Chapter 56 #2
Dave comes storming down the hall and into the living room within seconds. It’s early Sunday morning, and he’s wearing fucking sweatpants. He throws himself in front of us and barks, “What do you have to say for yourselves?”
“The movie was good?” Eden offers up as an answer. I give her a firm look. She shouldn’t even to attempt to lie her way out of this, because that reply was honestly far from believable.
Dave grits his teeth and places his hands on his hips, his stance threatening. Or at least as threatening as it can be in those sweatpants. “You two went to that beach party, didn’t you?”
Mom glances up from her papers. I don’t even waste my breath answering Dave, because he and Mom aren’t oblivious. The entire city would have known about the party, and it is not hard to figure out that we were most likely there.
Suddenly, Eden bursts into tears by my side, and my gaze flicks over to her in surprise.
“My friends took me there after the movies,” she blurts out through tears, though I know her different tones so well by now that I realize she isn’t really upset.
I don’t know what she’s doing, but she keeps on going, forcing herself to cry even harder.
Is she hoping her dad will take pity on her? “I didn’t even know what it was!”
God, she is so bad at this. It’s almost embarrassing.
I need to stop her from digging herself a deeper hole, so I release the sigh I’m holding and fix my attention back on Dave.
“I chose to go,” I admit nonchalantly. I shrug at him, narrowing my eyes.
When I talk to Dave, I am talking to him as Tyler Bruce.
It’s second nature. “What are you gonna do? Ground my ass for another five years?”
Dave eyeballs us both as his nostrils flare. Eden is still dramatically sobbing next to me, and Mom watches silently from the couch. She’ll be mad at me too, but it seems today, she is choosing to just stay quiet. Maybe she feels as though she’s yelled at me enough for one week.
“Where have you been all night?” Dave questions, seemingly letting my remarks slide.
“We all crashed at Dean’s place,” I answer before Eden can. I don’t want her babbling more pitiful excuses. At least mine are believable. “Just chill out. It’s summer.”
“Oh,” Dave says as his eyes widen. He blinks fast for dramatic effect and gives us a smile full of sarcasm.
“My bad. I forgot that it’s summer, so that means you can do whatever the hell you want.
Sincerest apologies.” In the background, Jamie is snickering.
Dave exhales, shaking his head as his scowl returns.
“This isn’t the first time you haven’t come home, Eden. ”
“It’s just sleepovers,” Eden innocently mumbles.
“That’s not the point!” he yells.
“Then what is?” she fires back at him.
Dave can’t answer her. He only glares at her, his lips moving as though he’s trying to find the words to reply, the veins in his forehead popping.
He looks at me instead. “You’re impossible, so I’m not even going to say anything.
Just go upstairs. Get out of here.” He shoots Jamie a look too, one that probably asks for privacy, because Jamie gets to his feet.
“Fine by me,” I say casually. I don’t need Dave yelling at me anyway.
Eden is looking at me, her features still tight with worry, and I give her a reassuring smile.
She’ll be okay. If she can handle me, then she can definitely handle her dad.
As Jamie crosses the living room, I throw my arm around his shoulders and leave the room with him. “How’s that wrist, kid?”
“Broken,” Jamie deadpans, and I laugh as we head upstairs together. I would have answered the exact same way when I was younger. “Can you stop staying out all night? Mom hates it. We don’t know if you’re alive or dead.”
I frown. Sometimes I forget that at the end of the day, I am only seventeen.
All of this disappearing will send Mom into a mental breakdown eventually.
She is staying strong for now, but I hate that I test her patience so much.
“I know she does,” I say with a sigh, then give Jamie a tight smile as I squeeze his shoulder.
I wish I could do better. I wish I could offer them more.
Jamie disappears into his room and slams the door behind him with just enough aggression to get the memo across that even he is growing frustrated with me. My fourteen-year-old fucking brother. Why do I keep doing this to them?
“I’m sorry,” I say out loud in the hall, but there is no one around to hear my apologies.
With my head low, I make my way into my own room and collapse down onto my bed.
Even though I didn’t drink much at all last night, I can feel a pounding headache beginning to form.
I check my phone, but the battery is dead.
