Trouble Times Two

Chapter Thirty-Six

Thursday

"Are you sure you don't know where he is? He's your roommate." Female coach Renata says and I shake my head.

"I'm his roommate, not his keeper." I grab my stuff and walk to the gym with the baby. The stupid thing has to come everywhere with me.

The teacher apologised to me and sent me that copy, so I was a little less pissed off. Not by much though.

I saw Donovan around all day because we had all the same lessons but after that, he sort of pussied out.

All I needed was him to take care of the baby for an hour, while I went to a class at the gym.

The baby keeps on crying through my class but luckily it's yoga, filled with moms who respect my dedication to this project. There was also the millennials who did the same project, who help me when I can't figure out what it needs.

I leave the gym after showering and come home to an apartment that smells like weed.

I go into Donovan's room and he's there, high as shit.

I pack my stuff and haul ass down the stairs to Arthur and Courtney's apartment. I go in and sit on the sofa as they're out right now.

I message them that I'm here and just continue taking care of the baby.

I get a call from an unknown number.

I answer it and no one speaks.

"Spell ICUP." Howlett says on the other end of the phone and I nearly laugh.

"No. What do you need Howlett?" I ask and he laughs.

"Your parole officer is coming to see you in half an hour, and Donovan's social worker is coming to see him as well." He says. I fly up off the sofa.

"Okay, I'll go back to the apartment. Bye." I add his number to my phone, then run out the apartment.

I walk in and the weed smell is faint but there.

Arthur calls me.

"Are you still at the apartment?" He asks.

"You need to come to mine. My parole officer is coming over as well as Donovan's social worker, and Donovan's made the whole place smell like weed." I start opening all the windows and doors.

I open the door for Arthur and Courtney and we all start trying to get the smell out.

Courtney runs downstairs and grabs some spray air freshener and some natural ones, before running back to put them everywhere. They wouldn't help that much on their own, but with everything else it would work.

Arthur and I go into Donovan's room.

He's as high as a kite.

"Donovan, your social worker is coming. You need to get up." He grumbles a little to Arthur but eventually goes back to sleep. "You know what we need to do Gia."

We both pick him up and put him in the shower and run the water.

He wakes up instantly and we make him sit there until he's been in there for five minutes.

"Your social worker is coming. Look sharp." I say as I hand him a towel, some clothes and close the door.

I go into Donovan's room and air it out and start spraying some air freshener. I finally notice that the place is a mess, which for Donovan, is incredibly unusual.

I put all the clothes in the laundry, do the bed but leave the night stand be because he can touch that stuff.

I don't care, his room stinks in general so his clothes are getting washed.

I run his fan which he got his family to ship from home for him.

I sweep, vacuum and then mop and wait for him outside his room. When he brings his wet clothes with him, I turn him around and make him put them in the washer.

I make him put the rest of his clothes in the wash and he does so and then I start the cycle.

Courtney brings some automatic air fresheners in and we put them in Donovan's room, the bathroom and the lounge/kitchen/dining area.

I take a walk around the floor and then walk back in and I can't smell weed.

It smells funky but like a good funky, like a mix of fresh linen and patchouli, so I just accept it and move on.

I sit down and talk to Arthur and Courtney when we get a knock on the door and Donovan opens it.

It's his social worker and he takes a walk around.

While he's approaching the area we're in, I spot what's left of Donovan's joint. I don't panic, I just do what I can to get rid of the evidence.

I lean forward and then grab the remote, along with the joint.

I get some paper towel and pretend to blow my nose before wrapping it in there and binning it. That was too close. Donovan was so disrespectful for doing this when he was aware that I could get into trouble for this shit.

I sit back down, where the social workers asks some question about us.

We answer them all and while that's happening, my parole officer enters and goes through the same process and then asks questions. She also chats away to Donovan's social worker. I feel a bit more at ease.

At a point, they leave for Donovan's room and then my parole officer asks to speak to me privately. We do so in my tiny room, sitting on my bed.

She says that she's impressed all asks all the questions that Marie would ask me. For some weird reason, it makes me miss Marie. I definitely miss Simon.

We're done pretty quickly but the door to Donovan's room is still closed and I know it's because he's not been on his best behaviour.

Even though a lot of social workers don't, his might be one who cares.

When the door opens, they shake hands.

I know in my heart that his social worker is a good one.

My parole officer and his social worker leave together.

I was still on close watch but they could take their eye off me in a matter of months, and Donovan's could do so once he fixed his act up.

I just didn't know if that point would ever come, or  worse, if he would end up in more trouble.