I skimmed my green eyes over the huge crowd scattered along the road, then looked up to the sky. Bursting blues, greens, violet, reds; any color that you could imagine began to illuminate the dark yonder above me. They took shapes: like hearts, circles, lines, etc. Tearing my attention from the dancing fireworks, I glanced down once again at the crowd; swarming, sweaty people all gathered together like a herd of animals. I'm so thankful that I'm up here, away from the crowd but still able to enjoy the same memorizing view.

“Hey,” my parents say, snapping me out of my haze. They come outside, while quietly shutting the glass doors behind them, and stand to the right of me. We stood there for a few minutes in comfortable silence. During that time, I start to observe my parents’ features. My mom's long brunette hair flowed all the way down to her slim waist, curling at the ends. She has high cheekbones, big brown eyes and a prominent jaw. My dad on the other hand, has a short black quiff of hair piled on top of his big head, and green eyes, but likewise supports a prominent jaw. Shuffling closer to them, I pull them into a bone-crushing hug, an arm around each of them.
“You still have that?!” my mom exclaims, after awhile of hugging. Clueless as to what she's talking about, I notice that she's staring down at the loose-fitting Lokai bracelet on my wrist; the one she gave me for my 16th birthday last year.
“Yes of course. Why wouldn't I?” I responded, more-so of a rhetorical question. I couldn't get rid of this bracelet, never. My dad just looks at me smiling, while ruffling the top of my hair; messing it up in the process. My mom plants a light kiss on my cheek, appreciating the simplicity. Even though no words were spoken, I understood. My parents loved me as much as I loved them, and there was not a better feeling than that.
As a light, cold breeze picked up, I detangle myself from my parents embrace and wrapped my blue cardigan even tighter around my small frame, the wind whipping my long hair all over the place, It's probably going to be all knotted tomorrow morning, great.
“Halley, since it's getting chilly and the fireworks are ending, we’re going to head inside. You coming?” my dad hastily says, anticipating my answer.
“Sure,” I nod. My dad glanced at my mom with a wild look in his eyes, I knew that look. We all knew that look. Oh no. He wouldn't. Before I even had a chance to blink, my dad starts racing to the door as if the floor was on fire, leaving me and my mom in the dust! Once he's locked the door, he sends us a cheeky grin.
“Ha ha, so funny,” I sternly say, sarcasm lacing my words. I glared at my dad, oh how he loved to joke around, but this was not the time. I'm cold! I guess my glare successfully worked because soon I was walking across the chilly balcony, entering the door that was previously locked and going back into the studio apartment I shared with my parents, slamming the door behind me. Of course I was sad that the fireworks we’re calming down, but I remembered that there was always next year, and the year after that, and so on.
Planting my feet on the thick, fluffy carpet, the smell of my mom's “famous” meatloaf starts to fills my nostrils, i had to go get some. Even though it was quarter-to-nine, any time is a good time to have dinner! Strolling to the kitchen, i grabbed a glass plate and served myself a heaping scoop of my favorite dish; grinning like a fool. Being too tired to eat at the dinner table, i began to walk towards the living room. I saw that my parents have disappeared. Where are they? I peeped around the corner questionably, and then spotted them. They were welcoming my boyfriend James into the apartment. Two words: James. Apartment. One question: Why? I stayed back and hid behind the wall, taking slow deep breaths. I could feel my heart thumping, afraid it would jump out of my chest. It's never a fun time when he's around. You can do this, I repeated over and over to myself. Grasping the plate between my fingers, I wearily walked towards them. Not noticing my presence yet, they were all gathered together in the middle of the white leather couch, backs facing me. I cleared my throat, and soon enough 3 heads swung around to face me.
“Hey.” I squeaked, my confidence obviously glowing. I plastered on a fake smile and joined them on the couch. I set my plate -still full of meatloaf and other sides- onto the table in front of me. Leaning back, I gripped the ends of the sleeves and wrapped my hands inside them, a habit I tend to do when i get nervous. At Least I was starting to warm up a tad bit. We sat there for a few moments in silence, and it was anything but comfortable. I absorbed the scene around me. It happened to be getting dark outside, most of the light coming from the few lamps & one vanilla candle lit around the room. There was a faint leftover smell of smoke from the fireworks drafting in through the windows.
