Positively Negative [Rewrite]

Mar28: You and Eye-Spy

[Apologies. This had been done for a while- but, a question, are there people still reading this? It doesn't seem as though there are, and I'm just  a little curious... The lack of response makes me quite forget to update >..<; Again, apologies. A large update to make up for it. ^^ <3]

Chapter Twelve: You and Eye-Spy

JOEY

“You’re leaving a little early, aren’t you?” Mum asked as she entered the kitchen. I was stuffing a slice of toast into my mouth and raising my glass of milk so that I could down it as soon as I’d swallowed the Nutella-covered slice. She was right; I was ready over thirty minutes before usual. I nodded my head and shrugged.

“Avoiding,” I muttered, releasing crumbs from my mouth as I did so. Mum laughed softly at that, regarding me. I’d told her about Courtney on Saturday night. Considering the fact that I usually walked with her to school, along with Ryan and Abby, I hoped that would be as far as I’d have to go into it.

It wasn’t, of course.

“Are you meeting Ryan instead?” Mum wanted to know. She stepped deeper into the room and wrapped her dressing gown around her waist. I watched it fall away, however, as she approached me, lifting her hands to adjust the way my hair fell. Pushing to the side strands that were beginning to distract my vision more often than not. Needed to cut it. Her eyes were tired, but there was some sort of light shining through.

“Not today,” I replied. I hadn’t let her into that part of Courtney’s story. Angry as I was with Ryan, I couldn’t jeopardise my mum’s relationship with him. In that moment, fuck, I almost couldn’t see for how uncomfortable and uncertain I felt.

It was hard to understand how my best friend had done that to me.

He’d texted me all through Saturday too, unaware –or uncaring, or both – that I was not replying—it was so like him. One of the things that ordinarily may have made me smile, but had only riled me more, then. His one sided conversations, while on one hand a little humorous, only seemed selfish and a sign of his clear indifference towards me. Sunday he’d only called me once, and though I still didn’t answer, he thankfully didn’t come over. I still didn’t know how I was going to react if I saw him.

When.

I fortunately didn’t have a lot of time to think on what had happened because the kid we’d had on Sunday had been a bit of hard work, simply because he wanted attention constantly. It was understandable for a ten year old to crave attention though, if they got none from their parents, from what Mum could see.  However, waking up in the morning had been a different thing. I honestly couldn’t have given a shit about what Courtney had done, but Ryan… His silence. He hadn’t shown a single sign of it. That was the worst thing. And the way Courtney had spoken about it before she eventually left, it sounded like it—they— had happened more than once.

Mum’s hands finally fell away from my hair. “I’m really very sorry, Joe,” she said. “Will you be alright? I thought you said you weren’t getting on in the relationship anyway?”

I downed my milk in one go and rubbed at the area around my lips, erasing evidence of the white stache left behind. “I wasn’t, I’m fine. Honestly. Now what happened?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, something has happened. You’ve been a little odd since yesterday.” I offered her a small smile to lessen the bite of my irritated tone. “And I really hope it isn’t just you feeling pity for me.”

“Of course not,” mum teased in reply. She sat after a moment and glanced towards the kitchen window.  When she turned back to me, she was smiling.  “Well. You know I’ve been training to be a foster carer.” I nodded my head, a beam of my own already splitting my face. “I got a call Saturday evening… We’re getting a kid in two days, Joey!”