Chapter Text
May 6th, 2005
McKinley, Pennsylvania
It was a Friday night, and for Ian, that meant ditching family dinner and slumming it with Erin until the early hours of the morning. But just as he was sliding his right shoe on, his attention was grabbed by the sound of someone clearing their throat, and he looked up to find his mother staring at him with her arms crossed.
“And where do you think you’re going at…. 8 o’clock at night?” She paused to check an imaginary watch on her wrist before glaring daggers back at the disappointment she called her son. Ian sighed as he finished tying his shoe, mumbling a quick “shopping” that would hopefully please his mom. It didn’t.
“You don’t shop.” She said incredulously, looking him up and down as if she’d find evidence suggesting that “shopping” wasn’t the only thing he would be doing that night.
“Well Erin does and she’s waiting for me, so I’ve gotta go-” Ian was interrupted yet again by the sight of 15 (soon-to-be-16) year old sister Molly dragging a hamper full of dirty laundry down the stairs. She stopped when she saw him, taking in his appearance before asking, “Where ya headed?”
Before Ian could speak, his mother piped up, looking up at her youngest daughter with a sickeningly-sweet smile. “Oh, your brother was just about to help you separate the clothes. Right Ian?”
If anger could kill, Ian would’ve died on the spot. He knew his mother hated Erin’s guts, but was she really going to ruin her own son’s date like this? Ian was about to protest, call his mother out on her bullshit and escape into his van and away from this fucking house. But as he looked at his younger sister, an inquisitive-yet-pleased look on her face, he relented and threw his hands up.
“Yeah. Yeah, just go ahead and put that in the laundry room. I’ll be there in a minute.” Even though he kept his head down as he trudged past her towards the living room, purposely bumping into her shoulder, Ian could tell his mother had that signature shit-eating grin on her face that he wanted to punch.
‘ Sorry
Gonna be a little late
Ma’s on my back again. ’
Ian slumped farther onto the couch once he’d sent the message, tossing his phone across the couch and staring up at the family photo hanging on the wall across from him. It was slightly crooked and littered with tiny cracks from being knocked off the wall so much during arguments. Ian hated it.
It was a painful reminder of when life wasn’t shit. When Sarah was alive, when his parents could at least pretend to care about him, when he didn’t wanna stick his head in an oven after every minor inconvenience. Sometimes, just for a moment, Ian allowed himself to wish he could go back to those days
But he couldn’t, he was stuck there. So he forced himself off the couch and towards the laundry room. The sooner he helped Molly, the sooner he’d be able to leave and pretend everything was alright for about four and half hours.
“You know Lewis, right?” Ian took his gaze off of the laundry to focus on his sister
“Romero? Yeah I know him.” Molly answered with a small smile on her face. She’d had a crush on Lewis for the past year or two, much to Ian’s dismay. Why were the women in his life always attracted to such assholes?
“Yeah, well, the knucklehead had the audacity to “insult” me to my face today.” Ian temporarily put down the white sheet he was holding to do air quotes. “He called me a Rob Zombie reject, which isn’t even an insult but still. The fucker has no shame and I hope it gets him killed one day.”
Ian knew he was being harsh, and in all honesty he didn’t really care if Lewis lived or died, but he couldn’t help it. He was already easily pissed off by any and everything. So a guy going out of his way to be a dick just frustrated him even more. Molly stopped what she was doing as if to ponder what he’d just said before continuing her work.
“Who needs shame when you’re that good looking?” It was a rhetorical question, but Ian couldn’t stop himself from giving Molly a side-eye that could curdle milk.
“Whatever. Look, I promised Erin we’d hang out tonight and I was supposed to be gone 40 minutes ago and I don’t want her to think I stood her up or anything so can you finish the rest of this for me? I swear I'll wash the dishes for a week.” Ian once again stopped what he was doing to fully gauge his sister’s reaction to his slight ramble and offer, only to be met with her completely blank face.
“Two weeks. Wait, no, a week and half maybe. I don’t know, just go and tell Erin I said hi.” Molly didn’t look at him, but Ian could tell she wasn’t too happy with him abandoning her after he’d (allegedly) offered to help her. Ian just gave her a quick, unrequited hug before leaving, promising to make it up to her before dashing out of the front door and to his van, not wanting to be stopped again. He didn’t plan on coming back home any time soon as he pulled out of the driveway and into the night.