𝗕𝗟𝗢𝗢𝗗 𝗔𝗦 𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗖𝗞 𝗔𝗦 𝗪𝗔𝗧𝗘𝗥 ⚔︎

3

jesse spent the next morning packing his suitcases and bags into the back of eddie's silver maserati, wired awake from a tantalising and slightly dangerous mixture of advil and coffee.

unbeknowst to him, his father peered down at him from one of the upstairs windows, a slight disbelieving smirk on his face. fresh out of the shower with a towel around his waist, he watched as jesse hauled in his heavy rucksacks, the zips almost bursting at the seams with how much he had stuffed inside. the whole thing gave eddie a case of déjà vu — for a moment, he could see the apparition of his brother tim, in his white converse and tapered jeans, his glasses all fogged up and his curly hair hanging over his forehead as he hauled a heavy suitcase into the back of a candy red plymouth.

eventually, eddie emerged out onto the porch, squinting as sunlight hit him. he wore a crisp, white ralph lauren polo shirt tucked into a pair of beige chinos; rayban sunglasses were perched atop his head and his gold rolex sparkled around his wrist. the birds sang in the trees above.

he locked the front door behind him and stepped down onto the stone brick driveway. "and you're absolutely sure about this?" he said, peering into the trunk of his car at the heaps of luggage. he met jesse's eyes carefully. "because if you're not, you need to tell me right now. i am not driving you all the way to new haven just for you to start whining and grumbling—"

"dad," jesse groaned. "don't be like that. of course i'm ready. i know i am."

"okay..." eddie said, trailing off as he put his hands on his hips. he couldn't take his eyes away from the bags. "let's go."

they both climbed into the car. eddie headed up the interstate through chester bay and pelham with a quivering lip and a gritted jaw, his hands fixated permanently on the steering wheel. jesse tapped the rhythm to a song that was stuck in his head on the side of the door, ducking his head out of the window to feel the breeze of late summer coursing through his hair. he looked out onto the long island sound as they went by new rochelle, trying to spy a last glimpse of his house or at least the back garden in the distance on the other side of the water.

their journey mainly consisted of eddie lecturing his son — but it was not the typical lecture that he would have put him through when he was a teenager, with talk of homework and keeping your head down. this time he spoke of recipes, of good food that he could make on a budget; of washing and ironing your clothes every week, especially your dress shirts and suit trousers; of being polite and pleasant and holding the door open for people, especially women and teachers; of keeping away from the wrong crowd (because there's always one at these prestigious all-american universities, as much as their alumni and sponsors don't like to admit, oh yes, always one) and not falling into the trap of hard drugs; and if you must drink, then do it with people you trust. jesse listened intently, zoning out only when appropriate, like when his father told him to 'keep the partying to a minimum.'

of course, eddie was completely making things up from the top of his head. he didn't know a thing about college — he had never went, his parents had never went, his friends had never went — marissa had only gone to city college for her nurse training, but that was thirty-odd years ago — and things would be much different in a big place like yale.

in all honesty he had no idea what to expect, and he was terrified. by now, he thought he'd be used to jesse going away for long periods of time — vacations with his friends, touring with that band of his, etcetera — but this was hurting him. as he drove through the old town of stamford, eddie could feel himself panicking, his heart doing somersaults inside of his chest. he had watched chantelle go on to college, but that too had been different. he had had jesse in the house to bounce back on, no matter how troublesome he once was. there had always been someone in the house — and now it was only going to be him, all alone.