.:3:.

And you still managed to face plant spectacularly

“So you’re in the military,” Britney said with a nod. “That must be a really exciting profession.”

Melinda looked back at her with a raised eyebrow. “That certainly depends on what your definition of ‘exciting’ is, I suppose,” She replied. “I work in healthcare, specifically, within the army. There have been many cases of the run of the mill injuries; sprains, concussions, abrasions, contusions.” She shrugged. “But then there are others that tend to be tings you don’t see every day; gangrene, badly broken limbs, massive head wounds, gun shots…”

“Mom,” Cadence interrupted. Melinda glanced over at her and Cadence motioned around the table. “We’re trying to eat breakfast. We don’t need to hear stories of how you held people’s heads together after being cracked on the head by falling debris.” With that, Lance made a choking sound, Britney turned green, and Justin made a face, pushing his plate away from him.

Only Joey was the one that didn’t have any adverse effect of the mental image, he continued to hoover down all of the food that was on his plate. When he noticed Justin had stopped eating he took his plate and scraped it onto his own before digging into that as well.

JC, appalled, turned back to Melinda with an easy-going smile. “I apologize for my friend,” he said. “There isn’t much that can break his appetite.”

A chuckle escaped Melinda’s lips. “There’s no need to apologize. I’ve certainly seen worse.” She cleared her throat and pushed her plate aside, being careful to take the napkin from her lap and place it over the empty dish. “So you’ve asked me everything that you could think of, I believe it’s my turn to ask you a few questions. You said that you didn’t meet my daughter at school, where did you meet?”

“Oh!” Chris smiled widely. “We were looking for a trainer; someone who could keep us in shape throughout our music career and we met Cadence through Britney.”

Britney nodded. “Cadence and I had been roommates since she moved here to Florida and when I heard the guys were looking for someone I suggested Cadence. Not only has she done a good job o keeping me in shape, but she definitely holds a no-nonsense personality that keeps us going.”

“And she’s a pain in the ass when she needs to be,” Justin added, causing Britney to elbow him in the side.

“I wonder where she got that from,” Melinda commented with a smile.

“Not from Dad, that’s for sure,” Cadence responded. She narrowed her eyes as she looked at her mother. “You remember Dad, right? The one who did nothing but dote on you and follow the career path you wanted—“

“—Cadence, I need to speak with you,” Melinda interrupted. She swiftly stood up from her seat and walked out of the kitchen with Cadence sighing loudly and following her. Once the two were back in the foyer, Cadence watched her mother as she paced back and forth.

It was a calm pace; she took long strides as she went. Finally, Melinda came to a stop in front of Cadence and looked down at her with Cadence looking defiantly back at her. The two women continued to stare at each other, the only sound between hem the sound of their heavy breathing. Finally, Melinda whipped up her arm and slapped Cadence on the cheek. Cadence had grown used to it over the years and yet she still flinched and winced the moments before and after he mother hit her. She refused to cry, refused to let tears come, but it was more surprising than it had ever been.

Her mother didn’t seem to care much about how close they were to the others. She always had to put on her best behavior when she was around other people. I must’ve really pissed her off this time, Cadence thought.

“How dare you speak to me that way,” Melinda said in a low voice. As she continued to speak her speech continued to increase in tempo until her words seemed to blend together. But Cadence understood her perfectly. “How dare you. After everything I’ve done to you, after the service I’ve given to this country and you decide to speak to me like that? I will not have my daughter disrespect me that way.”

“How long have I been your daughter?” Cadence shot back. “It couldn’t have been when you beat me up when I didn’t do things exactly the way you wanted me to. It couldn’t have been when you left me and Dad over and over again. You left us.”

“Please, you’re being overdramatic.”

“You cheated on Dad while you were deployed.”

“Those were adult matters, you couldn’t understand.”

