"How sweet of you".She pulled her cheeks.
"aren't I too old for this".Leyla complained,her eyes looked directly into her mom's.They were almost the same height but side by side she was older by a few inches
"Joyce".Her dad called from the living room
"Yes".she shouted back
"could you come down for a minute?".He asked and was that politeness I noticed in his tone
oh,this is gonna be good
Joyce hastily walked downstairs,maybe to hear what he has to say or to get it over with either way I was listening to this.
"No one interrupts my sleep and get away with it".she internally said.Her hair was still disheveled,she tried to comb it down with her hand but it got worse.
"what is it Tom?".Joyce asked,her hand on her waist.she was clearly impatient
"could you sit down".Tom gestured to the coffee brown chair behind her.The room was lit dimly,The chairs and tables adding that homey feeling to the room
"Fine,but make this quick".she said as she sat and folded her arms
"ok,I love you".Tom said after mustering up enough courage.shock registered on Joyce face
"what did you say?".she asked stammering even though she heard it clearly
"I...LOVE...YOU".Tom said stressing every word,this time he sounded more confident.
Behind the staircase,Leyla tried to stifle an awwn.She had never heard her parents like this,who knew all this feelings were buried deep in him...deep in them
Joyce narrowed her eyes at him gauging his reaction
"Are you kidding?".she asked demurely
"No Joyce,come on why would I kid about this".Tom said,his face scrunched up a little
"I love you too".Joyce said.she intended it to seem carefree but her tone indicated otherwise
"Then why are we fighting".He began
"since when did we start arguing to the point we can't stand being close to each other why can't we go back to how we were".He let out and stopping to catch his breath.Many thoughts swirled in his mind.some were good and others were not but he was determined to do this,to do this for his family.
"I don't know".Joyce said after the few seconds that passed.She didn't know,one day they woke up and things just seemed different.Leyla was still hiding behind the stairs but this time tears threatened to fall from her eyes.she never pegged her dad as one to be emotional but tonight he was,he was laying it all just for his family
"Yeah".He laughed bitterly
"No one does".He added and let his head fall back and gaze upon the egg white ceilings
"But we could fix it".Joyce said,she was also not giving up.
"yeah,that would be Nice".Tom said after a little thinking.With that,Leyla left her spot and stealthily walked upstairs, making sure she walked over the creaky floorboard.