25 - Nothing But Chaos

Aria’s POV

Some drunken years ago

It was Kyle’s birthday dinner and Kyle had invited me alongside his father and his estranged mother and after that he was throwing a party at some fancy hotel. At this time Kyle and I had been going out for exactly three months and somehow I could feel it in my guts that the honeymoon phase was slowly fading out, but yet I chose to ignore, to push it to the back of my head and not talk about it with Kyle.

I was seated at the restaurant dressed in a red fancy dress that I had picked off a boutique even though it was slightly above my budget, Kyle was seated beside me but dressed casually in a black t shirt and some cargo pants with his eyes fixed on his phone, then there was his Mr. Hart seated opposite us with an empty seat beside him because we were all still waiting for Kyle’s mother. As usual, Mr. Hart always looked sharp, crisp suit with a bald shining head but seemed to even add more to his mysterious allure.

“Nice to meet you once again Mr. Hart.” I said again in a bid to lighten up the air because Kyle wasn’t saying a word and Mr. Hart had kept his eyes on me the entire time like he was studying me and in a way I felt uncomfortable.

“I told you already, you can call me Kelvin.” he said and I smiled.

“Fine, Nice to meet you Kelvin.” I said instead.

“How’s Peter?” he asked suddenly referring to my father and I paused, “Is he – ”

“Out of jail?” I completed and this time Kyle shot me a look because I hadn’t told him yet that my father was in jail for fraud and tax evasion, I hadn’t told anyone not even Sam because I was ashamed of it, it was secret that I was never willing to share but somehow Kelvin had fished it out of me, because he knew, he had that weird glint in his eyes.

“Your dad is in jail?” Kyle questioned, I was about to respond when the presence of a woman interrupted me and I realized that she was Kyle’s mother. They had the same eyes, blue and piercing into your soul like they’re judging every single thing you do. She was tall, slender with short brown hair dressed in a red flowing dress and her spicy perfume wafted in the air as she sat down, a slim smile plastered on her face.

“I’m sorry I’m late everyone, I got stuck in traffic.” she said.

“As usual.” Kyle muttered under his breath but loud enough for her to hear but she ignored him, fixing her eyes on me instead, “You must be Aria and you can call me Elizabeth, Kyle mentioned you but he doesn’t talk to me so I don’t know anything. What’s the deal with you guys, are you guys dating or are you just a fling because he’s had many of those.”

“Mom!” Kyle protested the same time my mouth fell open in surprise.

“I’m just joking, you guys can take a joke after all your father saw me as one for so many years.” she laughed hysterically and then it became obvious that she was drunk and Kyle shook his head signaling for the waiter.

“Let’s order.” he said aloud.

“Some more wine maybe?” Elizabeth said.

“Don’t you think you’re drunk enough and perhaps, just perhaps you need some food in your system – it’s just a suggestion and I’m not ordering you around.” Kelvin said this time and Elizabeth rolled her eyes.

“That’s the nicest thing you’ve said to me since we got married,” she said before looking at the waiter, “The steak would be fine and another bottle of wine maybe a 75 Dom.”

Kyle looked at me and I realized he was waiting for me to order but I was yet to recover from the chaos that was Kyle’s famiy, I quickly perused through the menu and settling for the Orange chicken. After the waiter had left, a weird silence settled around us again but Elizabeth broke it looking at me.

“So Aria darling, what do you do?”

I looked to Kyle before looking back at her, “I go to NYU, I’m an English Major.”

“Hmm,” she nodded, “That’s impressive and I suppose that’s where you met Kyle.” I nodded in response and at this point the waiter had arrived with our meal and Elizabeth was already digging into her steak, while half of my appetite had disappeared already and I was just fiddling around with my food. Kelvin stayed true to his grilled chicken and risotto, meanwhile Kyle didn’t touch his food but was downing wine glass after wine glass and I reached out to touch his thigh in a reassuring manner but he only shrugged it off before whispering to me.

“Don’t do that”.

I pulled my hand away and took a painful bite of my chicken before Elizabeth interrupted yet again the awkward silence that held us all captive.

“So tell me darling, how did you two meet? Was it something out of a movie and you bumped into him on your way to class?”

I was going to respond something along the lines that it was nothing like that but she cut me short before I had the chance to say anything.

“Has he spiraled yet?”

“What?” I asked back in shock, throwing Kyle a look but that moment, his jaw was fixed and staring hard at Elizabeth who didn’t seem to mind that he was there.

“Oh come on honey, you know exactly what I’m talking about. You know the thing that guys do where they get all moody and they begin to take it out on you, being mean for no reason and the whole time you find out it was just another girl in the picture.”

“Elizabeth!” Kelvin called with a stern voice “Stop!”

“Stop what?” she chuckled, taking a cut of steak into her mouth, “I’m sure you know exactly what I’m talking about. You did it to me, and I’m afraid Kyle is going to do that to this pretty girl and make her cry because you know – like father like son.” she shrugged and then drinking more wine before she continued

“You know darling, sometimes I wish I had a girl child instead, what’s your relationship with your mother?” she threw at me.

“I never met her, she died at childbirth.” I said and this time Kyle shot me another look because this was another piece of information that I never told him.

“Oh you poor thing,” she cooed, her eyes tainted with pity, “You know darling, us girls should always stick together, form a shield against the toxic masculinity that gets thrown at us every day. Having a son can be so bloody hectic, they get moody, they never want to talk, they do whatever they want with zero regard about what you think, and also they’re very likely to cover their father’s cheating ass.”

“Mom!” Kyle banged the table loudly almost attracting the attention of fellow diners in the restaurant. “Mom, one evening, one bloody evening on my birthday that I wanted us to sit together as a fucking family and eat together. But if you hate me so much why are you here? What the hell are you doing?” he said angrily and silence settled amongst us but Elizabeth never took her eyes off him, I could see the anger festering, the resentment in her eyes, fueling her anger.

“You know what? Don’t answer that, I don’t want to know. I’ll very much rather party with my friends who won’t judge me for my lack of better judgment as a twelve year old who saw his father fucking his manager and not tell his mother. What did you expect from me? I was a child and you have resented me every single day since then even more than you did dad. I’m sorry I ruined your marriage and perhaps your life, come on Aria.” he said it all in one breath before taking my hand and pulling me with him, away from his parents.

Kyle held unto my hands tightly and I could feel the anger in every step he took and I tried to pull him back, to calm down and say something but he wouldn’t budge. We got to his car and he didn’t open the door for like he usually would, instead he looked me dead in the eyes and ordered.

“Get in.”