“And did Dad ever understand? You broke his heart, it’s no wonder he finally decided to divorce you—“She knew he was going to be slapped again. Her mother always seemed to work out her bad temper just from even a mention of her name. This time as her mother moved to slap her, Cadence turned her head to the side, allowing her mother’s fingers to graze her face. The force of that blow would have been very strong, much stronger than it had been the first time. The way wind blew by Cadence’s face proved that as well as the cut on her cheek that started to seep blood.

She hadn’t realized her mother had managed to touch her until the blood started to come down. One of her fingernails must have grazed her cheek.

“And yet you continue to disappoint me,” Melinda whispered.

“Then why do you continue to come around when you know I don’t ever want to see you again?” But Cadence knew the answer. Both of them knew the answer and she wasn’t going to give Melinda what she wanted. Not anymore. Not after she abandoned them. “Why do you keep coming around me?”

“Because, believe it or not Cadence, I love you.”

“Then you have a funny way of showing it.” Cadence stepped towards the door and twisted the doorknob open. “Goodbye, Mom.”

Melinda glanced at the open door and took another breath through her nose. She turned back to Cadence and looked directly into her eyes for a long moment. Her lips pressed together in a thin line and she shook her head. “I don’t know where I went wrong with you. I tried my hardest to instill into you the values that I’ve learned from my parents and from my career. And yet you continue to disrespect and defy me.”

“I may not have learned everything you’ve ever wanted me to learn, Mom. But I still learned from the best. How not to treat people.” Reaching up, Cadence wiped blood away from her cheek. She crossed he arms and inclined her head towards the door. Melinda nodded and left the house. From the time she arrived to the time she left had only been forty minutes and those forty minutes felt like an eternity had passed.

Cadence looked up from her notebook as Lance poked his head into her room. She shrugged and he walked inside, lowering himself onto the end of her bed. The two sat in silence for a while as Lance looked around the room. His eyebrows twitched together and he sat up straight. “I never noticed it before, but you have a lot of stuff.”

“I know.” Cadence managed a small smile. “When me and Brit were living together I didn’t realize it because she had things everywhere! Finally getting a room this big to myself…I don’t think I even know where to begin to put everything together.”

“Well, you’ve got plenty of time for that,” Lance said. He reached out and patted her knee. “I know a lot of things have been changing for you lately, with deciding to help Wade with our choreography—“

“—Lou basically made that decision for me; I didn’t really have a choice.”

“Are you saying you wouldn’t do it?”

Cadence gave him a funny look. “Oh no,” she said sarcastically. “I just love the idea of having to be around you guys all the time. Even more than I already do. As a matter of fact, I have an appointment to check myself into a mental hospital by the end of the year. I’m sure you all will do no less of driving me insane by then.” She giggled as Lance stuck his tongue out at her. “I’m kidding. Honestly, I just don’t know how well I’m going to do. Yeah, I was a cheerleader in school and I can pick up choreography pretty easily, but that’s different compared to being a choreographer for one of the hottest bands in the world.”

“You’re going to do a good job, Cade,” Lance reassured her. “Lou, Johnny, and Wade wouldn’t have agreed for you to do it if they didn’t think so either.”

Cadence gave Lance a ‘duh’ look. “You don’t think Wade wouldn’t have suggested me to do it if I knew absolutely nothing about dancing.” Lance hesitated for a second then nodded in agreement, causing Cadence to laugh again.

Then he looked at her seriously and Cadence knew he was about to bring up the topic she knew he wanted to speak about all along. “Your Mom didn’t really seem to like the idea of what you’re doing now. She left pretty quickly.” He left out that as soon as she had left Cadence went to her room and wouldn’t talk to anyone else. As a matter of fact she spent the rest of the day in her room, trying fruitlessly to organize everything so that she could make her room feel like her new home. She had only stopped long enough to say goodbye to Britney, who was going back to their apartment, and to take lunch that Joey had brought up to her (which she was also surprised to see made it up in one piece).

Her mother had that effect on her; as soon as she left Cadence fell into a bit of a depression.

