Chapter 24 Amazing #2
I tuck my hair behind my ears and Mr. Terrip comes around the corner.
"There you are," he smiles when he sees me and I feel guilty. I glance at Grey to see him leaned back against a bookcase, looking at me with a smirk on his beautiful face.
I glare at him and he crosses his arms across his chest.
"You helpin' her?" Mr. Terrip smiles over at Grey. Grey slowly drags his eyes away from me and looks over at him.
"Yeah," he looks right at Mr. Terrip as he lies.
A sin. Not like I have room to talk though.
"Well, I gotta close up early. Bingo is an hour away today," he rolls his eyes, "pisses me off those old asses."
He's actually pretty mad.
"Sounds damn ridiculous to me," Grey mumbles.
"You're exactly right," he nods to Grey, "they expect me to waste my gas trying to win myself some bingo money? I mean there's a chance I'll win so I'll drive there but it's getting ridiculous."
I love how this problem perfectly explains how old Mr. Terrip is.
~~~
"You have quite the nerve," I point in his face. I take a bite of my taco.
We were going to order food from a nice restaurant but all of them in town don't do takeout. Who do they think they are?
So we settled for Taco Bell.
"Doing that in the store," I add.
"Did you stop me?"
"How am I supposed to do that when..you know," I feel my cheeks tinge.
"When what?" he smirks.
"You're- You- When it feels-, I just can't," I narrow my eyes at him.
"This is a fuckin' date don't fight with me," he says like he's an expert on date-going or having, whatever.
"Bear, eat his taco," I whisper over to Bear and he only wags his tail and licks my nose.
"How's your face?" He mumbles.
What a darling way to ask that.
"It's okay," I spill part of my taco on my shirt and groan. Of course that would happen to me.
My phone rings and my eyebrows furrow. I answer it and even Grey is confused as to who is calling me.
"Hello?" I answer.
"Azalea, can you please come home? I really would like to talk to you," mom's voice travels through the phone.
"Oh. Yeah, sure. I'll be there in a little bit," I mumble softly and hang up. What would she want to talk about?
"Are you ditching me?" He says dryly from beside me.
"Yes, my boss at the strippery says I need to work tonight," I lean to him and kiss his cheek.
"What the fuck was that?"
"My boss at the strip club?" I question, figuring that'd be what he was confused about.
He grips my jaw and pulls me close to him.
"On the lips," he demands and I bite back a smile before leaning forward and kissing his lips. I go to pull away but he just pulls me onto his lap.
Two minutes later here I still am, on his lap but with his fingers buried in my pants, my head resting in his neck trying not to faint, and him doing the thing he does.
"I want my face in between your legs," he says lowly, biting my ear and I'm sent over the edge. Like I wasn't at the store since we got interrupted.
He wants his what, where?!
"There you go," he says softly, kissing my temple and I gather myself.
And to think he used to hate everything about me.
I wiggle off his lap and only catch a small glimpse of his glistening fingers. I stand on wobbly legs and watch as Grey slips his middle finger into his mouth just like he's licking off Cheeto dust or something.
I need to have a church session in my car.
I straighten my skirt and take a deep breath.
"I'll see you later," my voice raises only a bit and he gives me a once over.
I walk out of there with still wobbly legs.
~~~
Walking up to the front door, I'm nervous.
What's mom gonna say to me?
I haven't stepped foot in this house since what Dad did, am I gonna get sad or what?
I open the door and walk in. My heart soars when I see no sign of alcohol. I spot her sitting on the light brown couch in our living room.
"Azalea," she smiles when she sees me. She pats the spot beside her and I walk over and take a seat.
A tissue box sits on the empty coffee table in front of us.
"I just want to start by saying how sorry I am," she whispers and I understand why there's a tissue box because me and her both are already teared up.
"I'm sorry for so many things," she shakes her head.
"I'm sorry for all the drinking that I never should have done. I'm sorry," she cuts herself off, grabbing a tissue and wiping under her eyes.
"I'm sorry for never standing up for you when you when Jackson would hurt you, I have no excuses," she wipes a fallen tear off my face.
I know why she didn't stop him. She was afraid.
She knew he would do the same thing to her and eventually he did.
"And most of all," she picks up my hand and holds in both of hers, "I'm so sorry for not being there for when you needed me the most."
She reaches up and wipes my tears away again.
"I was too busy in my own grief to not even realize yours and I could never forgive myself for that," she shakes her head.
I understand though. I understand everything.
Why she wouldn't fight with dad on why he locked me in Jake's room. She didn't want either of us to get hurt.
"I forgive you," I whisper and pull her into a hug.
Sure, after Jake passed everything went straight downhill, my parents, everything. It felt like the world was closing in around me and there was no way I could get out of the pain. It surrounded me.
But now, I feel happy. And I have no worries. Everything is just amazing.
"I don't deserve that," she holds me tight to her.
"I forgive you mom," I tell her again and she cries.
We stay hugging for a couple minutes before she pulls away.
"After your father lost his job," her demeanor grows sad once more and my eyebrows furrow.
"I tried my best to keep up with everything. The bills, the payments, and everything. But I couldn't keep up, I still can't," she shakes her head.
"Well, that's okay," I give her an encouraging smile.
"We can get a smaller place. Just for the two of us!"
"Exactly," she smiles excitedly too. Everything really is amazing.
"So I looked for one," her smile stays and I get excited.
We're moving! Whoop whoop!
"And I figured it would be the best idea to get a fresh start. Tennessee holds too many bad memories, so I found a wonderful house up in Kentucky that I know you'll just love," my smile falls a bit.
"And I've already put in the offer and they accepted! This house went up on the market earlier today!" She smiles happily. A smile so happy I can't even remember the last time I'd seen it on her face.
My smile drops completely. She already got her offer excepted?
"Pack your bags honey! We're getting a fresh start in Kentucky!"
Everything is not amazing.
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.....................Grey's a little freakyyy AHHH I can't Lord knows if this chapter is good. Y'all be nice to me.
I'M SO SCARED TO POST THIS
Thank you for reading! School is the worst thing ever so that's why these updates have been only coming during the weekends. Anyway, back to my math homework :(
*Not edited*
Word count: 3271
-Ashlyn Montgomery