Chasing the Night || a moey au

Chapter Nineteen

- Chapter Nineteen -

I sat on a bench just outside of the small bus stop, kicking rocks off onto the empty road in front of us. The sound Joeys muffled voice echoed behind me as he talked on an old pay phone, trying to find us a hotel for the night. I dug into the pocket of my sweatshirt and felt the crumpled up letter on my finger tips. I looked back at Joey who was busy frantically calling every hotel in the area, and then pulled the letter out it my pocket and flattened it out on my knees. I smiled as I skimmed over it, the taste of Joey's lips still ghosting mine.

I just want you to be content with the life you're living, I read, the words standing out to me as if they were bolded. I breathed in the sweet air of morning as I crumpled the sheet of paper into the state it was prior. I stood up and walked over to Joey, my eyes never directly looking at him. As I got there, he hung up the phone, with a disappointed and worn-out look on his face.

"Did you get us some rooms for the night?" I asked, keeping my eyes from accidentally finding his.

"Well," he started.

"I can pay for my room!" I interrupted, bringing my hands up in front of me as if I was shielding myself from something threateningly invisible. "I can get the money, I promise," I trailed off, wondering if there was a way I could ever get enough money to support myself again.

"No, no! It's not that!" He brought a hand up to run his fingers through his brown hair, "It's just that they only have two hotels in the area, and there's only one room..."

"I guess that's okay-"

"One bedroom." He finished and I almost stepped back with the blunt statement. I looked down to my right with a laugh of disbelief escaping my lips.

"You know what's funny?" I laughed, sarcasm flying out of my mouth like a bullet from a gun, "I came here to get away from you, and here I am, about to be stuck in the same room with you after you kissed the one person who has single-handedly ruined my entire life, let alone sleeping in the same bed." I pursed my lips and started walking back towards the little bench I sat on before. I ran my hands through my hair and stretched the ends of my face out with frustration. The world was only a thin blur in front of me as my eyes were being pulled on. Joey came to sit beside me, sighing as he lowered himself onto the wooden seat.

"I'm so sorry." He squeaked, I looked up at him.

"Well! We should probably get walking then if we wanna get there soon!" I ignored his apology, partly feeling sorry myself for not giving him the proper credit for all he's done for me. "You know where it is right?"

He mirrored my actions and stood up for himself, pulling his phone out of his pocket, "Yeah, I have it here on maps, it shouldn't take us long."

I nodded in reply and picked up my bag of stuff from the ground. It made me upset, in one way or another, that this bag, was my only bag of important possessions. Most people would have boxes of meaningful items and maybe some useless gadgets, but at least it wasn't just a simple duffle bag. This was all I needed, and all I had, in my life, and that was pretty sad. I could've taken more when I fled my home that one night. I could've ran to my room and grabbed several items of significant importance to me, but with fear rushing through my veins, I ran before thinking. My room, I thought, wondering if my mother had kept it the way it was, or if she had thrown the entirety of my existence in the trash to forget about all the evil I had caused in people's lives during my time there. It was a question that I was not willing to check the answer to.

I followed Joey as we turned corners and crossed empty streets, my feet just one step behind his. "So, I just thought of this," I said, skipping up to his side, "I've told you a descent amount of my past, and I don't recall hearing much about you?" I broke the silence, but kept my eyes glued to the horizon.