Only a few minutes later, Ace, Caleb, and Jodee were back in the car in their original seats. Caleb at the wheel, Ace in the passenger seat, and Jodee behind Caleb in her car seat. This surprised Cal as previously, his friend would always be the one to drive — even if it was Caleb's car. But he guessed that Ace just needed some time to compress or some shit like that. Cal wasn't exactly sure what to think right now.
"What're we doing, Ace?" Caleb hissed to his friend.
"Driving." Ace responded in a neutral and more or less 'duh' tone, picking at a part of the door.
"C'mon, are we gonna go back to your place or..." The other boy continued to hiss, taking his eyes off of the road to look at Ace.
"We're just driving around for a little bit, calm down." Ace sighed.
Caleb nodded his head, telling himself inside of his head that he was fine with that and everything would be okay. He was a chill guy — he always was and always will be — he went with the flow and just kinda did what everyone else did or wanted to do. There were very few things Caleb really cared enough about to make a fuss or push his views on other people. He didn't care about much either — didn't mind what made people different. None of it.
But for some reason, when it came to the two Chambers siblings and everything revolving around in the past couple months that he's really been like the third sibling to them — he started to care a lot more. He knew this was a good thing as he finally felt as though he belonged and therefore he could be completely himself and really share his opinion.
Furthermore, seeing Jodee and Ace in their most vulnerable position — with their abusive father — made Caleb even more attached to them. It was like shared trauma or some dumb shit like that, Cal couldn't explain it but he really didn't care to explain it at the same time. The end result was that they were in it together for the long haul and forever. Which meant that he wasn't going to stay silent anymore.
"... and then what?" Caleb couldn't keep himself from blurting out.
Ace rolled his eyes, but reminded himself that it's just Caleb's ADHD and Cal couldn't help it. "Then we'll go home."
"To your home?" Caleb asked.
"Yeah." Ace responded rudely.
"You sure, A? I don't want to over step, but..." He left a little bit of space for Ace to interject. "It isn't exactly safe, your dad's still there — probably."
"Tobias will be passed out." Ace responded simply.
"How can you be sure of that?"
"I just am."
"But how?"
"Look, Caleb, I just am, alright? I've been living with that fucker for 16 years of my life — I know him." Ace raised, his voice a little raised.
Ace looked back at the little girl sound asleep in the back of the carseat, his chest slowly easing back to normal as he watched her calm form.
"She's asleep." Caleb murmured softly.
"That was the plan." Ace muttered, taking out a cigarette and rolling down his window at the same time. It had been a long day.
"You guys can stay at my place, ya know? I don't know if my Mom's home but if she is I can make sure she doesn't bother us if you want?" Caleb offered.
"Naw." Ace decided. "Jodee needs to sleep in her own bed with her own routine."
"She needs to sleep in a home that her violent father isn't in."
YOU ARE READING
Lost
Teen Fiction+++ This is a PREQUEL. It is not necessary that you read the original story "Jodee" first, but highly recommended+++ 5-year-old Jodee Chambers does not have a perfect life. Her parents aren't together, she doesn't live in a while picket fence neig...
