black winged angels // pj

eleven

aftermath
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don't look back

So , yea we rose. 

We rose from the goddamn depths of hell to the top of the highest point in high land. 

The bottom might not have been literal hell, but it sure as fuck felt like it.

Everywhere we looked, it was piles of pills. Nobody laughed, but that was only because Percy had a look that clearly said 'don't touch me'. 

He was still on the football team at the beginning, but he dropped out later on since nobody would catch his throws. Something about them having a bomb in them, or some other dumb rumor. 

Anyways, all we had was each other by this point. Someone does something you wouldn't think they would, and all of a sudden you can't even acknowledge them anymore. It wasn't all that bad, sleeping under the stars in a rocky part of the beach, blowing dandelions into each other's faces and ranting to each other about our problems about the same people. 

It was a month after that, the beginning of June. We were both seventeen, so we made a decision. 

We left. 

Bristol, the whole fucking region around it, every part of Bristol that I could get rid of.  I didn't miss any part of it, the tiny streets or the fact our high school wasn't even in the village. 

We had plans for anywhere big but not too big. We had saved up as much money as we could. I told Dad I was leaving, and asked if I could have any money. He gave me a couple of hundreds, claiming the rest was for the boys iPhone sevens coming in soon. I didn't really give two fucks about them, so I grabbed my clothing, a phone charger, a couple of other miscellaneous things and waited in Percy's half-broken car. 

It took Percy a bit longer, his parents and little brother crying and giving him a plethora of hugs. He told them he got a football offer, and that he was taking it. The story went that the offer wasn't prepaid, so Percy got a lot more money than me. Everything was fine.

It was a four day trip from Bristol to Sacramento. We left Bristol, heading east. We then left Wisconsin and got into Minnesota, sharing pepperettes and Twinkies by this point. I had convinced Percy to save our money. 

We drove and drove, past sunsets of purple and red, and sunrises of orange and yellow. We drove up mountains and through plains. We drove through historic sights and thick thick forests. We past hotels and resorts and we had to stop playing 'spot the advertisement' after losing count after 1894. We busted one of the headlights, got pooped on by too many birds,  and got one flat tire. 

We had to change up the DJ at one point, halfway through South Dakota. Percy had been playing some of his music hooked up to the speakers of the car, but it was all either horribly sad, or heavy metal. He said he had other music it just wasn't playing when he hit shuffle, so I imitated him until he finally became quiet and let me plug my music in. Although half of it was still probably old Fall Out Boy, Radiohead and Florence in the Machine, it was surprisingly good road trip music.

It was the very end of the second day when Percy and I decided we deserved an actual meal. We had been living off of pepperettes and Twinkies for only a day. Percy vomiting on the side of the highway was enough for me to let us buy meals, even if the meals were from various fast food chains. 

It was in Dakota. It was Percy's idea, but I didn't think it was a bad idea. He decided to go into a fancy restaurant, but the goofy grin on his face made me think otherwise. In the end, he led me into an Olive Garden. 

He kept his goofy grin most of the night. "M'lady," he said to me, the most innocent look anyone had ever given me.

He was wearing his old football track pants, P.J. still monogrammed on the butt. I liked to tease him by saying many times, 'Percy! You have pajamas on!'. He would always give a weird look to his butt and then punch me, so I thought it was pretty funny. We hadn't stopped anywhere or had a shower, and we had been sleeping in the car. His face was oily and sweaty, his hair messier than I thought any hair could be.

 I was wearing these newer leggings, with only three holes in them; and a new t shirt that I stole from Percy. It was just a burgundy red, but I loved it. He raised an eyebrow at me when I first put it on, and I raised an eyebrow back at him. I asked him if he would rather I go without a shirt, and when he said yes I just punched him. Seems a pattern, punching each other when we lose arguments. 

We lay tangled together that night, spoiling ourselves and actually renting a motel room. 

His fingers were gliding through my hair. I had my eyes closed, focusing on our synced breathing.

He stopped for a second, looking at me. "Do you think we should have gone?" 

I sat up for a second, readjusting. "Of course, you want to be stuck in that tiny town for any longer?"

He looked back up at me, brows furrowed. "Yea, that's true." He rolled over and shuffled himself back down.

About 20 minutes later when I thought he was asleep, he turned back around. "I don't know though," He said, stumbling over his words. "Like, do you not miss the creek running near Bristol? Or the diner or paddock lake? Or taking Salem Road to get to the only McDonald's? Or the old Joke Magic shop? .... None of that?"

I looked at him for a second. "Well do you want me to pick up all of our hard work and just fucking leave?" I snapped.

He didn't talk to me for the rest of the night. I didn't blame him.