Maybe Someday(48)

yours.

We both have our phones out on the table

while we eat. She smiles and begins to text me

back.

Sydney: You have more than one deep,

dark secret?

Me: We’re talking about you right now. If

we’re going to be working together, I

need to know what I’m getting myself in-

to. Tell me about your family. Any raging

alcoholics?

Sydney: No, just raging *s. My

father is a lawyer, and he hates that I’m

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not going to law school. My mother stays

home. She’s never worked a day in her

life. She’s a great mom, but she’s also

one of those perfect moms, you know?

Think Leave It to Beaver meets Stepford

Wives.

Me: Siblings?

Sydney: Nope. Only child.

Me: I wouldn’t have pegged you as an

only child. Nor would I have guessed you

were a lawyer’s daughter.

Sydney: Why? Because I’m not preten-

tious and spoiled?

I smile at her and nod.

Sydney: Well, thanks. I try.

Me: I don’t mean for this to come off as

insensitive, but if your father is a lawyer

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and you still have a relationship with your

parents, why did you not call them last

week? When you had nowhere to go?

Sydney: The primary thing my mother in-

stilled in me was the fact that she didn’t

want me to be her. She had no education

and has always been completely depend-

ent on my father. She raised me to be

very independent and financially respons-

ible, so I’ve always taken pride in not ask-

ing for their help. It’s hard sometimes, es-

pecially when I really need their help, but

I always get by. I also don’t ask for their

help because my father would point out in

a not-so-nice way that if I were in law

school, he’d be paying for it.

Me: Wait. You’re paying for school on your

own? But if you changed your major to

prelaw, your father would pay for it?

She nods.

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Me: That’s not really fair.

Sydney: Like I said, my father is an as-

shole. But I don’t go around blaming my

parents for everything. I have a lot to be

thankful for. I’ve grown up in a relatively

normal household, both of my parents are

alive and well, and they support me to an

extent. They’re better than most, just

worse than some. I hate it when people

spend their entire lives blaming their par-

ents for every bad thing that happens to

them.

Me: Yeah. I completely agree, which is

why I was emancipated at sixteen. De-

cided to take my life into my own hands.

Sydney: Really? What about Brennan?

Me: I took him with me. The courts

thought he stayed with my parents, but

he moved in with me. Well, with Warren.

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We’ve been friends since we were four-

teen. Both of his parents are deaf, which

is how he knows ASL. Once I became

emancipated, they allowed me and Bren-

nan to stay with them. My parents still

had guardianship over Brennan, but as far

as they were concerned, I did them a

huge favor by taking him off their hands.

Sydney: Well, that was incredibly consid-

erate of Warren’s parents.

Me: Yes, they’re great people. Not sure

why Warren turned out the way he did,

though.

She laughs.

Sydney: Did they continue to raise Bren-

nan after you left for college?

Me: No, we actually only stayed with them

for

seven

months.

When

I

turned

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seventeen, I moved us into an apartment.

I dropped out of school and got a GED so

I could start college sooner.

Sydney:

Wow.

So

you

raised

your

brother?

Me: Hardly. Brennan lived with me, but he

was never the type who could be raised.

He was fourteen when we got our own

place. I was only seventeen. As much as

I’d like to say I was the responsible, ma-

ture adult, I was quite the opposite. Our

apartment became the hangout for every-

one who knew us, and Brennan partied

just as hard as I did.

Sydney: That shocks me. You seem so

responsible.

Me: I wasn’t as wild as I probably could

have been, being on my own at that

young an age. Luckily, all our money went

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to bills and rent, so I never got into any

bad habits. We just liked to have fun. Our

band was formed when Brennan was six-

teen and I was nineteen, so that took up a

lot of our time. That’s also the year I star-

ted dating Maggie, and I calmed down a

lot after that.