Signed, Sober You - Michael Hardy

TWENTY

Lawrenceburg, Kentucky

"You still owe me."

"What!? I went down on you twice last night!"

"So? That don't make up for twenty six years of fuckin trauma."

"Babe-"

"Nuh-uh." She shakes her head. "You still owe me."

"Fine."

Jenna takes a deep breath and runs a hand over her face. "Can't believe I'm doin' this."

"Let's do this together." Michael takes her hand. "C'mon."

They hop out of the Uber they ordered and head into the trailer park Jenna grew up in.

Jenna's quiet as they walk down the gravel drive, she didn't want to be dropped off right at the trailer. She needed time to mentally prepare herself.

Her childhood neighborhood is dumpy enough to labeled as "white trash."

Her family thought she was stuck up when she said she was going to college. Even more so when she told them it was in Nashville at a private school.

Lipscomb University is not something they were expecting. They were expecting Eastern Kentucky University more than anything else.

But she was set on leaving the state.

Jenna wanted to make a name for herself in the country music industry so she thought going to school in Nashville would help her get a leg up.

"I'm gonna throw up." She wheezes, pulling a face when a bubble comes up from her belly. "Bleg." She takes her vape from her pocket and takes a drag. "I just wanna apologize before hand, okay? Because you're like me, they're gonna tear you apart."

"God, Jenny, you make it sound like they're cannibals."

"Might as well be without the eatin' people." Jenna raises her hand and raps her knuckles against the paint peeling door.

"Jen?" Keith, her father, says when he sees her standing on his porch. "What're you doin' here?"

"I'm in Louisville for a couple days and decided to see y'all." She says, her hands in her jacket pockets.

"Oh, really." He purses his lips. "We don't hear from you for six years and you just decided to show up one day?"

"Dad-"

"Six years, Jen."

"It wasn't-" He slams the door in her face. Jenna looks over at Michael who might as well have steam coming out of his ears. "Michael, don't-" He pounds his fist against the door.

Keith swings the door open. "What!?"

"You really think this is her fault?" He says in a low tone. "Y'all were the reason why she stayed away for six years."

"Michael-"

"Who the fuck're you!?" Keith shouts back. "How dare you come to my house and insult me- my family."