Behind Closed Doors ✔️

45

I stand opposite him impatiently, waiting for an answer. Antony shrugs his shoulders, a small frown on his face. "Isn't it obvious?" He squints a little, and I choke back a chuckle, my tongue on the side of my inner cheek.

"Not really, no." I tell him, and he licks his bottom lip, pressing them together. I raise an eyebrow at him, and he scoffs, looking behind him for a few seconds.

"I don't shag people I don't care about, Moore." He snaps, and I blink at him, tilting my head to the side.

"Right." I nodded my head, suddenly feeling this coldness in my heart that I should have felt a long-ass time ago. I feel this sudden revelation that I shouldn't have opened the door for Antony that night. That night it all started. I should have just left him on the street. Tom was right, no one would have given a shit. "Well," I step forward and knock his shoulder with my fist. "Think of me when you're fucking your wife, mate." I wink at him before turning around and walking away.

I don't get very far before he's pushing me. "Fuck you, man!" He yells, and I don't even bother turning around to face him. I look up at the sky, feeling the rare sun shine down on my face. "I ain't gonna go anywhere near the dumb bitch, and I ain't gonna anywhere near you, either!" He shouts, and I take this as my cue to leave.

"Good." I spit.

"What the fuck is wrong with you, huh?" He snaps at me, and I slowly turn around. His eyes are wide in anger and he's staring at me like I killed his whole bloodline. "You're acting as if it's your life that's been completely fucking ruined! You need to chill and grow the fuck up, because this cold shit you're playing isn't gonna get you anywhere." He exclaims, and my eyebrows furrow.

I'm the one acting as if I don't care? I'm the one pushing people away from me when life gets too fucking difficult instead of getting help? That's rich... coming from him. "Maybe you should take your own advice, Antony." I say, quietly, and his eyes waver slightly. He looks me up and down, his lips twitching down as he takes a step towards me, and-

"Hey!" Both of our heads snapped to the side, where Fernanda stood at the top of the steps, her hands on her hips. "What the fuck is wrong with the two of you?" She glares at both of us. Antony glances at me. I look away. "I can hear you from my fucking room, guys! Can you both take a chill pill? If you're gonna fight, do it inside the flat." She points to their flat, but I shake my head, beginning to walk backwards.

"No, I need to get home." I say, turning around.

"Yeah, you said that four fucking hours ago." She calls after me, and I laugh loudly, showing her my middle finger as I walk down the hall of the floor of flats underneath there's, and down the steps once more. I don't turn around to look at him, and I don't acknowledge it when he and Fernanda start bickering. I lower my head, lifting my hood onto my head and beginning my long walk home.

-

Mum was in the living room when I got home. She embraced me in her arms, and I rested my chin on her shoulder as I hugged her, trying my best to plant a smile on my face. It was a little difficult. "I'm glad you're doing better, now." She says to me, rubbing my back. If only she knew the half of it. It felt like I was pushing my family away through all this drama, and it's consuming me. It's pushing me to the edge, and it's time I started to push back. The last thing Antony Barbosa will do is push me over the edge.

"Yeah, I am." I tell her, pulling away and smiling. Trying my best to smile. "I think I needed to... find a way to express my anger to him, and I did that. It feels good." I told her, and for once, it felt like the truth.

"That's good, honey." She smiles at me, her cheeks rosy. The smile brightened up her face. "It's what you needed, you know?" She scrunches her nose, twisting a strand of my hair around her finger. "You needed to let go of all that anger and focus on the future. It's the last term of college, and I want you to do absolutely everything you can to get into University. Whichever one you can. Don't worry about the money." She tells me, ruffling my hair, and I nod my head at her, pulling my mother in for another hug.