In the shadows, under the bleachers

Chapter 13

He opened the door to his apartment and I headed straight for the guest room setting my bag next to the bed. A loud thud echoed through the room.

"You hungry?" Will shouted from the kitchen.

"No," I shouted back as I fell face first on the bed, "Like a cloud," I mumbled, against the pillows that were on the bed. Really the bed felt like a cloud.

"A cloud?" Will asked, leaning against the door frame. He looked at me with an expression I could only describe as adoration.

I nodded against the pillows, suddenly feeling sleepy, "Yeah a cloud." My eyes fluttered as I snuggled against the pillows.

Will chuckled, "Get some rest." The last thing I saw was him smiling before he closed the door behind him.

—

The next morning I woke up feeling groggy with hands wrapped around my waist and a head in the crook of my neck, which confused me. Next to me, was Will who was peacefully sleeping, without a care in the world as he hugged my waist tighter. I didn't turn around for two obvious reasons. One: if I turned around I would practically be kissing him, and I'd rather do that when he's awake. Two: I couldn't even if I wanted to.

I felt Will pull me closer to him as he stirred. What am I? A teddy bear?

"Great," I muttered under my breath. "Now I have to wait until he wakes up." Which I didn't think would be any time soon. "Guess I'm playing teddy bear." I sighed and tried my best to reach over to grab my phone off the nightstand. After a few failed attempts I finally managed to grab it. I opened it and immediately saw over ninety-nine text messages, surprisingly they were all from my mom.

I skimmed over the majority of them, only reading the most recent ones. They went from sweet to angry and threatening.

Mom: Fuck this, where the fuck are you Aiden? Don't make me call the cops

Mom: That's it, either you come home right now or I'll

I noticed a new message pop up.

Mom: Where the hell did he leave you???

I went to Mark's contact.

Me: Why the hell is mom threatening to call the cops if I don't come home?

The reply came immediately

Mark: It's nothing, she's just drunk. Are you still at Will's?

Will stirred some more as I typed my reply.

Me: Yes, how would you know she's drunk? Are you meeting up with her? Is that why she's still in town?

No reply, he even left me on read so that gave me my answer.

"What's wrong?" I heard Will suddenly ask in a deep voice, who instead of letting me go pulled me into his lap. I let out a small shocked gasp.

"I seriously am you teddy bear aren't I?"

He smiled, seeming to like the thought, "I like the sound of that. But back to my question. What's wrong?" He sat the both of us up.

"Nothing just some drama with Mom and Mark, and know I'm caught in the middle. " I sighed exasperated. I'm caught in the middle of something that I know nothing about.

He nodded in understanding, and we just stared at each other. Suddenly we heard loud banging on the door.

"Stay here." Will muttered, I took that as my cue to crawl out of his lap. As soon as he opened the door I heard a woman start yelling before the it slammed shut, I was all alone. Around thirty minutes I heard the door open again and Will walked into the room looking annoyed.

"What's wrong?"

"It's nothing, just some lady who had the wrong house." He smiled nervously and looked away. He was hiding something. I also noticed three large scratches that went from his ear down to the side of his jaw. "You should've seen her all mad about her husband cheating on her." He laughed.

"What the fuck happened?" I went to touch the scratches but he turned away."Are you hiding something from me?"

He chuckled and shook his head, "No I'm not."

"Yes you are." I insisted.

"I'm not, really."

"Will, what is it?"

He sighed, "I'm not supposed to tell you." He muttered.

"Not supposed to tell me what?"

"Why you're here to begin with."

I looked at him, "And that is?" I asked, a pounding in the back of my head started.

"So few months ago Mark had gotten in contact with your Mom because she had been making false claims about things-"

"False claims about what?" I asked. What the fuck am I getting myself into?

"About Mark laying his hands on you. Anyway she didn't like his confrontation so she ended up coming back to town a few days before your birthday." He paused, "She never was supposed to leave, not this time at least. She lied to you. She thinks that a judge will side with her-"

"So why exactly am I here right now." I interrupted.

"Because Friday the police had to get involved, he didn't want you around that."

"Do you know why they were called?" I shouldn't be asking Will for answers. I should be asking Mark.

"Apparently your Mom had gotten drunk and started causing a scene, they were talking over dinner. So she went to the cops sobbing about everything Mark supposedly did to you and her. Luckily they believed Mark and arrested her. A few minutes after the whole ordeal Mark called me and that's why you're here now." He rubbed the back of his neck.

"What else are you not telling me?"

"That women, your Mom was release on bail this morning and came here asking for you. I had to force her away from the door before she did something. I don't even know how she found my address. But anyway that's just scratches the surface of this whole situation."

"So there's more?" I asked, why is there so much?

He nodded, "Yeah."

So I had questions. One: Why is she making these claims. Two: Why didn't Mark just tell me? I had more but I couldn't even form the right ones. Oh yeah I also came to a realization. My mom's a psycho, who wants to ruin her children's lives. But for what? I have no clue.

"Are you going to do something about.-" I motioned to his face. "That."

He cocked his head to the side, "Why? They're not that deep. All I need to do is clean them up and put a band-aid on it." He shrugged.

My god, today has been a roller coaster and it's not even ten in the morning yet.