Puppy Lighter || Joby Taylor x Reader || She/Her

5 | Act out, trip out. | Part 1

ME: Thank you for taking me out tonight, Joby. I loved spending time with you.
SMOKEY: I had a lot of fun 2
SMOKEY: goodnight sparky
SMOKEY: sleep well
ME: Goodnight, Smokey. Tell Scotty I said hello. <3
SMOKEY: will do baby
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Trigger warning; bad argument with parent involved in this chapter, as well brief as use of drugs mentioned.
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January 18th 2013

The call from my mom came to me at 12:12 am. My dad was sick.

In the still of the night, I made a short trip over to my parent's house, hair messy and eyes plagued with exhaustion. I didn't bother to brush my hair. I didn't even try to splash a bit of water on my face to wake myself up. I just grabbed my house keys and left.

My friend Diindiisi dropped me off, I was too tired to drive, and I figured I could take a short nap on the way there if she drove.

When I opened my eyes again, we were there. Diindiisi sat out in the car. I'd be quick. I didn't want to stay long.

On the way in I looked up at the house. It was number 30 on the street, it's Christmas lights still lit up and twinkling. They were always hung up year-round. Ever since my dad had his back injury.

There was a mushy, rotten pumpkin sitting on the porch covered in snow. I hesitated as I made my way to the door, peering in through one of the frost-covered windows to see If they were still awake. It was late. It was 12:24 am now.

My mom opened the door for me a couple of minutes after I rang the doorbell. She looked tired, almost as much as I was. I stepped in and she shut the heavy red door behind me, locking it.

She didn't look me in the face until I spoke to her.

"Mom?" It was more of a question than a greeting, my voice rising at the end to indicate slight confusion. That made it like I was asking something. She locked eyes with me, but I couldn't hold her gaze, looking away as she wordlessly kept her eyes on my face.

I scrunched my nose up, wiping away some sleep from my eyes. Then she spoke.

"Your dad is upstairs. He'll be down in a minute. Come in." She told me. She walked ahead of me, through the rooms until we got to the living room. Slight nostalgia washed over me, good and bad. My mother and I never got along well. Whenever I said something she didn't know about, I was always wrong to her. She was angry. She was stressed. She took it out on me.

My dad wasn't much better, but he and I were much closer when I was growing up. Hearing that he was ill filled me with nerves. I didn't want to lose my dad. Not so soon. Not when there was so much time ahead.

"Shouldn't dad stay upstairs? I can go up-" I started to speak, but my mother interrupted.

"No, no. He'll be fine. Just..." She trailed off as she tried to look through the air, as if the words she wanted to say would appear before her like a teleprompter with a script plugged into it. "We haven't seen you for a while. How is... How is everything?"

"Uh... Well, I have a cat now." I tried to think of things, but suddenly it was like my mind was erased. "I uh... I met a guy. And I have a new... job." I said, avoiding looking her directly in the eyes.

"That's... That's nice, sweetheart." She replied. "Everything here has been fine until your dad got sick." She added. The lamp light in the corner flickered like a warning.

"You never called." She tells me, after a minute-long moment of quiet.

"Neither did you." I look up at her, locking eyes for the first time since I entered the house. Her face twisted into a look of offense. The air began to thicken with tension.