Midnight Smiles【COMPLETED】

Chapter 3: I'm broken... can I just stay among your broken things then?

While walking back home, Jake noticed that Jeremy had called him several times, the same thing was for his father, but since he always kept his phone on silent at best and on airplane mode at worst, he hadn't noticed anything.

Jake stared at the name "Dipshit" on his screen, the well-chosen name for his father, and he didn't know how to feel. Ever since his mother died, Mathew distanced himself from him and Aiden. All he did was work, work, and more work. They barely saw him for ten minutes at most every two or three days.

Jake knew that Mathew was trying to distract himself from pain with work, but this didn't make him any less angry with him. He didn't care if his father didn't want them to see him cry, he wanted him to stay by his side and cry together. He needed him the most back then, but what happened? In just a few days he lost both of his parents. One left this world, and the other behaved as if he had no relations with any of his sons.

This was the case for almost two years until a few months ago...

Usually when taking the drug, Jake wouldn't walk out of his room, no matter what. He would lock himself there and paint or write until he fell asleep. However, that particular day, while high, he had completely forgotten his mother's death and was convinced that she was waiting downstairs for him. While walking down the stairs, he bumped against Mathew who had just come back from work.

At first, Mathew thought his son was drunk. Given the fact that he was aware of Jake's depression, Mathew thought Jake was trying to drown his pain with alcohol, but Jake wasn't drunk. He didn't smell of alcohol nor did he behave like a drunk. Much to Matthew's surprise, Jake was indeed hammered.

For the first time since his wife died, Mathew felt something else that wasn't grief, pain, and sadness. And that was pure anger. He was so angry at his son, he wanted to beat the shit out of him and maybe sober him up during the process, but what reason did he have to do so? Wasn't all this his fault for neglecting him when he knew very well he had clinical depression and insomnia?

Realizing this, Mathew felt his heart breaking, but what almost broke him was when Jake shoved him away and almost incoherently spoke. "Mom is waiting for me."

That one sentence made Mathew fall apart.

Jake didn't think much of it back then, but when he woke up the next morning when his IQ came back online, he wanted to beat the shit out of himself.

However, ever since that day Mathew cut his working hours in half. He wouldn't go to work on weekdays, and he came back home almost at the same time Aiden came back from school every day. When he wasn't home, he would make Jeremy stay home with Jake, so he wouldn't be alone... as if Jeremy needed that old incompetent asshole to tell him that.

This sudden care from his father made Jake feel rather uncomfortable and awkward. He had grown numb to his constant ignoring, but now out of the blue, he cared about him.

Jake snorted and decided to call back only Jeremy. Even though it was almost one in the morning, his best friend picked up his phone.

"Kenny isn't Barbie's boyfriend. He's obviously gay!" Jeremy sleepily mumbled.

"They made him straight in the new series though," Jake said.

"They did?" Jeremy asked surprised.

"Mhmm."

There was silence for a second and Jake thought that maybe Jeremy went back to sleep, but what actually was going on was that Jeremy frowned and looked at the screen of his phone in confusion. "Jake, you idiot, why the fuck are we talking about Kenny being gay or not at one in the morning?"

Jake shrugged even though he knew Jeremy couldn't see him. "You started it."

"Whatever. Did you meet her?"