Call Me Princess

Chapter 9

               

I had been awake this morning. I had woken up when I had heard the shower turn on. The pipe's shill shrieking was hard to miss, even in the deep state of sleep I was in. I had just stared at the wall while Gage had gone about his morning routine. I was at peace simply listening to him move around the apartment. It was like I had always been hear too witness what he did. Like I belonged here.

I was getting too comfortable here. I wanted to wake up to him every morning. It was comfortable. He was comfortable. Safe. And I was happy.

For the first time since my mother died, I was genuinely happy. People had always said I had handled her passing well. When I was at school, no one had even known she had passed until I finally confessed to a teacher who had caught me crying in one of the bathroom stalls.

"You're a strong boy, Luca." She had said to me.

The only reason she had even found me was because in my blinding tears, I hadn't been able to see properly and had run into the girl's bathroom by mistake. A student must have seen me and told Ms. April about it. I'm glad it was her and not some teacher I didn't know.

I had to explain why I had a breakdown in the bathroom and she gave me the choice of going home early and taking some time off but I knew I couldn't go back to my dad. I knew what he would do if he had found out I had told someone what had happened to my mom. So I simply put on my best smile and went about my day as if every moment wasn't killing me more and more.

I could hear the teachers whispering as I would walk down the halls. Eventually, the students had found out and started giving me a wide berth in the hallways. Like they would catch my sadness if they got too close.

Fake it until you make it. I did. Eventually, people started believing my fake smile and started treating me as they had before. Which, for me, wasn't any better. I almost wished for their pity back. It was ok to tease the gay boy but not when his mother had just died. No, that's just going too far.

I wanted to be angry at the people who treated me badly but I couldn't. I don't know why, but I couldn't. My momma had always said that there was a reason people acted the way they did. I lived by those words.

I had closed my eyes again at some point in my thoughts and was only pulled out of myself when I felt a warm callused, hand ruffling my hair. I held back a shiver.

After he had left, I sat there for another half hour before finally getting up and taking a shower. It was only luke warm but I didn't mind.

When I was finished, I made myself some cereal I had found in the pantry. I sat in the chair that sat catty corner to the TV. I turned it on and flipped through the channels until I found one of those stations that was always showing movies.

The Avengers was on and I smiled happily. Robert Downey Jr. was a guilty pleasure of mine. I think he was in my top three celebrity crushes. Which is kinda weird because I think he's like in his 50s.

I was on the scene where all Avengers were arguing when there was a knock at the door.

I jumped slightly and eyed the door warily. Should I answer? This wasn't my house. But what if it was important for Gage?

I stood and looked down at myself. I was in a pair of Gage's boxers that I had to pull up every time I moved and a long shirt. I suppose this would do.

I was too short to look through the peep hole to I opened the door a crack and peered out.

The man on the other side of the door was looking at the ground. When he finally lifted his gaze and saw that it was far from the person he would be speaking to, his brow furrowed. He looked at the apartment number that was on the door and then back at me.