12 Tapes for a Penny
Pairings: Lara Jean Song-Covey + Peter Kavinsky
Summary: Owen schemes to get as many cassette tapes as possible from a mail-order music club, but when his mom finds out she points the blame at Peter
As Peter got older, he believed that his mother didn't trust him in certain aspects of his life - although he doesn't blame her...
Peter had some kind of suspicion over why, and also how, Owen was able to get so many tapes in the recent weeks.
The postman arrived at the door, and when Julia Kavinsky answered it, the postman said, "Got a package for Papa Smurfenstein,"
A confused look came over her, "I think you have the wrong address," he tells the postman.
"I suppose that means there's also no Inspector Gidget?" he asks, considering he was holding a pile of boxes.
"No," Julia says, with the postman then rattling off some more names of packages and she denied them.
"Gary Greyskull?"
"No."
"Snake Plotkin?"
"No."
"Ivan Drago?"
"No."
"John McClaneberg?"
"No."
"Hulk Hulkerstein?"
"No."
"General Zod?"
"No."
"Jean Claude Van Thunderdome?"
Julia was now sick of the multiple names being rambled off by their mailman. "What's going on?" She asks, crossing his arms.
Their mailman let out a sigh, whilst holding another box of tapes. "Let me guess. You have teenagers? Well, one of them's been using a lot of fake names to get free tapes," he explained, and it looked like Julia was seeing red.
"Well, I think it's obvious who's responsible," she stated, before slamming the door shut and stomping to go deal with who she believed to be the culprit.
The tape box was put in front of her son, and the blame instantly stuck on him. "Me?!" Peter exclaimed, wondering how the hell he had got stuck with the blame this time - maybe he had done a few bad and very questionable things in the past, but that mainly came down to his ex-girlfriend,
"Yes, you. Who else could it be?" Julia asked, crossing her arms once again as she stared at her culprit. Peter picked up the box and read the name on the label.
"Kermit D Fonz?" Peter asks, looking from the label to his mother. "That has Owen written all over it," he said putting the box back on the table.
She sighed. "You expect me to believe Owen did this?" She asked, looking at her youngest son.
"Yes," he tells her.
"Owen?" She questions again, making sure that she heard her eldest correctly.
He sighs heavily, almost wanting his mother to believe him for once. "Owen," he confirms
"My precious angel," she says, with one of the many cringe-worthy nicknames she has for her youngest son.
He was starting to question her morals. "Yes, Owen,"
"Owen?" She was now pointing at her son, wondering why Peter was blaming Owen.
"He's guilty," he tells his mother, before looking at Owen. "Tell her you're guilty," he tells his brother. Wanting him to admit the truth.
Owen turns on his puppy dog eyes and speaks to her in the young child voice he has grown out of yet. "Why does he say these things, mama? I'm just a little boy," he tells her, and it is the tiny little things that make her melt and essentially bend to his will.
"See? He has an alibi," Julia tells Peter, who rolled his eyes at his soft mother. "He's a little boy," she tells her oldest son Owen's alibi.
By now, Peter was starting to lose his cool, wanting to get out of the house and see Lara Jean. After everything that happened with Gen and John Ambrose - they'd gotten to a place of comfort and trust. Lara Jean had admitted that she was jealous of Gen (which Peter had found strange and confusing. He would easily class Lara Jean as his first love that he adored. His relationship with Gen was more toxic on Gen's side...). "Why do you always blame me for everything? Just open the box and look at the tapes, and you'll see it wasn't me," he says, watching as his mother now opens the box of tapes.
As soon as Julia said the first cassette tape she picked, Peter gave his younger the look of 'idiot'. "Weird Al, The Songs of Fraggle Rock, The Best of Andrew Llyod Webber, and finally 101 Farts, Volume 2," Julia said, holding the final cassette between her fingers. Before putting it back, and placing the box back on the table.
"Hope it was worth it, Peter. You're grounded for a month. No phone, no lacrosse," she points out her two points with her fingers, making Peter's leg fall off his knee.
"A month without lacrosse? Are you crazy?" he asked, silently grateful that his mother didn't ban him from seeing Lara Jean, he would go crazy without seeing her for most of the day, let alone an entire month! He turns to Owen, "tell her!" he almost shouts, glaring at his younger brother.
Owen sighs, and looks up at his mother. "OK, fine, I-it really was me. I-it was such a good deal. I got caught in the heat of the moment. Which is also a song I got for a fraction of a penny," Owen admits, regret and guilt hanging in his face and eyes.
Julia shakes, not believing that her son is telling her the truth. "Shh, you don't have to lie for him anymore," she says, as both her son's look confused, Peter with a mix of disbelief (and the fact that he honestly saw this coming), and Owen with surprise that she didn't believe him.
