Honey (2018)

•Chapter Four

Craig

Craig walks to the front steps of his house and opens the front door. Once he does he feels a draft of warm air touch his face and he smiles at the satisfaction of the warmness.

He walks in and closes the door behind him. He can hear the water from the kitchen sink, he tries to walk upstairs unnoticed but his dad heard him and calls to him from the kitchen.

"Craig?" He yells out in his deep voice.

"Yes?" Craig responds sighing and setting his backpack down at the bottom of the stairs.

"Come into the kitchen, son," Thomas says in a worried tone.

Craig trudges into the kitchen and stands at the doorway, his mom is washing dishes and his dad is sitting at the table holding a newspaper. Craig raises an eyebrow as if he was asking what his dad needed. Thomas put down the newspaper and patted on a seat beside him on the end of the table.

Craig walked over reluctantly and plopped down on the chair.

Thomas didn't even bother to ask Craig why he was an hour late, he just sat in his chair and leaned on one elbow that was resting in the table.

"Where's Ruby?" he asked in a concerned tone. "She's been away from home for two days already and even though she said she was over at a friends house, two days seems like a while."

Craig raised an eyebrow and felt nervous, but didn't show it. He promised Ruby that he'd cover for her when she went to visit Karen.

About a month after they'd started dating, Karen's parents told her she'd be moving away with relatives one state over for two years. They never explained why, which is what Ruby thought was complete and utter bullshit. She couldn't stay away from Karen for that long, she could Skype her but she didn't think that was enough. So Ruby packed her stuff and planned her trip to meet Karen and stay with her and her family for about 5 days.

"Ruby is only over at her friend's house, it's not like she ran away from home, or isn't being supervised by an adult." He leans back in his chair with his arms crossed and waits for his dad to dismiss him.

"Two days is an awfully long time to be away at a friends house, Craig." His mom spoke up from the other side of the room, drying off her hands on her dress.

Craig sighs and looks over to her. "Mom, she said she'd be at...Sarah Peterson's house for 5 days because of a really important class project..remember?" Craig looks at her like he's expecting her to know, but he knows she doesn't.

She looks back at Craig confused for a moment but then just pretends to remember and says, "Oh! That's right! Must've slipped my mind." She laughs nervously and walks over to a cupboard, rummaging around a bit before pulling out a Kraft Dinner box and looking back at Craig and Thomas questioningly.

"Mac and Cheese?" She asks.

Craig just laughs a bit and asks to go up to his room. His parents excuse him and he jogs down the hall, picks up his backpack, and sprints up the stairs stumbling on the last step.

When he gets into his room he plops himself down in the chair in front of his desk and pulls out his phone.

Tweek: Hey Craig! text me when you get home

Tweek: I need to talk asap

Tweek: Skype?

Craig smiles to himself and walks over to his bedroom door kicking it closed with his foot and walking back to his desk, opening his laptop. He opens Skype and hovers the cursor over the call button before the loud ringtone fills the room.