”UGH!” You shift in the back seat of the car. The weekend was here, and your family decided to go out to eat tonight. Well this was decided on much earlier in the week. An idea from your dad. You loved him, but did he REALLY have to suggest going to a restaurant tonight? Why not just, order take out or delivery or something? Hell, you’d rather sit and watch horrible anime with your mom again over doing this. Especially if it meant you didn’t have to sit next to Amber for a twenty minute drive to...”where were we going again?” Your mom looks up to your through the rear view mirror. ”Oh! This lovely Italian restaurant! It had five stars on Skreech!, their bread sticks are supposed to be amazing!” Oh, another Olive Jungle rip-off then? You rolled your eyes and went back to just staring out the window at the passing traffic. You took a few occasional glances at your half-sister. Your self-imposed responsibility to keep an eye on her as she was going through what ever drama bullshit wasn’t forgotten by you. She was quiet. Eerily quiet. She kind of just, looked forward. Not even out the window. When you all first got into the car she would receive a few texts, never answering them, after a while she just muted her phone. Strange. Before long, the four of you finally made it to the place. ”Cucina degli erbivori.” After a waitress taking your names and a long wait your were all finally seated. Your mother studied the menu in awe and wonder, while dad took a glance every other second towards your sister. Who again, was just staring at nothing. Her menu wasn’t even open. On your part the decision wasn’t difficult for you. Spaghetti. Who knows, maybe it’ll be better than mom’s. Once the orders were taken and the menus returned, your mother sighed in relaxation and let herself relax into the cushioned leather booth. ”Ahhhh. This is actually nice. Not having to cook for once. We should honestly do this more often!” ”Heh, well, we’ll see. I don’t make THAT much money.” Your dad scratched his neck, feeling his wallet cry out in pain for your mother even considering such an idea. ”Oh! No, sweet heart I don’t mean THAT often. But...maybe every other weekend? And we don’t have to go to such fancy places like this!” She looked up at your dad with her signature puppy dog eyes. His weakness. Honestly, not a bad skill to have. Maybe you should ask her how she does it sometime. ”Wellll...I guess. If everyone is okay with it.” Your mother beams and turns to you and Amber. ”What do you girls think? Should we make this a regular thing?” You weren’t really enthusiastic about the idea, but those puppy dog eyes man. Your dad was no match. “Ehhh. Throw in take out or delivery and I GUESS I can tolerate interacting with normies every other Saturday or so.” Your mother smiles and turns to Amber for her answer, who just staring at the table cloth in front of her. Very interested in the thread count or something. ”Uhm. Amber sweety?” Your sister shakes her self from her no doubt “deep” and “emotional” thinking. ”Huh, what?” ”How do you like the idea of doing this a weekend or two out of the month? Going out I mean.” ”Oh! Uh...It’s...okay I guess. Sounds cool.” Your mother gives a nervous, yet still satisfied smile to the answer. Your dad on the other hand was not about to let the strange behavior slide. ”Amber? Are uh, you okay sweet tooth?” ”I’m doing alright. Just tired. Just a little tired. Rendering the painting has been a pain in the a-, uhhh, butt. Probably my least favorite part about the whole process I tell ya.” She puts on an extremely fake smile for your dad, who just nods and drops it. Wow, really? It’s that easy huh? Is your dad autistic or is he really just choosing to ignore how strange Amber has been acting lately? Small talk between the four of you, well, three of you, resumed until dinner arrived. The Spaghetti was good. Really good actually! ”MMMM” Your mother moans in delight. ”This Risotto is SOOOO good!” ”Their Ribollita isn’t half bad either.” Your dad says. He seems to be actually shocked that it’s good. Your mother looks over to Amber who was just poking at her dish. ”Amber, how’s your Chicken Alfredo?” Amber grunts and pokes more at her food. Mom cocks her head and looks confused. Your dad leans in, “Sweet Tooth. Your mother is talking to you.” Amber grunts a second time. ”...notevenmyrealmom.” *clink* Silence. It’s almost like the restaurant froze in time. The clanking of silverware dropping onto plates were amplified. As if a second meteorite crashed into the earth threatening the life of all the dinos once again. What. The. Fuck?!?! Did she-Did she JUST say that? Out loud? You internally groan in cringe. WHAT THE FUCK AMBER?! You knew she had the same mumbling issue dad did but holy fuck! It took Amber a few seconds to realize what she said, but when she did, holy shit. It looked like she just saw some one die in front of her. Her eyes were wider that the dinner plate in front of her. You had to be honest, it was almost funny seeing her realize her own fuck up. Would be...if it weren’t for the highly evolved ape right across from her staring into her very soul trying to vaporize her from the inside out. Amber looks over to your mother who had a difficult look on her face. ”Stel-Mom I…” ”No! No, I...I knew this day would come.” She plays with her hand for a few moments. Still processing the words that came out of her mouth. ”I just thought I’d be more ready when...