The door slammed, and then the crying started.
Parker turned in his desk chair looking back at the wall separating his room from his step-sister's. Well, not really his room, more the room he occupied when he was visiting his Dad.
He could faintly hear Gwen's sobs through the wall. Then the sound of her door opening, his Stepmother Stacy's voice consoling her.
With a shake of his head, he turned back to the computer, minimized the Word document he'd been plugging away at, opened a browser tab to Amazon and searched for noise canceling headphones.
It wasn't that he was insensitive or didn't care, Gwen had always seemed OK, they just didn't have any real connection.
Parker had been 11 when his parents divorced, 12 when his Dad got a big promotion and moved away, and 15 when he married Stacy and then 8-year-old Gwen had entered his life. If the age difference hadn't been enough of a barrier, she'd always been a very girly girl. Into dance, gymnastics, cheerleading, and all things pink. She'd had zero interest in the hiking, camping, hunting and fishing Parker and his Dad did whenever he visited.
Now, a decade later she was an 18-year-old senior, and he was 25 and coming to the end of his second enlistment in the Army. Not a lot of common ground as far as he could tell.
A well reviewed pair of headphones was in the shopping cart and the cursor was hovering over the checkout button when there was a knock at his door.
"Yeah", he called out.
"You decent?" his Dad's voice enquired through the door.
"Of course not, I blame my parents. I am however fully clothed."
The door opened and his dad walked in, closing the door behind him.
Parker spun the chair around to face him, and his dad sat down on the foot of the bed before nodding his head towards the wall.
"I'm sure you heard all that."
"Nothing specific, just crying. Is this where you ask me to be extra nice to her?"
His Dad hesitated for a moment, seemingly thrown off script.
"Nothing like that, I mean you're always nice to her..." His voice trailed off and the two men looked at each other in silence.
Finally, his Dad took a deep breath, "I need to ask you for a favor."
"Sure, what?"
"Don't commit to anything until you get all the facts."
"Fair point."
"You may or may not be wondering what all the drama was about."
"I was a little curious," Parker admitted.
"Well, your sister just found out her boyfriend is cheating on her."
"Wow, that sucks."
Parker was of the opinion that everyone gets cheated on once, and his experience had been most unpleasant.
"Yeah, she's obviously taking it pretty hard."
"Not to be more callous than usual, what's this got to do with me?"
"It's a matter of timing."
"Is this some Valentines Day crap? Still not seeing how that involves me."
"It is a Valentines Day thing," he let out a bit of a sigh before continuing, obviously uncomfortable with where this was going, " So at Gwen's school they have this huge Valentines Day dance. It's a big-time tradition for whatever reason, half a notch below prom. Anyway, your sister and her best friend Cassie have been planning this for months, and now Gwen doesn't have a date."
"No fucking way, you aren't suggesting that...", startling himself a little with the intensity, he tried to avoid cursing in front of his parents.
"Not suggesting, asking."
"You seriously want me to take my Step-Sister to a high school dance? I'm not sure who's reputation would suffer more, hers or mine."
"It sounds crazy, but hear me out. First, you can obviously pass for high school, as much as you hate it now, that baby face will pay off when you're my age.
Second, it's not like anyone's going to know. Cassie has been her best friend since Junior High and she's never seen you. You're just some guy from another school, we can make up a story about how you know her. Then you ride off into the sunset.
And, since I want to be completely honest with you, I've got an ulterior motive."
"I'm afraid to ask," Parker responded.
"I have a romantic Valentines of my own planned out for Stacy, reservations at her favorite restaurant, tickets to the ballet, and a room at the Peabody."
Parker couldn't suppress a laugh, "Brown chicken brown cow?"
His Dad joined the laughter, "I'm old, not dead. But if I don't get Gwen out of the house either Stacy won't go, or she'll spend the whole evening worried about Gwen and spoil my chances."
Well, he couldn't argue with that logic, but Parker wasn't ready to give in yet.
"I don't have anything to wear, nothing that would work if it's formal. I don't even own a suit anymore."
"Easy fix, I'll leave work early tomorrow and we'll go get you a suit. My treat, a thank you present of sorts. If we do it tomorrow, they won't have to rush the alterations."
Parker glanced at his watch; it was almost 630.
He took a deep breath," I'm going to go to the gym. I'll think about it, and I'll let you know either way when I get back."
"Thanks Parker, I hated to ask, but I really appreciate you at least considering it."
"No worries, Dad."
His Dad left the room and he quickly changed into his gym clothes and headed out.
Parker cursed himself as he pulled out of the driveway. Take some leave they said, go see your Dad, it'll be fun they said... could have gone with his buddies to the Keys, but no...someone had to be the dutiful son and visit family.
And now this, the shitty part was he just didn't want to let his Dad down. He couldn't remember the last time he'd ever asked him for anything. But some stupid high school dance? He wasn't even sure they'd been all that much fun when he was in high school. Afterwards there had been some nice moments he remembered with a wistful smile. That was definitely NOT going to happen this time though.
And then there was Gwen. She always seemed nice enough, certainly didn't deserve this, painful memories of his own betrayal bubbling to the surface. What were her options? Go with her friend as a third wheel, and probably see the asshole ex there with the other girl? Sit at home alone and stew? Or sit at home with Dad and her Mom, everyone blaming him?
He was still chewing on that thought when he pulled into the gym. Focusing on his workout kept the problem at bay until it was time for cardio. The boredom of the treadmill left to much time for his mind to wander. After 30 minutes at a steady pace something inside him gave in. He hit the speed button, then raised the angle, then more speed, more angle until he was at a dead run, the platform as steep as it would go. He ran until he thought his lungs would burst, then smashed the emergency stop before he lost his footing.
He staggered off the treadmill, looking around, realizing there were now two kinds of people in the gym. The ones who were staring at him, and the ones who were making an effort to not look at him. He wiped the machine down, grabbed his water bottle and left the gym. He walked around the parking lot away from those curious eyes, the night air helping him cool down.
I can't believe I'm seriously considering this he thought to himself. No, he corrected himself, I can't believe I'm actually going to do this. I used to be kind of cool, is this where cool goes to die? Have you hit rock bottom when you take your sister to a school dance?
He let out a sigh, got in his car, and headed back to his Dad's house.
Stacy and Gwen were in the den, Stacy was watching TV, Gwen was on her phone.
"Your Dad's in the garage," Stacy offered with an odd smile.
