Friends are just known enemies

Chapter 13

“Are you sure you don’t want me to come with you?” Kyle turns in the driver’s seat to face me, his eye brows furrowed in concern. “I’ll be fine” I put on what I hope is a reassuring smile and nod. We’re sitting in his car, parked at the end of my street so my parents, especially my dad, wouldn’t see me getting out of a boy’s car. I don’t know what else to say after this suffocating silence fell over us, so I turn to get out, but Kyle’s hand on my arm stops me.

“I’ll call and check up on you later, okay?” He searches my face with his eyes, as though trying to find a crack in my careless façade and once again I get this warm feeling in my chest, because he wants me to be okay. He cares. So I smile at him, genuinely this time and he presses his lips to mine briefly before leaning back again and I get up because the moment seems too perfect to be ruined by me.

I know he’s not going to leave before I actually get inside the house, so I try to walk confidently and with my head held high, but by the time I stop in front of the door, my shoulders are slumped forward and all my confidence gone. Nevertheless, I pull my keys from my bag and slowly slide the door open, sticking my head in to see if anyone is home. The TV’s on, so that means yes.

My heart beat picks up and my palms are beginning to get sweaty. I hear footsteps coming towards me and my first instinct is to turn around and run, run back to the car and into Kyle’s arms but I know I can’t. I can’t be the weak one. I look up and find my mum standing there, smiling warmly at me. “I gave him sleeping pills yesterday, he doesn’t even know you didn’t come home” She says and for the first time in years I wrap my arms around her tightly.

“Thank you” I whisper breathlessly, my eyes filling with tears. I let go after a few seconds, clearing my throat and taking a step back. “I’ll be in my room” I try to regain my composure, I’ve been working on not showing my emotions for years and I won’t start now. She nods, her smile faltering just slightly but she knows as well as I do that she can’t just fix our relationship by helping me out one time.

I walk up the stairs and barely close the door behind me when my phone starts ringing. “Hello?” I ask, while grabbing some chocolate from my secret stash and climbing out of my window. “Hey. How did it go?” I hear Kyle’s voice on the other end of the line and even though he sounds anxious a smile instantly spreads on my face. “Good actually. My mum helped me” I respond and he sighs with relief. “Thank goodness” I hear him mutter under his breath and once again I get this amazing feeling surging through my body, flowing in my veins that someone cares.

“So you’re okay?” He asks again, sounding much less tense. “Yeah, I’m fine” I reassure him, but I’m not really. True, I didn’t get in trouble for not coming home last night, but that’s only because dad was knocked out. And it only makes me realise how messed up my family really is. I just want to be able to invite Kyle to dinner and for my parents to be welcoming, like his mother was yesterday. But I can’t, because my dad would most likely kill either him or me.

“You don’t sound fine to me” Of course Kyle picked up on my change in mood immediately and I sigh while running my fingers through my hair, contemplating whether to tell him the truth or lie. But this is Kyle and somehow lying to him feels wrong and I trust him, so I keep talking. “I just want to have a normal family” It comes out barely more than a whisper, nothing more than wind rusteling leaves and I think for a second that maybe he didn’t hear, but then he speaks up.

“It’s okay. I’d love to meet them, but I get that it’s not a good idea. I’m here for you okay?” I hardly manage to answer him, the strange feeling coming back and almost making me tear up from happiness. We end up talking for another hour or maybe two, I really can’t tell, about everything and nothing all at once.

Then I hear my dad’s heavy, drunken footsteps from inside and hastily hang up, practically jumping back into my room before he can yell at me for sitting outside and, even worse, being on the phone. And just like that, the illusion of safety and the warmth that comes with just hearing Kyle’s voice is gone and I’m back in this cold, hostile family.

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I'm really sorry for not updating sooner, but I had a lot of school work and I went to a concert yesterday.
The chapter's pretty short, but I wanted to post something, so there you go :)
Thank you so much for reading, you're awesome and a special thank you to @Missy_Moo13 for reading all of my stories and just being amazing in general!
Hope all of you are having a great day :)
- Love, Jess