*sniff* I’m sorry, I need to-” Mom gets up, excusing her self, and rushes to the car. You glare over at your half-sister. You knew you had reason to be suspicious. The fucking balls on this bitch. Well it was finally time. Time to give the bitch a piece of your mind. “Amber, what the fu-” ”Cynthia! Don’t!” Your beak snaps shut and you turn to your dad. His eyes were now trained on you. ”I don’t need you to make things worse like you usually do. In fact. You should go and talk to your mother.” What? Why you? “But dad I-” ”Now! I’m sure she’s upset and she needs someone there for her. And I…” Your dad turns his head and stares Amber down, who was shaking in her seat at this point. ”You and I need to talk Amber.” You sit there staring at the two. You’ve never seen your dad so pissed before. It reminds you of when you were a little kid and would draw on the walls but, for some reason, this seemed a lot more terrifying. He glances back at you. ”Why are you still here? Cynthia, go and comfort your mother!” “Yessir!” You squeak. You get up and quickly make your leave outside the restaurant. An apology pouring out of Amber’s mouth as you leave. Holy shit. That was intense. Though, you guess dad was right. Fuck, you weren’t very good at “comforting” people though. You had to think about this before going in. What do you do? Pat her on the shoulder? Say “there there, everything will be alright?” You could fill the spaghetti filling up your pockets already. No no! Cynthia. Just take a deep breath. Ok. Asses the situation. Amber ruined everything. She made mom cry and dad more pissed than you’ve seen him in years. You were about to give her a piece of your mind when dad threw you out. And now, ugh, now you have to comfort your bereft mother. You took another deep breath, and approached the family coupe. Your mother was sitting in the passenger seat, face in her hands. Ohhhhhh no. Oh no. Come on Cynthia. You open the door peak your head in. Your mother jumps in shock and glances over to see who’s intruding on her privacy. “H-hey mom! You uh...you doing okay?” ”Oh. Oh, Cynthia ma fille. I’m...*sniff* I’m okay.” You climb into the passenger seat and close the door. “Oh yea? That’s...that’s good right?” ”Huh? Oh, Yea, yea I guess..” Your mother tries her best to compose herself but fails. She groans and more tears fall from her again. ”I-I knew! I knew this day was coming, I just didn’t expect it to be so sudden.” You awkwardly place a hand on your mother’s shoulder and pat it a few times. “U-uh...there there?” Your mom reaches up and grabs your hand. Holding it firmly. A few sniffles and tears escape her. ”Merci cher, really.” The two of you sit in quiet for a moment. This was way too awkward for you, you weren’t good at this AT ALL! Maybe making some conversation would help? “So, uh...mom. You said you ‘knew this was coming?’ What does that mean.” ”Oh, I knew that one day Amber wo-would question me being her mom. I just...didn’t expect it to hit me as hard as it did.” “Well. Makes sense. You did raise her.” You answer, just trying to keep the conversation going. ”Well...it’s more than that.” More? “What do you mean.” Your mother takes a few moments to collect her self. ”Well, Cynthia, if it weren’t for Amber...your father and I would have never been together.” “What!?” Your mom starts playing with her hands again. ”Maybe, I should explain.” The poor stego wipes her eyes and sniffs the last of he tears before clearing her throat. ”So, as you know, your dad used to be married to Amber’s mom.” “Lucy right?” ”Yes. Well when Lucy...left us...it was really hard on your dad. Well, it was hard on everyone but your dad especially. And well...seeing him like that was horrible. He wouldn’t eat, he wouldn’t sleep. The only thing making him leave the apartment he lived in was to take care of Amber. It was all he had left of Lucy. So one day, I decided to build up the courage to go to his home and confront him.” Mom squeezed your hand again. ”We were all worried for him. Seeing him in such a state was just...horrible. Every hour of his day was spent caring for Amber. He did nothing for himself. Eventually I was able to convince him that he needed help. And I offered. It started with me just helping him with groceries. But it went from there. First buying him food, then clean around his house. But he didn’t like that, so, after some more convincing, I offered to take care of Amber for some time.” She took a few more gasps before continuing. ”During days Anon worked. I would be taking care of Amber. I would feed her, clean her diapers, and, against your dad’s wishes, clean the house. A part of me I thought I buried in high school started to come back again however.” That last comment peaked your interest. “What do you mean?” ”Well, like I said, your father was married to Lucy. We all met in high school and, I actually had a crush on your dad then. But...*sigh* but he was with Lucy, and I kept my distance and respected their relationship. It was hard, but, I got over it. Or so I thought.” She was grasping your hand tighter now, it kinda hurt but you just suffered through it. ”Well, as time went on your dad got better, and we started to go out and just do things as friends again. First with me, then everyone else. And all while that was happening some of those old high school feelings came back, but I ignored them. I didn’t want to complicate things. But…” “But?” “But...One day, when I was taking care of Amber, Anon was home at the time...Amber, she…s-she said h-her first words.” Tears flowed freely from your mother’s eyes now. Her voice was growing hoarse and would crack with every other word. ”She called me mama...mama. I-I cried. A-and I mean CRIED. Sniff heh...I was hysterical. After that I started to push your dad to date me. He was skeptical at first but seeing how much Amber had grown attached to me he finally said yes. And a year after that...he asked me to marry him.” A small smile graced your mothers lips from recounting on the past of her and your dad. You had no idea about any of this. You honestly didn’t know what to say. Or what to think. Just, how had you gone so long without even knowing this? All you knew was that Dad had a different wife, then after she was out of the picture, he married your mom. You bring your mother into an embrace, awkwardly leaning over the gear shift. She buries her face into your shoulder. Labored breaths shook you to your core and your neck was wet with her tears. As you rubbed your moms back, a deep anger rose out of the sorrow. Amber. She did this. This woman, YOUR mother, reduced to tears, all because that cunt was being a piss baby about...YOU DIDN’T EVEN KNOW WHAT! You thought back to what dad had said before you left. ”I don’t need you to make things worse like you usually do.” Well, sorry dad. But fuck Amber. You were going to give that bitch a piece of your mind. [POST-NOTES] Geez your mom let's you have ANOTHER 2 chapters in one day!?!? Don't get used to this actually. I have two reasons for releasing two chapters again. 1. Is because chapter 8 was short just like the previous two chapters were. And 2. Chapter 9 is a MUCH better cliff hanger to leave you guys on at until next week. Sorry it's a day late. Was lazy Friday. Hope you guys enjoyed these chapters though.