Awkward

"I don't want to be here." Lacy muttered to Phil as she walked with him, glaring a hole into the back of her mother's head as she walked a few feet in front of them. "That woman works here."

That woman = Karla. Lacy's mom had flown up to Chicago to visit Lacy and see the kids. As usual, if she wasn't ignoring Phil then she was being completely rude and snarky to him. Lacy had asked Phil, for the sake of her sanity that was always ruined whenever Lynn came out to visit, to just *not* argue with her this time. "Or I'll set myself on fire and launch myself out of a damn window. The woman already drives me insane," she remarked to him earlier in the day.

Lynn had wanted to go out and eat. Why, Lacy couldn't tell you, since she was perfectly capable of cooking at home, but Lynn had wanted to "explore Chicago and it's offerings," so out to dinner they would go. For whatever reason, Mommy Dearest had wanted to go to a sports bar. All of that was fine, but it just *had* to be the sports bar that to her recollection, Karla had worked at. Lacy didn't want to go, and told her that straight to her face. Cue argument between mother and daughter. Lynn had a very distinctive way of persuading nagging people into getting what she wanted. Lacy had cut off the argument before it got too heated, and said "fine, fine. We'll go to the fuckin' restaurant. Have fun bailing me out of jail before the night is over," before storming upstairs.

She pouted and kicked and screamed and ranted at Phil about how she had "no idea how I could be the offspring of such a conniving, evil ass woman."

Fast forwarding after a bit of persuasion from Phil, she calmed down and they dropped Brandon and Allison off at Mary's house. The meeting between Mary and Lynn was interesting enough, and Lynn had said, out of Phil and Mary's earshot, "No class. I see where your husband gets it from."

Fuck life.

Back to the present, Lacy was still brooding and had burrowed her way under his arm, still whispering "I don't wanna be here; I wanna go home; fuck my life..." so lowly that only he could hear.

Lynn looked back at that and halted, looking at them with an arched brow. "Are you two slowpokes gonna speed up or what? I'd like to eat tonight, please."

Bossy bitch.

"We're going." he told Lynn as he rolled his eyes at her then looked at Lacy as he held her. He had to chuckle a bit. "I don't want to be here either, but the sooner we eat the faster she'll leave."

"I hate her," Lacy said simply. Didn't know if she was talking about Karla or Lynn. Maybe both.

They both finally caught up to Lynn, and Lynn rolled her eyes. "Finally. Is this how you treat all of your guests that visit? Jesus Lacy, I thought I taught you better hospitality skills than that."

Lacy bit back a sigh and tore herself away from the two of them to go get a damned table.

"Still not getting any huh Lynn?" he smirked.

Phil's lucky Lacy didn't hear that, or she would have had a conniption. lol

Lynn's eyes cut over to him, arching a brow. "Why is that any of your business?"

"Cause you're still rude and tense...maybe somebody needs to help you out."

"Maybe you should divorce my daughter," Lynn quipped back rather easily as she walked ahead of him, seeing that Lacy got them seats.

"Oh ouch, that hurt." he said with a fake pout.

Lacy had caught the tail end of that exchange as they made their way over to the table. Lacy sat down and sighed slightly. "What are you fighting about now?"

"Nothing." he chuckled. "It's all good." he said as he sat down.

"You two stress me out," Lacy told them bluntly as she looked down at her menu.

"Lacy," Lynn rolled her eyes. "You are so dramatic, I swear."

"I didn't do anything."

"Welcome, can I start you all off with drinks?" A waitress asked them boredly.

Lacy recognized the voice immediately and groaned slightly. "I need a minute."

Lynn didn't seem to notice. "Yes, what is your selection of wines?"

After rambling off their list of wines, finally Karla looked up to see who was sitting. She groaned at the sight of Lacy and instantly grinned a bit when she saw Phil. Jesus, he looked good.

"Lord, really? Can we get another waitress?"

"Sorry, we're packed tonight and I've been assigned to your table." Karla smiled sweetly.

"Take the orders, woman." Lacy snapped.

"Lacy," Lynn admonished before apologizing to Karla. "I'll have a glass of your finest red wine."

"I'm paying for thi-- nevermind." Lacy shook her head.

"And... sir?" Karla looked over at Phil. "A Pepsi, I presume? Three cubes of ice, just like you like it?" She grinned.

Lacy looked up at Karla, her jaw tightened and drumming her fingernails on the table.

He sighed. "....yes, please."

Karla winked and walked away.

"You didn't want anything to drink, Lacy?" Lynn asked.

"Not thirsty. Not hungry. Don't want to be here." She kept her head in the menu.

"We'll be out of here soon." he told her. "I hate being here with your mother."

"Being here with you isn't exactly a walk in the park either, Phil," Lynn rolled her eyes. "I'm so sorry that you've picked up on the sense that I don't think you'll ever be right for my daughter but for the love of God, show some respect."

"Why should he respect you when you don't respect him?" Lacy asked her in an aggravated tone, finally coming up from behind the menu? "I swear to God, it's been since day one with you two. I love you both, but you both aggravate the shit out of me when you're together. I married him, mom. I married him and had two of his kids, when are you gonna get it through your head that he's not going anywhere?"

