“Feeling’s mutual, bro,” I snapped angrily.
His lips straightened before giving way to a smirk. “You ever smoke before?”
My gaze flitted down, knowing perfectly well the kind of ‘smoke’ he was talking about. As expected, a perfectly wrapped brown blunt sat on my palm. “Of course I have.”
“Good. Consider it a welcoming present.” Jason’s eyes blazed almost as if there was a fire lit behind them. Tossing me a lighter, he turned back toward the building.
“Wait, I don’t want this.”
“Stop being a pussy and just smoke it,” he hissed, not bothering to look back at me. “Trust me, this will be a night you won’t ever forget.”
Warning signs as bright as neon lights flashed before my eyes, but when have I ever paid them mind?
***
“Jesse! Wake up! Wake up!”
I felt a distinct slap on my face, yet it wasn’t enough to lift me from whatever dark ocean I was floating in. My skin sizzled, burning as the hand lifted away.
“Fuck!” Dad’s voice growled.
“Should we call 911?” Teresa screeched in horror.
Dad? Teresa? Wait, where was I?
My eyes slowly opened, blinking as if I had just awoken from a deep sleep. My head was pounding and my lungs felt constricted, tightening with every gasp of air. “W-what happened to me?”
“Oh, thank God!” Dad sighed and gently lifted me up so that I was propped up against a hard surface. Cool air blew across my face, a far cry from the night’s humidity.
Wait, how’d I get back inside?
“What were you thinking doing drugs?” Dad’s voice was a combination of anger and relief. He pressed a wet towel against my forehead and for the first time I noticed how cold I felt. An iciness worked its way through me, chilling my core.
“S-stop,” I stammered, teeth chattering. “I-I’m cold.”
“You ruined my wedding!” Teresa screamed, interrupting me. Guess her earlier worry had faded away. “Do you know how embarrassed I was to have to help drag you down here? I had to tell my family that you passed out from the heat! Not that any of them bought it.”
My vision cleared and I watched as my dad motioned for his new wife to shut her hole. Catching me looking, he quickly stared back at me with a sneer. “You’re lucky I didn’t call the cops on you. Then again, maybe a night in jail would finally wake you up.”
“Might as well, it’s not like my life could get any worse.” Defeat is a funny thing. Once it takes its reins on you, there’s nothing left but giving up.
Dad blinked wildly. “Jesse, what happened to you? I thought things were getting better.”
I couldn’t answer even if I wanted to. Feeling bile working its way up my esophagus, I began convulsing, shivering as I tried my hardest to keep my food down. I must have been a horrible sight because Teresa once again insisted on calling 911.
“Why?” I coughed, tasting sour acid on my tongue. “So you can turn your son in?”
Her face paled. “Jason would never…”
“Who do you think gave me that blunt?” If I didn’t quit talking I’d surely throw up. Pressing my eyelids together, I took a few deep breaths, trying to keep the vomit down.
“Are you kidding me?” Her voice was shrill, almost hysterical. “Jason would never do something so atrocious. You may only be my stepson, but I’ll have you know I won’t stand for this kind of bullshit.”
“Teresa,” Dad cut her off, using his most soothing voice. “Go back out to the party and have some fun. I’ll take care of this.”
“And how do you expect me to do that?” she snapped.
With an exasperated sigh, Dad coaxed, “Just go. Please.”
Surprisingly, Teresa stomped away without a fight. Had it been my mom, there would have been more broken items and screaming involved.
Maybe Dad finally picked a good one this time.
Dad waited until Teresa disappeared behind a set of double doors before turning back toward me. His anger seemed to have subsided and was replaced with something worse—worry.
“What the hell were you thinking? I…I thought you were better than this.”
“When I have ever been ‘better’?” I griped. “That’s why you left me, remember? Because Mom and I were never good enough?”
Dad’s face paled, his lips turning a weird shade of blue. “Where is this coming from? I thought—”
“That I liked it here?” And just like that, reality set in and the unexplainable void was finally understood. “Why am I pretending to be someone different? Why are you? Don’t you see? We’re always going to be the same scum from Bethel Hills! You can marry your Stepford wife and I can drown myself in Charleston, but I will always be that screw up and so will you. We just need to stop faking it. I am meant to be miserable all my life. I can never have what I want. What’s the point of going on with this charade if I’m never meant to be happy?”
He sighed and raked his hands through his gelled hair, casing the perfectly quaffed hairdo to tangle. “What happened, Jesse? Is it the wedding? Do you miss your mom?”
“When have I ever missed Mom?” My laugh was strained, made raspy from the acid.
“Is this about that girl? Rocky.”
I blinked. Was it?
I shook my head, though I didn’t know. “This is about me! I’ll always be a screw up even if I try my hardest not to be. Why not just embrace who the whole world thinks I am?”
Dad remained quiet for a few moments. “Because deep down I know you’re better…and I think that you know you’re better too.”
Chapter 12
I couldn’t prove that Jason had purposely laced my blunt, but I didn’t need tangible evidence to know he was a dick. Luckily, I knew his type, and I was more than prepared to deal with him. However, that didn’t make living with him any easier. Good thing it was only temporary. Once break was over he’d be leaving to go back to school up north and I was counting down the days until he did.
“Hear from Sloan?” Jason entered the kitchen, yawning and scratching at his balls. His bare feet dragged across the linoleum, making high-pitched screeching noises similar to nails on a chalkboard. Good God, how I wanted to sock him in the face.
I dumped about two tablespoons of sugar into my coffee and ignored him.
“Hey, I’m talking to you,” he snapped.
Stirring my brew, I hardly glanced over, which further fueled his irritation. “Didn’t realize you were so obsessed with my dick. Thanks for caring, I guess.”
Well, that shooed away any remnants of his sleep. In a blink of an eye he barreled toward me, shaking his fist. “You’re lucky I haven’t killed you yet. You have no idea how much I just want to pound your face.”
I chose not to pay attention to him and merely kept sipping my hot ass coffee. Not wanting to show my weakness, I swallowed back the bitter liquid though it felt as if I was chugging lava.
Surprisingly, he lowered his fist, though judging by his flushed face I was not in the clear as of yet. In a cold tone he ground out, “Did she call you?”
I placed my mug down and shook my head with a laugh. “Seriously, what is your obsession with her? Do you like her or something?”
All at once the cocky smile left his face. “Or something.”
Something in his face made my gut twist uncomfortably. “Jason…is there something you need to tell me?”
At this point his jaw was clenched so tightly that a vein in his forehead had popped out. His hand trembled, fists clenching and unclenching. “What? Are we really doing a brother to brother chat now?”
I threw my hands in the air and groaned in exasperation. “What is your deal? If you have something to say, just do it instead of this cryptic bullshit.”
He paused. Like the calm before the storm the kitchen took on an eerie silence. “Sloan is…was my girlfriend.”
Ah, there it was.