I hook it up to charge and then get to my feet, pulling off my shirt and throwing it to one side as I head into my bathroom.
I feel as though I need to shower all over again.
I feel…I don’t know. Guilty, I guess. Last night was wrong and for more than just one reason.
I step out of my jeans and turn on the water, letting it cascade over me, burning my skin.
I squeeze my eyes shut and rest my forehead against the wall, breathing in the steam.
So many different thoughts are racing through my head, and I try to gather them, to put them into some sort of order, but everything is just so complicated.
I need to get my shit together. All the drinking isn’t even worth the few hours of distraction it gives me.
The drugs are ruining my life. Declan Portwood and his crew aren’t the kind of people I should be surrounded by.
I don’t want to keep on letting Mom down every single day, and I want to be there for my brothers.
I don’t have the energy to keep on dealing with Tiffani, to maintain such a bullshit relationship.
What am I really doing wasting my time with her?
She could ruin my life, I know that, but I think I might just be willing to accept that if it means I can end things for good.
And Eden… I would do anything for her. She’s the first girl I’ve ever found myself thinking seriously about, the first girl I’ve ever been myself around, the first girl I’ve ever fallen in love with.
I’m not throwing what I have with Eden away.
I’m not ruining this like how I’ve ruined everything else.
It’s Monday tomorrow. A new week, a clean slate. I’m going to fix everything.
I sit on the floor of the shower for half an hour, the water pouring over my face, washing away all of the negativity in my life, and when I finally get up and switch it off, I feel rejuvenated. Hopeful. Optimistic.
I am going to do better .
I pull on a fresh pair of jeans, dry my hair with a towel, and am just slipping a clean shirt over my head when I hear footsteps racing upstairs.
I expect it to be Mom, or maybe even Eden, but it is neither of them.
My bedroom door bursts open at its hinges as Tiffani storms into my room.
Does no one ever actually check to see who’s at the front door in this house?
It seems like Tiffani is forever letting herself in.
“You,” she spits. There is a storm forming in her blue eyes as she marches across the room toward me and slams her shoulder into my bicep, pushing me out of her way.
She’s only wearing sweatpants and a tank top.
Her hair is in a ponytail. No makeup. It’s rare for me to see her like this, and I get the immediate sense that something is really, really wrong. She’s pissed.
“If this is about me disappearing last night…” I say as I watch her cross my room and peer into my bathroom. “I didn’t do anything stupid, Tiff. I left, actually. I didn’t want to be there after last year.”
“Your bed is made,” Tiffani points out, nodding behind me as she comes to a standstill directly in front of me. She places her hands on her hips and presses her lips together. “When have you ever made your bed? You didn’t come home last night. Where is she?”
“What? Where’s who?” I splutter, blinking fast. What the hell is going on?
Tiffani has already swiveled around though, striding back out of my room. I’m quick to follow her, desperately chasing her into the hall as she pushes open the door to Eden’s room now instead. My heartbeat rockets. Is she… Is she looking for Eden?
“Tiffani,” I say, following her into Eden’s room.
She isn’t even here, and Tiffani wildly circles the room in aggravation before she pushes her way past me again and back out into the hall.
I reach for her elbow, trying to pull her back so that she can explain to me what the hell she is doing and why she is here, but she suddenly tenses up.
“Oh, here she is,” she announces with bitter satisfaction as she shakes my hand off her arm. “You’re just in time.”
I look up over Tiffani’s shoulder and my face immediately pales when I see Eden paused on the stairs, staring back at us with wide eyes full of confusion.
She’s in her workout gear, and it looks like she’s just got back from a run.
She is still breathing heavily, and I shake my head slowly at her as I run a hand through my hair.
It is Eden that Tiffani is searching for.
“In time for what?” Eden asks, glancing warily between Tiffani’s outraged expression and my panicked gaze.
There’s no way…There’s no way Tiffani knows what went down last night. But then why is she here?
“I need to talk to you both, because in case you can’t tell, I am pissed the hell off,” Tiffani says, and she spins around to face me. She holds up a clenched fist, her knuckles trembling from the pressure. “I am this close to punching you in the face, Tyler.”