"He almost did, I have no idea why you stopped those proceedings." Lynn replied boredly.

"BECAUSE I--" Lacy stopped herself before she continued to yell and looked down, going quiet.

"Look, all I'm saying is, I don't think Phil's right for you. Nathan was right for you, but you had to let one little discrepancy get in between you and you go off running to this guy." Lynn pointed at Phil. Lacy stayed quiet still looking down. "You know who you deserve? Someone like that waitress that just served us. That girl was looking at you, giving you all kinds of suggestive looks and you didn't do anything. You didn't say, oh, I have a wife and she's sitting right here. You just let her look at you like that, and tell you what you liked. How does she know that? Have you been seeing her? Have you been doing what I expected you to do and cheated on Lacy with the likes of that tramp?"

"Oh...that tramp? Nah, not a tramp...more like a well...can't be nice here...but legit, she's a cunt." he told Lynn. "That woman is my ex and she has done nothing but cause trouble for us. She knows I have a wife and she knows damn well that I want nothing to do with her, but do you think she gives a fuck? No. She doesn't. I want nothing to do with her and obviously, I'm with Lacy for a reason. I love Lacy and if you don't see it, then it's not my problem. If you were a mother, you'd be happy for your kid no matter what choices she makes in life. You don't have to like them, but you'll damn right respect them. I'm pretty sure she doesn't like any choices you've made...but she respected them. Instead of worrying so damn much about me and how I'm not good enough for her, do something useful for yourself...I don't know what you senior citizens do...knit or something. Oh and give your daughter the respect she deserves. If she's happy with me, then she's happy with me. Back the hell off."

Lynn rose a brow. That speech almost made her respect him. Almost. She kept her tone low and even. "Son, I want you to think back. Way back to the first time we met, and you and I had a conversation about Lacy."

--
Lynn gave a bitter chuckle. "Lacy is my daughter, and I know what's best for her. You are not what is best for her. She should have been married with kids by now."

He groaned and rolled his eyes, this lady was really starting to piss him off. "Did you ever think that maybe she doesn't want all that? She doesn't want that perfect little life that you have fricking planned in your head, so just get over it and deal with it."

"Ever think she TELLS you she doesn't want it because you can't give it to her?" Lynn smirks. "She doesn't want to hurt you. She told me herself."

Phil's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "N-no, you're lying."

"Do you think I'm lying?" Lynn looked at him with her most believable face. "Lacy wants the kids, the marriage... everything. But since you can't give it to her, she lies and says she doesn't. She's looking for someone that CAN give that to her."

He sighed as he sat on the couch and just shook his head. Why didn't she tell him?
--

"You had your doubts then about your relationship with Lacy, and I'm sure you have them now. I mean..." Lynn shrugged. "How do you know those kids are yours? You're hardly home, Lacy could have found someone else to... fill the void in your absence. Pass Brandon and Allison off as yours? How do you know, Phil? You. Aren't. Right. For. Her. She wants a life of normalcy, and you can't give that to her. Not now, not ever. Someone else can. Probably already has." Lynn leaned back and shrugged.

Lacy looked at her mother shocked, confused and hurt. "Why would you even.. who's side are you on, mom? Jesus Chr--" She shook her head and stood up. "I'm going to be sick. I really am." She turned on her heel to walk away, shoving Karla, who was coming with their drinks, out of the way and making her drop all of their drinks everywhere. She rounded a corner and rushed off to a bathroom before anyone could catch up with her.

Phil was going to try and stop Lacy, but decided to let her be. He looked at her mother.

"You're a real piece of work you know that? Those doubts I had, that was then and this is now. I have no doubts about our relationship, because if I did...you think I would get married and have kids with her? As for MY kids, you leave them out of this. There's no need to even think like that, Lacy would never do such a thing, I know her well enough. Besides, you wanna know how I know they're mine? They act like me, they look like me and shit, I trust Lacy to know they're mine. I would never accuse her of shit like that. That's low, really low that you would even think your daughter would do something like that. Maybe this is why your daughter hates you so much, you never agree with anything she does and when she has everything she wants in life...you bring her down and won't leave her the fuck alone. I am right for her and she knows that, it's not for anybody else to decide. She's the one making decisions, she doesn't need her mommy to tell her what to do."

Lynn wasn't really affected by Lacy's running off, but was a little more than surprised at Phil's confession that Lacy HATED her? She brushed it off. "You think what you want, Phil. Whatever. I'll sit here and eat on your dime, go and check on poor little Lacy so she can rant about what a bad mother I am." She waved him off. "Go."

"Poor little Lacy?" he shook his head. "She doesn't have to rant to me about how bad of a mother you are, you show it all the time." he said as he stood up and headed to the bathroom where Lacy was. He knocked on the door. "Lace?"

Lynn rolled her eyes as Phil walked away and flagged down a waiter. "Yes, I'd like to order your house salad..."

-

"Leave, I'm fine." Lacy replied, sniffling.