NOT move into that young man’s house! I will not have you throw your life away on a whim for some two-bit tough!”

I goggled at Christos. He raised his eyebrows sympathetically and winced. So it wasn’t just me. My mom was a lunatic, like I’d always suspected.

“I’m not throwing my life away, Mom!” I pleaded. Why did I have to plead at a moment like this? I didn’t know, but that’s what I was doing. “Christos is a good person! I’m going to live with him and his grandfather. Both of them are working artists! They make their livings selling art. They’re showing me how to do it too!”

“I don’t know what kind of a hippie commune this Christos and his grandfather have,” my mom said acidly, having calmed from stark raving lunacy to simmering insanity, “but I’m sure it sounds much better than it actually is. You can’t pay the gas and electric bill with peace and love, Samantha. But if you like taking cold showers, that’s your prerogative,” my mom said with finality.

“You have no idea what you’re talking about, Mom! They’re not hippies! They live in a mansion. I mean, an actual mansion. It has a gazillion bedrooms. And the last time I took a shower there, it was really hot, and it never ran out of water, like when I shower after you and Dad get ready for work.”

In my experience, there was nothing quite as annoying as running out of hot water and shivering in the shower because your dad was too cheap to set the central house thermostat to a reasonable temperature. Not even my mom could change Dad’s mind about that. Our house was an icebox most of the winter. I swear, one time, I woke up and saw icicles dangling from the ceiling in my bedroom as my breath puffed out of my mouth in cold clouds.

“That’s all well and good, Samantha,” my mom continued, “but—”

I cut her off. “Yes, mom. It is well and good. It’s nicer than your house. And I’m moving in with them. Christos’ grandfather Spiridon is a very nice man, and he—”

“Spiridon?” my mom scoffed. “What kind of a hippie name is that?”

She was going too far. “It’s Greek, mom. Look it up. It’s a real name. And he’s nice.” I was getting flustered. My mom was turning this into an insult-a-thon. I wasn’t going to stoop into the sewer with her.

“Perhaps you two should both calm down,” my dad suggested.

“I am calm!!” my mom shouted.

Really? Not from where I was sitting three thousand miles away. I stifled a chuckle.

“I will not have our daughter moving in with some strange young man in flagrant disregard of our orders, Bill!” Mom growled.

I sighed heavily. If my parents were this unreasonable, maybe I didn’t need them in my life at all. “I’m moving in with Christos. I’m not going to be an accountant, and I’m going to live my life.”

After a minute of silence, Mom said, “Bill? Do you have anything to say? Because now would be a good time. I can’t get through to your daughter.”

In a cold tone, my dad said, “Sam, is this course of action your preference?”

Wow, was Dad suddenly taking my side? Was he being reasonable? “Yuh, yes,” I stammered.

“Fine. If you no longer require our assistance regarding your living arrangements, I think I can speak for both your mother and I when I say that we would be more than happy to cease all funding of your college education, if that’s your preference.”

I was shocked silent.

My parents paid a substantial portion of my tuition. If they stopped paying entirely, I wouldn’t be able to cover the difference with my two jobs. I’d have to take out more loans, but I didn’t know if I could actually get a large enough loan to make up the difference.

If my parents stopped paying, my entire life would be thrown into a blizzard of change and uncertainty.

Was I ready for that sort of chaos? I’d been through plenty in the last five months. Did I want to make things worse?

I looked at Christos. He rubbed my knee sympathetically.

“Answer your father, young lady,” Mom said viciously. “Do what we say, or pay your own way,” she chuckled at her own cleverness. She sounded like she was gloating. My mom was the biggest bitch I’d ever met, hands down.

“Don’t be flip, Linda,” my dad said with calm confidence. “Sam, all you have to do is change your major back to Accounting and explain to your landlord that your 30-day notice was a mistake, and all of this will go away.”

My Dad Satan was back to his usual tricks.

“Fine.” For the second time in my life, I hung up on my parents. The irrational fear that this was the last time I would ever talk to them suddenly seized me. “That went well,” I joked to Christos sarcastically. Agony hit me a second later and my heart snapped in half.

I threw myself into Christos’ arms and wailed. His arms wrapped protectively around me as he pulled me into his chest.

“It’s okay, agápi mou,” he murmured, “I’m here.”

I felt completely betrayed by my parents. For once, my life was going good. For once, my dreams were turning into reality. But, as always, my parents stridently objected to what I wanted. They were trying to manipulate me with bribes and threats. Was that parenting? Weren’t you supposed to trust at some point that your children would find their own way?

My parents didn’t.

No matter what I did, they fought me every step of the way. Why were they always the biggest obstacle I faced in my life?

I thanked fate for bringing Christos to me.

I sobbed in his arms.

“Oh, Christos, I don’t know what I’d do without you!”

CHRISTOS

I held Samantha in my arms. “I’m so sorry, agápi mou,” I whispered.

She shook with tears and burrowed her face into my chest.

Samantha’s parents were truly insane. Did they not realize their life plan for their daughter was all wrong and was making her miserable? What kind of fucked up people were they?

My parents had never treated me like this. Not even close.

In a perfect world, I would’ve moved Samantha into my house this weekend, and told her I had plenty of cash to cover her living expenses and whatever tuition she had left over.

But I didn’t live in a perfect world.

In my world, I was going to trial on Friday. I could be in jail by Saturday. I wouldn’t be able to help her move in. And the money? Shit, after I finished paying Russell for defending my ass in court, I wasn’t going to have any money left.

That was my world.

“I’m so lucky, Christos,” Samantha wept, “I’d be freaking out right now if you weren’t here.”

I kissed the top of her head gently.

How was I going to tell her I might not be here in five days?

I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t let her down. Not right now. She was still reeling from her fucking parents.