Life in Color ✔️

42~ Chaos

I don't leave my bed all weekend.

I stay miserable and irritable so no one tries to bother me. No one besides Ashton, that is. I don't know why he chooses to hang around when all I've done is be a frump but he keeps coming back, dealing with all my moods with a smile. On the bright side, we've completely finished the Harry Potter movies.

Sunday afternoon I shower, finally feeling like a human being again. The warm water fogs up my mirror, taking a hand towel, I wipe a section dry.

The first thing I notice is my hickey, still vibrant against my skin. Uncle John's coming over for dinner tomorrow night so I guess I'm gonna have to cover it up. Who knows what fit he'll have this time around.

Throwing my hair in a bun, along with one of Ashton's shirts and a pair of shorts, I go back out to my room to find Ashton staring at a picture of my parents on their graduation day. It's one of my favorites of them, so young and hopeful.

"What were they like?" He asks, scanning the wall for more photos of them.

I stand in the doorway, trying to figure out the best way to describe them. Words don't really do their memory justice, but video does. I get my computer and plug it into the TV, scanning my files.

"What are you doing?"

"Just sit down."

He does what I say as the video pulls up. I run to the bed, sitting myself between his legs. "What is this?"

I shush him as an image of a garage fills the screen.

"Is this thing on?" My dad asks, wearing a ridiculous flannel. Uncle John sits behind the drums a bandana tied around his head. They look like idiots.

"Yes, now play your song." My mom demands from behind the camera.

"Is that?"

I nod my head as the scene changes. Ashton doesn't say anything else, resting his chin on top of my head as he wraps his arms around me.

The scenes shift through the years. Their wedding clips play and I'm shocked to see how beautiful my mom looks every time I see this part. Watching their first dance I can't help but think about our night of dancing in the snow.

After a while, Uncle John appears on the screen blindfolded, a bowl of dry beans in front of him. Mom sits next to him, a hand on her barely noticeable bump.

"Go." Dad calls.

Uncle John pulls his blind fold off, looking at the bowl in confusion before turning to mom. He notices her hand and his eyes widen. "No way."

Mom laughs, nodding her head. Uncle John freaks out, flipping the bowl off the table before tackling her in a hug.

Sage comes along and then the twins. Plenty of embarrassing videos show, Ashton chuckling from time to time. It feels weird for him to watch me grow up but this expresses things better than anything I could say.

"You were a really cute kid." He teases, I just flick his nose.

I'm holding up really well until moms face appears on the screen, her blonde hair all piled on top of her head in a wild mess, bags evident underneath her eyes.

"Today has been hell." She says, looking directly at the lens, momentarily freaking me out. "Matty is out of town on an inspection, leaving me all alone. Scarlett and Sage got into a fist fight. The twins refused to talk to each other and everything has made Saffron cry. And just when I think I'm over this whole parenting thing, I see this."

The camera peers into my old bedroom, showing the five of us asleep in my bed. All drooling and entangled in the sheets, Sterling's fist on my face.