Summary: Summer has a Christmas gathering with her Dad's side of the family
TW: Mentions of feeling nauseous, anxiety, family tensions, arguing
Divider found on this website
Christmas gatherings used to be something that I loved. I loved seeing my grandparents on both sides and I still do, I spent half of the summer with them this year because my parents didn’t want Lennon and I to be alone after what happened with Jake. I still loved seeing my aunts, uncles, and cousins but now I didn’t know what to do especially since I hadn’t seen them that much. I still felt guilty when my parents skipped the 4th of July at my aunt’s house because of how depressed I had gotten, I felt like Lennon was still upset that he missed it even if he hadn’t vocalized it. I felt disgusted right now: the gemstones on my eyelids felt uneven, the red dress made me feel too hot, the tights made my legs look weird, and the heeled Mary Janes made my feet hurt but we were already running late so I didn’t have time to change any of this.
When I walked into the living room, Lennon and my parents were already dressed and trying to prepare all the gifts. I was jealous of how my mom always looked gorgeous. Her hair was perfectly curled, her makeup looked perfect, we both coordinated by wearing red velvet dresses except her tights were an opaque black paired with black heels. Ever since Jake got arrested, my mom had become my best friend. I remember being angry that my parents had decided to press charges against Jake but I started noticing things that Jake told me might’ve been lies, the first being that my parents wouldn’t love me anymore if they found out but now I was spending all my time with my parents and wearing matching bracelets with them.
“You look so beautiful, Summer!” My mom said excitedly. My dad nodded and hugged me. Both of my parents were always supportive of me. I could tell Lennon looked annoyed with how long it took me to get ready but we were both trying to be nice to each other tonight. I wondered what tonight was going to be like. I knew it would be loud, they always were, especially now that my oldest cousin just had a baby, and since my dad’s side of the family was a lot bigger there would be more people to speak to and ask me questions. They hadn’t seen me in a while so I knew they were going to ask me so many questions.
I braced myself in the car ride trying to brace myself. When we walked in, my dad’s oldest brother, John, and his wife, Lauren hugged me and I tried not to recoil. It felt odd, I loved my uncle but everything felt so overwhelming already. I just wanted to run into the bathroom and vomit. I didn’t want to seem rude, especially since they were hosting this year , Lennon immediately got excited when he saw our cousin, Rose. She was his favorite cousin, she was like a younger sister to them and they were super close in age since my mom and Lauren got pregnant at the same time. When Rose hugged me, I jumped back a little. It was the fourth time I had been hugged and it felt like a fucking overload. She noticed and seemed annoyed but just started talking to Lennon like nothing happened. Lennon rolled his eyes at me.
Grandma had invited me to sit with her and Grandpa on the couch. No one else had gotten there, John’s oldest son, Alex was still driving down with his wife and baby. Mary was supposed to be getting here soon with her husband and so was Christina and her family. My grandparents weren’t being overwhelming towards me, they didn’t really ask a lot of questions, and I sat there talking to them about how school had been going and how I became captain of the varsity soccer team. I was trying to talk more, especially after Lennon told me a few days ago that “my newfound distance and standoffish personality” seemed offputting to everyone. I prayed that my parents would let me sit at the adult table since I no longer know how to talk to my cousins or Lennon. I wanted to curl into a ball when more people started to come.
I looked over at my parents and noticed how happy they were, the kind of happiness that almost felt contagious, the kind of happiness I could only dream of. They had been together for 21 years now and I knew this year had been hard on them between the lawyers, the court dates, social workers, and all of the shit that Jake had brought but they always seemed to make it out on the other side. My parents always told Lennon and I that communication always worked for a relationship, and between that and the couple’s therapy they had been doing, it seemed like things were perfect. I watched as my parents whispered gossip into each other’s ears as they laughed together.
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I felt nauseous. Everyone had came now and it was all so loud: Alex and his wife came over with his daughter, Kylie who was now crying, Lennon wanted to talk to me in private and asked me why I was being “weird” and talking to grandma and grandpa the whole time instead of being with him and the cousins, it all felt too much. When I saw my dad in the kitchen, I begged him to let me sit at the adult table with him and Mom.