“This was meant as a surprise, but you’ve seemed to caught us!” James chuckled. He draped his arm across my shoulders, shifted closer towards me and shot my parents a warming smile. My mom took this as a cue to leave, but my dad hung back a few to narrow his eyes at James, sending him a warning.. Even though i was 17 my dad was still very protective over me, he didn’t trust teenage boys. Before long, James turned to face me.
“How is your night going?” he pondered.
“Fine..I guess,” i mumbled. James suddenly tightened his grip around my shoulder, obviously not satisfied with my answer. As always, he would leave fresh bruises on me that would take ages to disappear.
“You're my right hand, you're my go to. Told me everything about you, that's a bold move.” He pulls his ringing phone out of his pocket using his free hand and brings its closer to his face, in an attempt to read it. The screen reads “Addie<3” who the hell is Addie? Although i must’ve said that outloud, because soon his now dark, brown eyes were boring into my innocent green ones. He declined the call and threw his phone onto the carpet below us.
“What did you say?” he roared. Since i already got myself into this mess, what’s the point of shutting up? I saw my parents out of the corner of my eye, they came out of the kitchen and stood in the doorway to the living room.
“Let me repeat myself: Who. The. Hell. Is. Addie?!” I snapped, my temper raging. I turned my body to face him. Within seconds, he removes his arm from my shoulder, and throws them down on his jean-cladded legs. I climbed off the couch angrily and grabbed his black phone off the floor, clicking on her contact. A picture of them two kissing in his backyard shows up. Confused, I turned around with tears threatening to spill from my eyes, I thought I could handle myself, but with this adding on-i wasn’t so sure.. I ended up stumbling right into James, who raised his hand up: I knew what was coming. I felt it before I heard it, the heavy stinging sensation on my cheek. The noise echoed off of the walls, along with my parents shrieks. I placed my hand on my cheek, feeling the heat from where he just slapped me.
         Stepping back, I stared up at him with fire scorching in my eyes. I started to take in his appearance; a leather jacket, rugged hair that fell just below his droopy eyes, paired with his crooked teeth. I hate his grimy hair. I can't stand his stupid, leather jacket. I can't stand him!
        “What did I do to deserve this?? You're the one cheating on me! I shouldn't be treated like this anymore!” i motioned to his phone and then my cheek.
       “What's wrong with you?!” I cried out, my throat starting to burn. Tears were spilling from my eyes, and I wiped them away with my sleeve. I had to do something now, something about this mess. Mustering up the confidence, I finally said what I've been dying to say for the last few years.
      “We’re breaking up! Get out NOW!” I screamed. I ran past James, shoving him away as far away as possible and headed towards the door. My parents strode across the room, and placed -this time comforting- hands on my shoulders. I stared down at my petite feet as James trudged by, not having any effort to look up at him. He doesn't even deserve to be in the same room as me, he doesn't deserve the nice things in life. As my parents shooed him out i waddled over to the couch, upset that my favorite holiday was ruined. Upset that I couldn't have the good relationship that I’ve always wanted. A nice, healthy relationship.
        “I've been meaning to do that for awhile,” I said, referring to James, as my parents shut the door. I looked up at the clock tiredly, it read 9:57pm.
        “I knew I had a bad feeling about him. Why didn't you tell us sooner sweetie? We wouldn't have invited him over. Hell, I wouldn't let him near you with a 30ft pole,” my dad says letting out a small snort as he sits down next to me, rubbing my back. I sighed, and leaned into his chest.
       “I know, and I'm sorry. I just didn't know how to do it, or when. I finally had an ounce of courage in me today to break it off; and I took it from there.”
       “I'm proud of you, you did the right thing baby girl,” my mom chimes in, kissing my cheek and grabbing my, now cold and untouched, plate of food from the table. I watched as she brought it into the kitchen.
       “Just let me know if he lays a hand on you ever again; because I can take it from there” my dad jokes lovingly, giving my frame a light squeeze and leaving me alone for now. I needed to be alone for a few, my parents sensed that. I got up and stalked over to the windows, needing some fresh air in my lungs. I didn't realize until now, how dark it was outside. Wrapping my cardigan around my body, I leaned against the frame and skimmed my eyes over the gleaming stars. Who needs toxic relationships in their life? Obviously not this awesome women. I giggled at my new-found confidence, it was practically glowing. Taking a few deep breaths of the cool air, relaxation endorsed my body.