The Boy I Knew

Alcoholic White Trash Psycho

"Fuck!!"

I was startled awake from PJ yelling.

"What??" I asked urgently, sitting up in bed. PJ throws his phone on his night stand and rips the blankets off of him. He shoots up out of bed and grabs a white T-shirt and pants from the bedroom floor and quickly throws them on.
"What's going on??" You ask again.

"It's 12:30, I just woke up to 5 missed calls from Melanie. I'm supposed to have Madison over to her place by noon on Saturdays, I'm fucking late!" PJ rambles as he pulls his shoes on and runs out of the room. I get out of bed and quickly throw some sweat pants and a T-shirt on. I walk out of the room and PJ is already walking past me with a sleeping Madison in his arms. We both head downstairs. Jeff and Spike are passed out. Jeff on one side of the couch, Spike on the other. The kitchen table is littered with beer cans, the poker set left out on the table. You can tell everyone just up and left when we all called it a night, except Jeff and Spike who were trashed. I'm surprised Jeff made it to the couch to be honest. I walked over to the front door where PJ was grabbing his keys off the hook on the wall.

"I'll come with you, I don't have anything else to do." I say, slipping my Vans on.

We soon walk out the door and out to the car. I open up the back door for PJ and he sets Madison in the back seat. We get in and head to Melanie's house. PJ is freaking out.

"Shit, Melanie's gonna kill me." He says, shaking his head. I put my hand on his knee to try to calm him down. Yeah, I'm sure he's going to get an earful from her when he sees her.

"She can't get mad at you for being late one time." I try to ease his nerves. She's not a nice person to PJ. I'm sure she's going to raise hell.

"Well it's not exactly the first time I've been late bringing her back...." PJ admits.

"Oh shit...."

"Yeah I'm not necessarily the most punctual person....Especially when it comes to this. Like, it's super important that I'm on time, and I know that. It just sucks having to leave her, ya know? But then sometimes, I have some drinks with the fellas on a Friday night and don't exactly wake up on time the next morning....Like right now."

PJ's a good dad, there's no doubt about that. This is a hard thing to be going through. I put my hand on the back of his neck and rub it. He looks at me and I give him a comforting smile.

"It'll be alright. You're going through a lot." I reassure him. He reaches for his aviators from the visor and puts them on in an attempt to hide his emotions again.
"You should take that advice from your mom and not hide those handsome eyes of yours." I say, grabbing them and lifting them off. Tears are running down his face.
"Oh PJ...."

"Camille sweetheart, can I please have those back?" He asks, his voice cracking from pure heartache. I feel horrible, I was just trying to lighten the mood. I hand them back to him immediately. He wipes his eyes with the back of his hand and shoves the sunglasses back on his face. PJ's eyes are so beautiful, but when they're flooded in tears, it's heartbreaking down to your core.

"I'm so sorry...." I apologize, I feel so bad.

"It's alright, Mill."

The car ride is quiet the rest of the way to Melanie's. I know PJ isn't mad at me, he's stressed out right now. I just feel like an idiot. We soon pull up to a giant house with an iron fence around it, much like the one he has around his house now. PJ wasn't lying, this house actually does seem bigger and nicer than his new one. Melanie is lucky he was nice enough to let her have it.

"Welcome to my old house. Or should I say, Melanie's free 1.8 million dollar house." PJ says as we pull up. 1.8 MILLION DOLLARS!? HOLY FUCK. I sure wouldn't have let this house go, but PJ is a gentleman like that. It hurts my heart that she has taken advantage of this whole situation. PJ puts the car in park and takes a deep breath and lets it out with a sigh.
"Wish me luck."