“Dad, please let me sit with you at the table! I’m 14 now and I won’t interrupt or anything I pro-”
“You can sit wherever you want, Summer. You’re not a toddler and I don’t want you to be miserable”.
I sat beside my parents at the table, trying to ignore Lennon’s eye roll. Alex looked confused when I sat there. He was 24, older than me by 9 years, older than Rose by 10 but he still liked to joke that I was the favorite grandchild since I was the first girl. Uncle John didn’t make a face or anything but I wondered if he was annoyed at me when I didn’t talk to Rose since he saw the way I jumped back. Uncle John was a lot different than my dad: he and his wife were more Catholic than us, especially since my parents took a step back from the church after we practically shunned when they found out my parents were pressing charges against Jake, John didn’t like the fact that my parents switched churches since both sides of my family had been going there for years, there was a lot more tension in my dad’s relationship with John since my uncle wanted an answer and my dad wouldn’t tell him that I was Jake’s victim. My grandparents knew because I was the one who told them.
“You look pretty Summer, but you don’t need all that on your face.” John said. It sounded a bit condescending I wasn’t going to say anything. My uncle had been blunt my whole life, he said what he thought, spoke his truth, and never went back on it.
“It doesn’t matter what Summer needs, if she likes it, she likes it.” My dad said, passively. He and John had hardly spoken the whole night which never happened when I was younger. They used to be best friends but that changed, just like everything else.
“I’m just saying she looks different. Especially now that she dyed her hair, got all pierced and started dressing like she’s in a Madonna video.”
“Well, you can’t expect her to stay the same forever. Can you?” My dad and John had been going back and forth.
I knew looked different now. My roots were starting to show through the brunette dye. I started dressing differently, I got my nose pierced after begging my mom and dad to let me, and I got a double lobe piercing yesterday. I wondered if this was really about me and my clothes though. My mom had asked me if I wanted to help her get some stuff out of the car, which was her way of trying to distract me from whatever passive-aggressive shit was going on with John and my dad.
“Mom, I can take off my makeup if that will make them stop arguing.”
“No, Summer, you don’t have to change anything if you don’t want to. Your dad and John are just going through something right now but it doesn’t matter right now. We were planning on leaving soon anyway now that the gift exchange was over. None of us want to hear your dad and John argue, especially not tonight.”
I could tell that John didn’t know what to give me Lennon so we just got $10 which I wasn’t made about at all, Mary had gotten me a set of watercolors and a Kate Bush cassette, Christina had gotten me a pair of baby blue and white New Balances, and my grandparents had gotten me a Precious Moments angel figurine and my grandma had crocheted me a butterfly plushie that I was obsessed with. I was glad when my parents started to announce that we were leaving. Lennon didn’t seem thrilled because he started asking Mom and Dad if he could sleep over at John’s house which my uncle had already said yes to but my parents had made some excuse.
I wondered if this was how family gatherings with my dad’s side would be from now on. I didn’t want to sit through this passive tension between my parents and John, I didn’t want Lennon and Rose to gossip about me like they did tonight, I wanted everything to be normal but I wondered if it would ever be again.
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does summer notice how her parents feel about her during the pregnancy? how does she cope with their views of her and stuff like that
Definitely, Summer had already noticed a shift in their behavior towards her since they found she was seeing Jude behind their backs for a year and she was getting caught sneaking out and skipping school with him, etc. She notices their newfound lack of trust in her before she tells them about the pregnancy, but after she tells them, all she can do is notice the shift in their behavior. She's already been told by them that they think she and Jude are very irresponsible for this, and they kind of think it could all blow up in their face. Summer notices how they've kind of become distant, how she feels like she can't talk to her parents about the pregnancy. She feels like she can't talk to them about her anxiety, how she feels about sharing her body with another person, the sickness, etc.
Summer doesn't really know how to cope with it because she's never been in this situation with them before. For lack of a better term, she kind of blows up at them a few weeks before she moves out. It happens because she was trying to have a conversation with them and she felt like they were dismissing her, and not listening to her at all. She feels upset because it's been happening for months, she feels embarrassed in front of Jude, she's been thinking for months on how they're going to treat the baby. It all stresses her out, and has been for her whole pregnancy.
Summer and Lennon grew up in an artsy family. Ruby and Andrew were really talented artists. He was a tattoo artist and she was a museum curator at an art museum.