"Seriously?" Peter exclaimed while Owen let out a confused, "What?"
"Let mama make you a banana split. OK?" Julia cooes at her youngest, and then turning to her oldest. "You get nothing," she states and walks away to the kitchen.
Owen sighs, and leans back into the sofa they are sat on. "Oof, tough break. Take Shelia E for your troubles," handing one of the tapes over to Peter, who throws it over the table and onto the floor.
"This is ridiculous. Why do I always get blamed for everything that goes wrong in this house?" He asks, letting his headrest in his hands for a second, before staring at a phone on the mantel, of the three of them when they were younger (the day after he first kissed Lara Jean and he was floating on a cloud).
Owen's eyebrows crinkle. "Cos you do most of it," he states, however, since being with Lara Jean - peter hasn't done half of the stupid things he used to, spending time studying for tests, going to more than half of the parties he used to.
"You know, if mom thinks I'm so bad, maybe it's time to show her how bad I can really be," he said, getting up from the sofa and walking away. Grabbing his house keys and leaving the house.
"Wait, this was you holding back?" Owen asks, before leaning back into his seat. "Oh, this is not good,"
Peter went to Gabe's (one of his best friends on the lacrosse team), and they went to the mall. Somehow, his ex-girlfriend, Gen, ran into him, in the mall and dragged him around - and ended up stealing some things from one of the stores.
The mall cop had said he'd be calling Peter's mother, and Peter had requested if he could call his girlfriend Lara Jean. Which the mall cop allowed.
"Song-Covey house, Dan speaking," Lara Jean's father said when he answered the phone, he was there as much as he could be after they lost their mother when Lara Jean was 9-years-old.
There weren't many houses that had a second telephone line - but the Song-Covey house did. Lara Jean picked up the phone and waited for the click that signalled that her father had put the phone down. "Hi, Peter," she tells him after the click was heard.
"Hi, Lara Jean," he says, the love and adoration for Lara Jean bleeding through his voice into the phone and to the ears of Lara Jean. "Can you come get me from the mall, mom blamed me for Owen's tapes. I went to the mall with Gabe, Gen dragged me along and she stole things," Peter said, he heard her sigh when he mentioned Gen.
"Ok, I'm on my way, I'll be there in 5 minutes," she promises. they exchange goodbyes and hang up the phones.
Peter was sat on one side of the table, Gen on the other and the mall cop was stood in front of them, with his arms crossed. "I stole something else, but you're never gonna find it," Gen says, almost smugly. Peter rolled his eyes, he knew Gabe was waiting outside the mall for Lara Jean to turn up.
"Your friend's weird," the mall cop said, Peter, kept his mouth shut that this was his ex-girlfriend.
That is when his mother turned up, and he knew he was in for another round of her judgment and no trust that he did anything right. "There you are. Classic Peter," she says, as Peter leans back in his chair, not surprised that his mother doesn't believe him. "You know, I actually started to think maybe I'd been too hard on you, and then you go and shoplift? And the worst thing is I'm not even surprised," there is it...
The mall cop looks over at his mother. "Actually, your son didn't do anything wrong. I was just having him stick around because this one is freaking me out," he points to Gen, who looks over at her ex's mother.
"It's true. Peter tried to talk me out of it, and I didn't listen," she said, before holding her stomach. "Oh, God, my stomach's in knots. Can I use the bathroom?" she asks, and the mall cop points.
"This way," he says, as they leave the room - as a way of telling Peter to deal with his mother.
Julia sighs, feeling very bad that she had gotten the wrong end of the stick. "So... Honest mistake, you know?" she says, before giving him a hopeful smile. "New video game, my treat?" she offers, watching Peter get up from his seat and standing up for himself in front of his mother.
"You know, you made me feel like such a bad person that I actually thought about stealing," he tells her, which makes Julia hang her head in shame.
"Honey, I'm sorry..." she tries to reach over and hug her son.
"I don't want to hear you're sorry ever again. No matter what I do, you're always gonna expect the worst from me!" he says, crossing his arms and glaring at his mother. Gabe walked over and made signals that Lara Jean was here. "You have no idea how that is coming from you. No idea," he walks away.
Lara Jean was leaning against her car when Peter walked over. He smiled at the sight of her and wrapped her up into his arms. "Can we spend some time at yours?" He asks, now hearing the click-clack of his mother's high heels walking over to them. Peter and Lara Jean had been together for over two years now, and Peter had a habit of leaving his clothes round at the Song-Covey's (as did Lara Jean...).
"Yeah, of course," she replied, unlocking the car with her keys as Peter walks around to the passenger side.
"I love you, Covey," he said, then getting into the car. A smile brightened her face, as she got in as well.
Turning on the car and taking his hand. "I love you too, Peter," she replied before pressed a kiss to the back of her hand - like they used to do decades ago.
