The Web I Spin for You ~ Richpez & Rosenwalker

Chapter 8

"Get some sleep, yeah?" Darren asked as Joe started gathering his things.

"You're cool with me keeping the bottle, right?" Joe asked, struggling to grasp whether or not he had all of his things.

"Yeah, you can have it. Do you need help getting inside? I can cover for you with your parents."

Joe shook his head no. "I'm fine. And I'll venmo you or Chuck or whoever."

"Don't worry about it, it's all yours." Darren reassured. "Just, maybe don't drink it all in one night? Save it for our next movie date."

"I'll, I'll pay you back." Joe argued, opening the car door. "S-See ya Monday." He walked off towards his house, forgetting to close the car door behind him.

Darren reached over tentatively to shut the door, watching as Joe struggled to figure out which of his keys were his house keys. 'Yeah, I fucked up.' He thought to himself guiltily.

Joe finally identified his house key, fumbling for awhile before he managed to get the front door open. He turned around and gave Darren a wave to signal that he'd gotten inside okay. Joe stepped inside of his house as Darren drove off, closing the door sloppily behind him. Hopefully, he could sneak into his bedroom unnoticed.

"Hello!" He heard his mother call from the living room. "That you Joe?"

"Fuck," Joe whispered to himself, rubbing his eyes and setting the bag he had with the bottle of rum inside down on the floor. He walked into the living room, finding his parents sitting on the couch and watching TV. "Hey."

"How's Darren doing?" His father asked.

"He's, he's good." Joe answered, keeping his answers short to avoid saying something that gave him away.

His mother stared him up and down. "Feels like we haven't seen him in forever. Or any of your friends for that matter. He knows he's welcome over any time, right?"

"Of course he does mom. We, we're both just busy. And Darren has a PS5, so it makes sense for us to go over to his place to play video games."

His mother put her hands up in defense. "This again. Look, maybe for Hanukkah if you get straight A's. And invite some friends over; I almost never see you spending time with any of them anymore. Is everything okay? Are you getting along with everyone?"

Joe groaned. "Dad, can you please tell her that everything's fine?"

His father ran a hand through his hair. "I agree with your mom Joseph." Joe resisted the urge to roll his eyes as his parents exchanged a nervous look. "The only friend I ever hear you talk about these days is Brian. The younger one, there's two right? Or am I just thinking of Holden?"

Joe felt his face heat up. "There uh, there's two Brian's. I um, I-I'm not sure which one you're thinking of." He glanced back towards the front door, where his bag of contraband was lying on the floor. He desperately wanted to escape this entire conversation, even more now that a certain someone had come up. "Listen, I'm really tired, and I need to study, I-I'm gonna go change into some comfier clothes." He spun on his heal, walking out of the room as fast as he could.

"We're, we're down here if you need to talk about anything!" His mom called after him.

Joe closed his eyes tightly, blocking it all out. He reached down for the backpack and sloppily made his way up the stairs. Once inside his room, he slammed his door shut. "'If you need to talk about anything...'" he mumbled angrily to himself as he sat down on his bed and began to unzip the backpack. "Hey mom, you know that girl I used to date?" He whispered, as if his parents were there in the room with him. "The one you and dad told me seemed a little mean? Yeah, she spent the last few months abusing me emotionally, verbally, financially, physically, and sexually." He pulled the bottle of rum out of the bag, spinning the top of the lid off. "I feel sick all the time, I'm depressed, and I have weird fucking dreams about spiders now." He took a sip, staring around his room sadly. "None of my friends understand why I miss her so much, and I know you guys won't either, so there's no point in telling you about it. Fuck, I don't understand it half of the time." He scooted back so that he was resting his back against his pillows, grabbing his remote and turning his TV on. "Oh, and that Brian kid? The one that I talk about all the time? I'm falling in love with him. Head-over-fucking-heels, and he doesn't want to be with me. Or maybe he does, but if he does, he shouldn't. I'm fucked up and broken, and he deserves someone who's whole." He flicked through his purchased movies until he found what he was looking for. "Perfect." He whispered to himself as he pushed play on Heathers, taking another sip of rum before laying down.