Rekindled- Jake Kiszka

Chapter 14

I woke up feeling groggy, I had barely been able to sleep the night prior. Normally, being so close to Jake soothed me, and it did in the beginning when I fell asleep so quickly, but hell if I wasn't waking up every hour.  Around 7 I hear his phone start buzzing, meaning he had set an alarm the night before so we would be up on time. He was the most thoughtful man on the planet. I sigh and cancel his alarm, deciding there were better ways to wake up than the droning of a phone. I scoot in closer to him, running my fingers through his hair softly and placing small, soft kisses down his collarbone, feeling him stir under me slightly. He hums softly which lets me know that he's starting to wake up. I freckle a few more kisses along the side of his neck before looking up at him, my gaze meeting his sleepy one, but he still manages a grin. 

"It's 7," I start, barely above a whisper, "but if you want to stay back you can go back to sleep."

He quickly shakes his head and plants a kiss on my forehead before I stand up from the bed. "I'm gonna go get dressed, I'll be out in a few."

I head into my room and pull on a big sweatshirt, pairing it with some black leggings and managing to tame my hair into an acceptable messy bun. I brush my teeth and splash some water over my face, but other than that, I didn't have the energy to put in effort today. I just wanted this all to be over with.

Me and Jake head to my mom's together and I use my old key to get in, opening the door to bottles everywhere, the house was trashed. It smelled like 20 packs of old cigarettes and dirty laundry. I sigh and run my hands over my face, going upstairs to her bedroom without a word.

Jake had been mentally prepared for today, like he just knew it would come at some point. He didn't need me to tell him he could go if he wanted, he knew that. He was okay with me not being able to say anything, and I'm eternally thankful for that.

"I don't even know what to bring, I don't know what you can have in rehab." I say in a moment of realization, picking a duffle bag up from the ground. As bad as the house was, my mother's room was pretty clean, probably because she almost never slept in there anymore. 

"Well I'm sure any clothes would be fine, maybe like a toothbrush? A hairbrush? Like stuff you use everyday." Jake offers, helping me stuff clothes into the bag as I hand them to him. 

I simply nod as I rummage through the drawers, feeling something metal hit my hand whilst digging through. I pull it out and sigh, staring down at the picture frame in my hand. 

"What's that?" Jake asks, coming and standing at my side. I smile slightly at the frame and turn it so he could see.

"This was from Christmas morning when I was 6, that's when he got me the necklace." I say quietly, running my fingers over the image of myself with my parents, one kneeling down on either side of me to match my height while big smiles were painted on all three of our faces. My mother looked like an entirely different person from then to now. I had my favorite Christmas pajamas on and I was missing one of my front teeth, I remember getting 2 dollars for it a few nights before. 

"I can tell her adored you." Jake whispers, placing his hand gently over top of mine and resting his chin on my shoulder. My dad was one of the only things that Jake and his brothers had limited knowledge on when it came to my life, but they all knew he meant a lot to me. I nod and flip the frame over in my hands, not needing to elicit any more emotions for the day. "We should get going." I manage to get out, grabbing the duffle bag and stuffing the frame into my purse as Jake walked back to the car.

We end up spending 4 hours in the hospital, and only 1 of those hours was spent anywhere near my mom. She was asleep the entire time we visited, but we were too caught up in talking to the rehabilitation people to be bothered. Jake didn't need to stay with me, in fact, I told him multiple times to head home and that I would be just fine, but he refused, telling me that he knows me better than that. And, of course, he was right. I wouldn't be okay on my own, I could barely hold it together with him there supporting me. I knew my mom had an issue, ever since I was a kid I always had a clue, but I suppose I was too naïve to ever imagine myself planning out a rehab plan for her after she got alcohol poisoning. It just felt like my world was crumbling, like all of those emotions inside of me were just waiting to flood out without warning.