I Do Need You

Chapter 1_Light Green Eyes

Here we go again . The screaming . I don't get why my mom let's that creep come over . Especially when his drunk . Now I'm sitting here in the backyard , with a bruise across my cheek . Oh and it's fucking freezing .

She avoids any confrontation from me . We don't have the relationship I longed for , even when my dad died , she just closed off even more . Mom fell apart and it broke my heart seeing her struggle to pay the bills . But when her boyfriend , Steve , came along , being the savior that he is , taking my mom and I under his wing - more like suffocating us - she became completely dependent on him .

He is an abusive drunk . But she still allows him to spend nights . I think she is in love with him .

I love spending nights in the backyard , star gazing and escaping reality . But not under these circumstances . My cheek hurts but I'm not going back inside until she makes him leave . So I stand up from the cold ground and walk towards my telescope , situated right next to the fence separting our backyard from our neighbor's . The sky is clear and beautiful tonight .

I come out here almost every night and each time I do my little buddy , Smith , climbs over the fence and hangs out with me . His only 10 years old but pretty smart . He likes star gazing too .

As I look through my telescope , I hear the fence sway . "Hey Smith," I say as he runs up to me .

He wraps his arms around me . "Hey Alex , look , my mom got this for you," he hands me over this thick hardcover book , I'm surprised I didn't notice it as he ran up to me .

"Wow Smith , it's amazing . You didn't ask her to get this for me now ?"

"No , she just knows how much the three of us loves Astronomy."

"Three of us ?" I say uncomfortably as I begin paging through my newly favourite book .

"Yeah , you , me and Will," right Will . My ex best friend , who apparently hates me for some unknown reason . Unfortunately we share a passion and have almost all our classes together .

"Well when you head back later , tell your mom I say thanks," I look down at the book in my hands , I honestly appreciate the interest she shows . I wish my mom cared more .

"About that , I should probably head back now , Will..."

Smith is cut off by his back door swinging open , Will rushing through , with that permanent scowl on his face . Who stole his dinner ?

"Smith !" Will's voice booms through both backyards . He rushes over to the fence , leaning on it with his elbows .

Our eyes meet for a moment . His light green eyes never seize to captivate me . I hate the effect his presence will always have on me . The moment passes too soon as his focus moves from me to his younger brother .

"Mom says dinner is ready , you should go back in now," he demands .

"Yeah yeah , bye Alex," he gives me a tight squeeze then jumps back over the fence . He turns around , giving me a smile right before he reaches his back door and I wave him goodbye .

Smith is such a kind and bright young boy . He'll be stealing hearts when he gets older . His brother Will though , shit . William is still standing here .

I look over at him , his staring at me . I look down avoiding his gaze , immediately feeling self-conscious . I look at him again , his face is hard to read these days but I notice his eyes scan my face and his eyebrows furrow when he stares at a specific feature of mine . My cheek ! It's probably purple by now . I feel very uncomfortable and just as I notice his lips part to say something , I basically run to my back door and head inside without looking back . Shit , he noticed my bruised cheek . I hope he doesn't put much thought into it . Maybe I misinterpreted his stare , it is dark outside anyways .

I walk into the living room and notice Steve has left . Mom's probably upstairs sulking in her room . I always think about going up to her and comforting her but then again she wouldn't need it if she just left that creep . So I go straight up to the shower .

The hot water relaxes my tense muscles . I almost feel all my problems fade away . Almost . Light green eyes . I can't get the image of his eyes out of my mind . I haven't seen them in a while , at school we ignore one another blatantly . We were friends up to eighth grade but that all changed . Now I don't have many friends . One to be precise .

His name is Taylor and he happens to be a close friend of Will's . They are well known at school , I'm basically a nobody , which I have no problem with at all . Taylor being the badass player , whereas Will pays no attention to even the prettiest girl at school , whose honestly craving him . Will is different , he always has been before but even more so now that I feel I don't even know him anymore . That frustrates me , because I always knew him best , just like he did me . One thing that remained constant is that he never used to pay attention to girls , even when I tried being his 'wing man' . No his not gay . His just picky and we never had time for relationships because we had each other's friendship .

We were inseparable and we were best friends , I don't know how he just stopped caring . He hates me now . My head begins to throb as the water runs cold , literally . Time for bed .

A/N

Here we go ...