"Are you glad that I will be gone for a while?" There was a big grin on his face and a hint of mischief in his voice. It was actually happening. Tobias was alone in a car with his brother-in-law on his way to a love cruise. Few months ago he wouldn't have believed in nonsense like that. First Tobias previously wasn't able to take care of himself, so how could he have loved and cared for another person? Second of all he tried to avoid being alone with his brother-in-law. They were such different personality types and Toby couldn’t help himself: always when there was an opportunity he tried to provoke Seth. He was so serious and bland normally, that it was fun to see him show some emotion. But Tobias couldn’t do that. After all he had promised his sister to be on good terms with her husband.
"It’s not like you’re moving away. It's just a week, it doesn't change anything", the older man answered with a blank face. Tobias had been living with Tabitha's family for a couple months by now and it was getting on Seth's nerve. Tabitha had a habit of babying her little brother, which Seth didn't agree with. His opinion was that Tobias should just get a new job and move to his own place. Tobias knew he shouldn't be as dependent on his sister as he was. He really needed to move out and getting a new job wasn't a bad idea either. But he was scared. Scared he would get lost in dark thoughts, get devastated from not being able to play violin. At least he was nowadays so occupied that he didn't have time to think about such things.
"I will move when time is right." Tobias really didn’t want to have this conversation right now. After all he was going to a VIP love cruise to relax and have some fun.
“Time is never right. You said you would be staying with us for a couple months, but it’s been at least five.” The older man kept a small pause.
”You should get over your hand injury already. You are not the only one in this world who faces misfortunes. You are at the age where people normally start to build families. But not you, you’re too immature for that. I really hope you find someone from that cruise.” Seth sounded pissed, but his voice got more apologizing during the end of sentence.
It was true but not something Tobias wanted, or needed to hear. He murmured in annoyance and faced the window, trying his best to not talk back. Or at least he reassured for himself that he was doing that. He was not going to complain or provoke anyone. However it didn’t take long from Tobias to start provoking his brother-in-law.
“Well I might be immature, but not taking care of birth control or getting your kids taken to custody doesn’t sound very mature either, does it?” At that moment Tobias could see steam coming out of Seth’s ears. He was full of anger. Tobias knew he touched a sore point and started to regret his words. Seth had become a father at a young age when he was only eighteen. His girlfriend of that time had a drug addiction and he was the one left to do the childcare all alone. He had to drop out of school. He had a low paying job and he didn’t get any help from his family. In the end his first born daughter ended up in custody.
Seth had all the right reasons to be angry.
“Im so sorry. You know I didn’t mean that..” Tobias started but it was too late: Seth wasn’t listening anymore. He drove to the next bus stop and came out of the car. He opened the back truck and started to throw Tobias’ stuff to the ground. Tobias came out of the car as well and couldn’t do anything, he just kept watching how his suitcase opened and his stuff started to flood on the ground. He frightened a little when he saw his expensive violin to drop, but he knew he had no rights to say anything. This was purely caused by him and his words, he just needed to take in all what was coming. Tobias only opened his mouth when he saw Seth going back to the car.
“You’re not actually leaving me there!” It didn’t help, he was ignored. Seth started to ride away and Tobias ran behind the car. When he noticed his brother-in-law wouldn’t come back, he stopped running and went back to his luggage.
Firstly Tobias opened his violin case. There were a couple scratches on the violin, but it was mostly in good shape. Then Tobias started to re-pack his suitcase. Almost all the clothes were now dirty, but it was the smallest of his problems. What the hell was he now going to do? He had asked all his friends to drive him to the cruise terminal, but Seth was the only one he could get to give him a ride. His phone’s battery was dead and all taxes just kept driving past him. This was just his typical luck. Should he just try to hitchhike? At least he had some what
fancy clothes. If he had his regular old band tee and ripped jeans maybe he would be mistaken for a homeless person. But did he really want to try hitchhiking? No, not really. At least for now he would try to walk to the terminal. There wasn’t too much time left but maybe he would be able to make it.
