The Roommate Agreement (Teen Fiction)

Chapter 35

Chapter 35
~Jaelyn's point of view~

Once Joey picked me up we headed to the dingy bar. The car Jesse took was parked right in front of the bar. My gut was turning. I felt sick to my stomach. I wasn't sure what to expect when I walked in there.

Joey made a mad dash for the entrance as I hesitated. I quickly pulled my thoughts together and went in. The bar was dark and grimy. I'm sure if the light would turn on you could see how dirty everything was. The bar smelled of sweat, alcohol and cigarettes. It was overpowering. I caught up to Joey as I scanned the bar for Jesse or his father.

The deeper we got into the bar the better we could hear yelling. At first it wasn't anything more than a mumble. We were getting closer to the back of the bar. Now it was distinct angry voices shouting at each other.

"There they are!" Joey pointed at them and headed over. I followed behind Joey.

I saw Jesse towering over his father. He was angrily standing over his father. His wasted dad was sitting in a booth slouched down gripping a glass of whiskey. Jesse was shouting at his father. Blaming him for his mother's death and her situation before.

"You ruined her! All she ever did was pick up after you! She didn't do anything to deserve you. I don't even know why she married you."

"You wouldn't be here right now if we weren't together. Besides she only married me to hide that she was pregnant with you. So really," His father slurred, "it's your fault." As he said this he stuck his finger in his whiskey glass and stirred the ice cubes around.

Pure anger was written over Jesse's face. I quickly went to him and put my arm on his shoulder, so he would know that I was there. He flinched at first and saw that it was me.

"Babe, calm down. He's not worth your time. You know that. Let's go home."

"No just leave- you and Mikey need I leave." How Jesse said that without any emotion gave me the chills.

"I understand you're upset, but please let's go before you do anything you'll regret."

Jesse clenched his jaw as he shrugged my hand off of his shoulder. "Leave."

"Jesse, let's go." Joey said with such sternness that it made Jesse lose his angry gaze at his sorry excuse for a father.

Jesse looked at his best friend and I saw his brokenness. He didn't know what he was doing and he wasn't sure what he was feeling. I felt terrible. I wasn't sure how to comfort him. I'm sure Joey wasn't even sure how to comfort him.

"He needs to understand that he should have died. Not her. He deserved her situation." Jesse's eyes were welling up with tears. His face was getting redder.

"People like that don't understand that. It's not worth your time. Let's go back to your apartment. Listen to Jaelyn. I know this is hard." Joey was so empathetic towards his best friend. You could hear the pain in his voice. You could tell Joey hated this just as much as I did. If not more.

Jesse looked at his father and then he looked back and Joey and I. He nodded, clearly feeling defeated. I reached my hand his and he grabbed it. I know that he wanted to hurt his father the way he hurt him more than anything, but I knew he wouldn't. He knew it would cause more problems than not doing anything.

We all walked out of the grimy bar in complete silence. Once we got to the cars, we said goodbye to Joey. It was short and I could tell Jesse was annoyed. We got into the car together in silence. Once we watched Joey drive off, Jesse finally spoke.

"Next time please don't follow me." He said as he started the car.

"I-we stopped you from doing something stupid. Something you'd regret. You know it would change nothing. So why do something that makes things worse? Sure it might make you feel good for a second, but babe you'll regret it." I started picking at my fingernails. I didn't know what to do with myself.

There was a small moment of silence as Jesse pulled out of the parking-lot. "Jae, I don't know. He's an ass. He deserves burning in hell. He doesn't deserve to be here. My mom deserves to be here."

"We don't have that choice to make."

"The first time I beat him up I should've somehow scared him out of town. I should've done something more."

"You're not making any sense."

Jesse didn't respond. He just kept driving. You could have cut the tension in the car with a knife. Once we got to the apartment, Jesse went straight to his room. He didn't say anything. He didn't even look at me. I gave him a few minutes to be alone before I went into his room. He was sitting on his bed with his head in his hands.

I sat down next to this broken boy and I hugged him. When he finally pulled away, I saw that his eyes were red and puffy. I knew that he'd been crying. I pulled his mouth to mine and I kissed him.

I could taste the saltiness of his tears. I could taste the alcohol that he probably forced himself to drink before he spoke to his father. I stopped kissing him. Jesse looked at me like something was wrong, but nothing was wrong. Well, I mean, Jesse was clearly upset.

"Thanks for-uh-being there for me." Jesse mumbled.

I grabbed his hand and held it. "I'll always be there for you. Don't forget that."

For what felt like forever we didn't say anything. Until, eventually, we both fell asleep in Jesse's bed. Jesse has only woken up a couple of times from his nightmares. I'd wake up with him and calm him down and he'd eventually fall back asleep. But after his last nightmare, I couldn't fall back asleep. I just couldn't stop thinking about everything that happened that led us to this point.

We've both come so far, but now it seemed like Jesse was taking steps back since his mother's death. That terrified me, but I knew I had to be there no matter what. I wanted to. I had to.

A/N
Hey long time no see!! Sorry I haven't updated in forever school has just been so busy. But it's ending soon so more updates will be coming pretty soon!!! Make sure to vote and comment. Hope you guys liked it :) love ya! And I appreciate the love this book is getting more than anything. So thank you!!