Summary: Andrew reflects on his financial situation and his relationship with Ruby
TW: Mentions of poverty, feeling inferior
I felt like fucking shaking right now. I was sitting beside Ruby, her parents and her younger sister at the most expensive restaurant in town. I look very ratty compared to them. I noticed that Ruby, her mom, and her sister were wearing real diamonds, her dad’s suit was designer and so was her mom’s dress. I looked so out of place sitting next to Ruby Even though I was wearing my nicest clothes, the ones I only ever wore to church, they were still old and cheap compared to everyone in this restaurant.
“Are you ok, Andrew?” Ruby whispered. She was holding my hand underneath the table while her dad was telling a story. I was zoned out, I almost didn’t notice.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” She smiled. She always looked at me like I was worth something, like I wasn’t as inferior as I really am. Her parents and her sister were always very nice: her parents always invited me out to dinner, to events they threw, they were very generous people, and made sure to include me in everything.
I stood in front of my house and started analyzing everything. I live in the poorest neighborhood in town and you can tell by the way the house looked. I walked in, Mary as sitting out the lanterns and candles; power was too expensive right now so we use these to save money, and Christina was washing the dishes. They looked pissed when I walked in.
“Where’s Mom and Dad?”
“They’re working, they have real jobs unlike your new family.” Mary said. She and Christina had been so mad lately. They barely knew Ruby or her family, but they hated them. They were both jealous of the fact they had money and we didn’t. I understood, I really did, but they didn’t even seem like they wanted to get to know Ruby.
“It’s almost like you’re embarrassed of us or something. I noticed you walked home. What, are you too scared for Ruby to see how you live”. I hated to admit it, but I was scared for her to see it. Ruby was so kind, she was understanding, she’s never acted spoiled or bratty but we live completely different lives. She never had to worry about money, she drove a brand new Mustang, she always had the newest clothes, she had a fucking trust fund! My life is the complete opposite!
“You and Ruby might not even fucking last and you’re ditching us to go play rich kid with your little girlfriend! Mom and Dad are out working 3 jobs, we might lose the house, we can barely afford power and water, we’re struggling to buy groceries! They’re scared you fucking hate them because you’ve seen how Ruby lives and maybe you’re proving that fear right. Ruby and all her friends are prisses anyway." Christina said.
“I’m not having this conversation with you, Christy. Ruby’s so fucking sweet to everyone and you would know that if you or Mary ever gave her a chance.”
I walked away and laid on my bed. I love Ruby, she’s made me so happy but the idea of inviting her ever, inviting anyone over was daunting. Most of friends were middle class, they didn’t have to worry about financial shit, their houses looked so nice, they didn’t have to worry about this and I don’t know how to explain that to people. I couldn’t handle people being appalled or repulsed by how I lived, I just couldn’t.
Ruby and Andrew eloped in Las Vegas. They brought Summer there with them, she was 10 months old and they put her in a white baby dress to match with their outfits.
These were Ruby and Andrew's outfits. Ruby chose the dress because it reminded her of a ballet dress and she wanted to tie in her passion with marrying Andrew.
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Summer and Lennon are middle class then wealthy. Summer and Lennon appear kind of wealthy but that's because when their parents got married, their grandparents bought them a nice house on the better side of town as a wedding gift. Their dad, Andrew is a bank teller and their mom, Ruby is a docent and a curator at a museum. This is what their house looks like.
I've decided to change this storyline slightly, but I think it makes more sense for Cleo and Elijah to find out about Summer's pregnancy around 2 months. The way they find out is through Summer's parents because Ruby and Andrew assume they know and they just think it's odd that C&E haven't said anything to them about the pregnancy, but they end up mentioning it to them because they assume they already know about the pregnancy.
Jude can't stand Ruby and Andrew, especially during Summer's pregnancy. He doesn't like how they shame her and have allowed her to be treated poorly by the rest of the family, he doesn't like how invasive they can be or how they don't really respect her boundaries. He feels like they prioritize everyone else's thoughts over Summer's, so he doesn't really respect them at all. And he's not shy about it. He's not afraid of confrontation, so I could see him arguing back and forth with them before she moves out because he hates the way they treat her.
