broken smiles, crumbling prides | {chelsey}

"Enough, Gavin!"

I was genuinely surprised that my mother's patience still hadn't run completely dry. I stood closest to her, which meant the tiny sarcastic remarks that constantly fell out of my mouth were easily heard by her as she circled the living room with her hands behind her back like a strict teacher. "You will not act this way once the others arrive. Is that understood?" I only nodded, afraid of the consequences of actually speaking. The only time my mother seemed to care about anything other than her work was when others were going to be looking our way, then she went from a work-crazed woman who abandoned her young children with an abusive alcoholic instead of the other way around, to a loving and caring mom that wanted nothing more than for all to see what a lovely job she was doing of raising her kids. In my opinion, it wasn't a very damn good job at all.

Rory, my oldest brother, had finally moved out when he realized the rest of us were old enough to defend ourselves without him about a month ago, and that left me in charge. I wasn't the type meant to lead in the least, but I had to be there for my siblings. Tove was becoming pretty bold these days, and it was hard to keep him in control, and Mariana thought she knew what was best for herself, and was too hardheaded to listen to anyone else. I hated to say it, but Rosalie, the girl my mother was forced to adopt when she ended up on our doorstep, was acting the best. The neighbors had already seen her and heard her story and turning her away would have looked cruel, which would have, in turn, defeated the image my mother had worked so hard to fool everyone into seeing of our family.

Each of us stood in a uniform line, trying our hardest not to roll our eyes as our mother briefed us. "Now, my brother is coming, as are his children, and so help me if they are more behaved than the four of you-" She stopped before she spoke the threat out loud. For the most part, she just avoided talking to us all together, which was fine with me, but she did seem to feel bad when she got upset with us, since our disgusting excuse for a father already did a wonderful job of that himself. This day was important, maybe even enough that my father would hide the booze and comb his hair for a change. The woman sighed and rubbed her temples. "Also, your aunt will be in attendance, as well as both of her children." Her words dripped with disgust and I knew why. They weren't rich. If I had to guess, I would have said she tried her very hardest to avoid inviting them, but obviously something went wrong along the way and now she was going to have to deal with a family where money didn't mean everything. Pity.

She straightened Tove's tie and smiled, a rare site for all of us. "Now try and act happy. It isn't every day your cousin gets married!" I was surprised by the amount of cheer in her voice, and it made me sick to my stomach. She didn't care that the only niece she claimed was getting married. She didn't even care about her own children, and if she did she had a terrible way of showing it. Finally, she adjourned the meeting none of us even wanted to be a part of and stormed into her room, probably to make sure my father hadn't changed his mind about staying sober tonight. "If she were any faker, she'd be made of plastic." Tove decided and I couldn't stop myself from laughing.

Eventually people began arriving to my home, all dressed up nicely and reeking of perfume, with painted smiles and careless eyes. The only members of my family that I liked were the ones my mother disapproved of, and I think that only added to my love of them. Basil and I were the same age, and had naturally bonded from the time we were very young. When he and his sister came into the room a smile lit up my face. "Well, well, if it isn't Basil Anatola!" I said and ducked in for a hug. He had dark hair and light eyes like the majority of my family, but he had a genuine warmth that most of us lacked.

I had almost asked Jasper to come over and attend the wedding with me at my home, but I knew my mother would have never approved. Still, I would have enjoyed having someone I actually liked to talk to on a night when my own home became a place where there was no privacy. Who was I kidding? There never was. The place was huge. It was sort of out of the way, but it had a gigantic yard that was now decorated with white chairs and light pink ribbons, finished with a lattice archway overgrown with morning glory flowers. The house itself was two stories tall, and an entire wall was made of glass, with a picturesque view of the mountainous forests that swallowed our entire district. It was the largest house with the prettiest view that was available, and my mother was always eager to please as long it wasn't one of us asking, so four months later and here we all were. It was beautiful, but it was not a home, and it certainly was not private. "How are you?" I asked Basil, trying my hardest to follow my mother's advice and at least try to be happy.

ooc:
credit to chelsey for the table!