I Need You

Chapter 5. Lea

Ty's *POV* 

I exhaled the clouds of smoke that I just inhaled. My body started to relax and eventually I stopped crying. We passed the blunt back and forth every two puffs. I just sat there with her sitting next to me on the bathroom counter. It seemed like time was passing slower and slower as I started to feel the effects of the blunt. I was suddenly so aware of my forearms. 

"They don't love me." 

Taking out her blunt and puffing out a billow of smoke, she turned to me with her dark brown eyes, eyebrows furrowed slightly and asked "Who?" 

"My parents." 

"Ohhhh. Why?" 

"Because I'll never be with a man." 

I turned my head away from her, expecting some form of judgement. "That's fucked up." She replied as she passed me the blunt. I laughed a little at her simple remark and was thankful that she didn't comment on my sexuality. In all honesty, I hate the pity talk that everyone bores me with if they find out that my parents don't support me. All the same comments and facial expressions given. It's as if they're all rehearsed. All the 'There's nothing wrong with being gay' or 'you're beautiful just the way you are'. Maybe I'm supposed to take comfort in that like everyone else does, but they don't understand what goes through my head every day. 

I look down and feel a vibration coming from my phone. I see that it's a call from my dad. I don't know why he's calling me in the middle of the school day, so I don't pick up. Then he texts me. 'I know that you're not in class. Pick up.' 

Ty: "What's up?" 

Dad: "You need to be home today as soon as school ends." 

Ty: "Why? It's just the first day. It's barely second period and I haven't done anything wrong." 

Dad: "What I say goes Tyana Mariana Steele! We need to discuss the events that occurred on Saturday evening. I will not repeat myself, be home right away. Do you understand me?" 

Ty: "Yes Patrick." 

Dad: "Excuse me! It's-" 

I hung up before he could correct me. 

"Well damn." A voice next to me said. I had almost forgotten that she was still in here. "He sounds like he sucks. Was that your dad?"

"Yeah, it was. He's totally gonna kill me when I got home." She chuckled while passing the blunt back to me. Despite everything that happened just now, I actually felt calmer. I don't know why but I just did. I actually didn't feel like I wanted to die inside. It might have been the blunt actually. I started laughing out loud uncontrollably, starting small and quite then getting bigger and louder the longer I laughed. What strain does she have that can make me feel like this? It doesn't matter, I wasn't in pain for once and I savored that moment. 

I felt her looking at me, so I turned my attention to her instead. She had a small smile creeping on the edges of her lips and one of her eyebrows raised slightly. I saw her look at me up and down with her beautiful brown eyes and I stopped laughing hysterically because I was probably embarrassing myself in front of this complete stranger. She only chuckled at me as I looked away. 

I heard her get off of the counter and I heard the patter of her shoes against the bathroom floor get closer to me. I turned to my head slightly and saw her standing so close to me I could practically feel her. "I've got to go, but if you ever need a smoke break, I'll be here." She said, winking at me as she exited the restroom. I was so caught off guard by this action that I almost forgot to ask for her name. "Wait a minute, I never caught your name." I shouted after her. 

"Lea."