Thankfully no one said anything about the Band-Aid she had placed onto her cheek. At least not at the moment.

“Yes, well, my mother isn’t someone who is very easy to get along with,” Cadence pointed out. “Didn’t you notice the stink-eye she was giving you guys practically the whole time you were asking her questions?”

A wry smile came to Lance’s face. “It was hard not to notice. I tried to ignore it. She has a really exciting background in the military though.”

“Yes, and that was something I was subjected to time and time again.” Cadence brushed her hair back behind her ears then set her notebook aside onto her dresser. She carefully placed the pen down on top and turned back to Lance, looking him in the eye. “To say that my Mom and I don’t get along is an understatement. She was…perfect and I couldn’t ever do anything right in her eyes. So she tried to instill military values onto me and my Dad and that wasn’t something that worked. If my bed wasn’t made correctly I got in trouble, if one of my clothes were even a little out of place when folding laundry she knocked the pile over and made me start again. She was so strict that I could only hang out with my friends once all of my homework was done to her liking, including papers that she looked over and edited until it was perfect. I cleaned the entire house by myself and had so many strict rules placed on me that I had a curfew when all of my friends could do whatever they wanted.”

She rested her chin in her hand. “I know that sounds like nothing the way I explain it, but it was bad. And the more pressure she would put on me, the less I wanted to listen to her.”

Lance nodded. He continued to watch her for a long moment then took a breath before asking, “Are your parents divorced?”

Cadence’s smile was amusing. “Why? Do I act like a spoiled brat?”

“Sort of.” Cadence reached out and swatted Lance on his leg at the admission. “But, from what you explained and how well you speak about your Dad compared to what you just told me about your Mom it wouldn’t surprise me if they were.” He reached up and pressed his finger into her cheek, causing her to wince as the wound under her Band-Aid stung. “What happened there?”

Cadence could’ve told the truth. As a matter of fact she knew Lance knew the truth. But she had become so accustomed to lying about it for so long that it was almost second nature to her. “I was saying goodbye to my Mom and turned my head too sharply when coming back in. Whacked it on the door frame.” She brought her hand up and pushed Lance’s hand away, disguising it as a movement to run her hand through her hair. “I’m a bit of a klutz if you haven’t noticed.”

“Oh, I noticed.” Now Lance smiled again and Cadence let out a quiet sigh of relief. She diverted his attention and now she could keep from having to think about it for a while. “I don’t think I know anyone who is as graceful as you…who can also trip over thin air.”

“That happened only once and my shoe scuffed on the ground!”

“And you still managed to face plant spectacularly.”

Cadence let out a shriek of offense and leaned forward, digging her fingers into Lance’s ribs. He started to laugh and squirm around until he rolled onto his stomach. Cadence sat down on his back, her weight pressing him into his bad. “Ha! Now I have you as my prisoner! And the only way you can get free is if you make dinner tonight.”

“I don’t know how to cook,” Lance protested.

“I’ll teach you. You’re going to have to learn how to fend for yourselves when I’m not around. I don’t want to come back and see the house covered in piles and piles of pizza boxes, cereal boxes, and milk jugs.” Cadence rolled off of Lance’s back and stretched out next to him. She reached her hand out towards him. “Deal?”

“Deal.” Lance slapped his palm into hers. “But you’re not going to leave are you?”

At the moment Cadence couldn’t see anything else she would rather do than stay in Florida with her friends. Especially when the only other option was to go back home where she knew her mother would be waiting for her. “Never.” She then made a face when she heard a low, rhythmic thumping sound from the next room over and moaning voices. “I thought Britney left.”

“So did I,” Lance agreed.

“Okay, the only thing that would probably make me leave…is wishing that my room wasn’t this close to Justin’s. You wouldn’t be in the mood to change rooms would you?”

“Sorry, last one in gets the last room. I suggest you invest in earplugs.”

Lance and Cadence laughed as they pressed their palms over their ears.