𝗼𝗻 𝘀𝗶𝘅𝘁𝗵 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗲𝘁 - 𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗶 𝗮𝘂.

05. dark days

time jump; 1 week.

+

"ricky where the hell where you?!" lynne snapped as the front door opened. ricky walked passed his mom and clicked his tongue as he opened the pantry in the kitchen. he grabbed out a snack and turned around to see todd sitting in the living room, a blanket wrapped around him and netflix playing on the tv. he seemed to not notice that ricky came home, or maybe he tried to ignore the fights as he quietly watched the old movie playing on the tv.

"ricky! listen to me when i speak to you!" lynne demanded as she trudged over to her son but ricky rolled his eyes.

the boy opened up his granola bar as he leaned on the counter, eyeing his mom innocently with a chuckle. "you're netflix and chilling with your boyfriend, hm? great to see that your a millennial now." he snapped as he took a bite out of his granola bar.

lynne gasped out as she frustratedly held her hands up, trying to control her anger while todd slowly turned around from the couch and watched blankly, not sure of what to do.

"go upstairs." she said sternly and ricky let out a scoff, "you don't get to do that. not after you made me a newspaper boy one day after i got into a car crash."

"were you drinking?" lynne asked slowly as she eyed him suspiciously, seeing the flushed look of his face.

"no shit, mom?? of course i was," ricky spat out as he rolled his eyes, shoving past her. "alsooo, hey todd!"

todd hesitantly cleared his throat, "uh.. hey, ricky.." the man said softly and ricky chuckled, "you've stepped up your game, huh? mr. stamina, if ya know what i mean."

the older man felt his embarrassment rise as he blankly stared at ricky who was in a fit of giggles. that was the last straw for lynne. she quickly grabbed onto ricky's arm and started to walk him to the stairs, "h- hey, what are you doing??"

"ricky, you're drunk, get upstairs. please."

he grabbed onto her wrist that was holding him and pulled her hand off of him, "don't touch me." he spat out as his mom and him glared at each other.

the curly headed boy let out a small scoff when saw the disappointment in her eyes. "fuck you, and fuck you too, todd." ricky yelled at lynne and todd before he quickly ran out the house.

and with that, he ran down the streets, not missing a single beat as he heard his mom calling and yelling his name.

+

"the dishes are done, malou." nini softly said to the old lady and malou nodded silently.

"thank you, nina. you have permission to eat now," malou stated simply before pushing her empty plate away and bidding goodbye to watch tv in the closed up den.

nini slowly nodded and opened her mouth to speak but immediately pressed her lips together when seeing that the old lady had already disappeared around the hallway. "... goodnight."

+

ricky was really dizzy. he was trying to navigate his way to big red's house but he was really far from there. in reality, he was on sixth street. again.

he stumbled around, bluntly looking down at the dark street as he let tears role down his cheeks. he was tired. tired from his mom, and her stupid boyfriend. tired of his job, because what the hell was a newspaper boy? tired of not knowing what to do for his future. high school ended and in two months he would be set for college. the thing is, he hasn't applied anywhere. he doesn't know what to do for his future. he's lost without his dad.