♪ 𝙱𝙾𝙳𝚈 ♪ a rudy pankow fanfic

𝟹 ♪ 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚑𝚊𝚌𝚔

Laney felt the sun on her face as she walked next to her best friend, Nessa Jolene. The two had been close since middle school when a kid picked on Nessa for always wearing the same shoes. Her mom had been struggling to find a steady income at the time. When Laney saw what was happening she was infuriated. It probably helped that the bully was Laney's least favorite person ever, Kaleigh. The horrible Kaleigh been a mastermind at finding ways to give backhanded compliments. Laney must have been having a rough day because when she heard Kaleigh grilling Nessa on the quantity of her shoes she lost it.

Every since that day Laney and Nessa had stuck together when they were at school, and soon, even when they weren't. Now as the two girls walked towards the entrance of Walmart, Laney could not be more grateful for the girl walking next to her.

"So what do we need?" Nessa asked, both of her hands clasped around the cart handle. She had her strawberry blonde hair tied up in a neat ponytail.

"We?"

"Shut up, you know I'm basically gonna live with you now." Nessa rolled her eyes. "Why else would you pack so many blankets?"

"Uh, because I love blankets more than the average human?" Laney asked incredulously.

"Mmmhmm, whatever."

"Okay, we need food. Lots of food." Laney gave in. Who doesn't want their best friend over all the time?

"So, how is it living with Chase?" Nessa grabbed a box of pop tarts off the shelf.

"It's nice so far." Laney smiled. She was beyond grateful for her older brother. "Well, mostly nice. There was some asshole friend of his crashing on the couch this morning." She shrugged at the memory.

"Dang, who is it?"

"I don't know. Chase said he's a friend from college."

"Huh."

"Yeah, he was pissed at me for eating his food." The thought made the corners of Laney's mouth curve up. "He left pretty fast after he got up, though."

Nessa let out a laugh. "You must have really pissed him off."

"Oh! That reminds me," Laney pulled on a handle in the frozen section and pulled out two boxes of Toaster Strudels.

The girls finally reached the checkout line, only after throwing cereal, bagels, cookies, juice, crackers, chips, frozen dinners, pop tarts, toaster strudels and ice-cream into the cart.

Laney sighed when she saw the receipt.

Time to get a job.

♪

Laney woke with a start. Her breathing was quick, her hair stuck to her neck, and she felt shakey. She hated nights like these. Nights when her old father completely vanished and all she could remember was the broken one that replaced him. Nights when he hadn't bothered her in reality, but he still visited her in her nightmares. Nights when she knew she wouldn't sleep a wink more.

She rolled over and checked her phone.

5:23am.

It wasn't the worst night of sleep. Sometimes in the past she would wake up at 1am and not sleep the rest of the night. At least she'd only woken up a few hours early today.

She laid in bed with the image of her drunken father. What hurt the most was how loving he once was. Bad people were good at one time. It hurt to remember that the man who caused her so much pain was once the man who loved her more than anyone else. He was the man who would protect her from everyone else. He would provide for her, always making sure she had everything she needed. He was there for her when she needed him. He was the one who had brought her to her guitar lessons. He had sat by her and listened to her practice when the sound of her playing probably made him want to rip his ears off. He was her dad and he was everything a father should be.