Anger Issues

seventy eight

Austin (I ran out of prewritten chapters I'm in a pickle 🙁)

"What is it?" I asked. Before she was able to play the song, the both of us heard voices arguing upstairs.

She paused, and I assumed she was trying to listen in on it, but from down here, all we heard were the loud voices. We couldn't make our any of the words.

Just as I was about to speak, she glanced at me with a.. broken expression, before getting up.

"One second," she said, jogging up the stairs.

Within that second, I heard the basement door shut, and her jog back downstairs.

"Jess," I softly said. She ignored me, coming back to the laptop. "Ready?" She asked. Going with it, I nodded.

Where Are Ü Now started playing, which was probably one of my favorites. Our choreographer was magical with Justin Bieber songs.

I knew this song would've hurt me to do, but I powered through it. It wasn't the best, but I managed, and did it successfully.

"That's the one," I panted, as Jess stopped the music. She nodded, as we both grabbed our water bottles.

"Good, that's the choice. No more, please," I dramatically pleaded. "We won't, that's it," she smiled, wrapping her arms around me.

"Okay, we have the song and dance, now we need to get a group together, and teach them within the next week," she said. "We'll start that tomorrow," I said, glancing at the time.

"I have to get home," I said, groaning as I stood up. "Wait, it's still raining I'll drive you," she said.

I wouldn't have accepted her offer, but knowing that we barely spent time together made me go for it.

"Thank you," I said, kissing the side of her head.

I only then realized that the arguments upstairs had stopped. It still bothered me that Jess didn't say anything about it, though.

"You're done downstairs?" Mr. Reign asked Jess. "Yeah, I'm gonna drop off Austin," she quickly said.

Mr. Reign was in the backroom, so the conversation consisted of them almost yelling. Just as Jess finished speaking, she motioned with her hand for me to go, fast, mouthing "go."

Quickly slinging my bag over my shoulder, we stepped outside and quickly ran to her car, getting wet, but not much.

"Thank God we figured that out today," she mentioned, slowly driving off. "I know," I agreed. "Are you still in pain?" She asked.

"Babe," I sighed. "Be honest," she glanced at me. "No, I'm not," I said. She looked at me, unconvinced. "Okay, a little bit," I admit.

"Why didn't you tell me it was that bad?" She softly asked. "What did you want me to say?" I turned to her.

I took a second, and quickly calmed myself down.

"Anything," she said. Her voice was soft, and quiet. "I don't like when you worry, babe," I explained. "Well, you don't have to worry about that, because I've already been doing a lot of it lately," she said.

"Why? About what?" I asked. Looking forward, I realized we were on the block of my house. "Keep going, and turn," I quickly said.

"Wh-" "Because I wanna talk to you," I said. As I looked at her, I saw a soft smile appear on her lips.

She made the turn, driving down another block. "Pull over there," I said.

She did so, quickly parking before turning to me. Unbuckling my seatbelt, I turned to her and gave her my full attention.

"Why are you worrying?" I asked. "Can you tell me something you're dealing with, first?" She asked. I sighed, thinking.

"There's deadass nothing. I haven't done anything since I got grounded," I shrugged. "You go," I quickly followed up.

She sighed. "I don't know," she said. "I just feel like I'm ten times more stressed about every little thing," she explained.

"Am I stressing you out?" I asked. "Yes, all the time," she sarcastically said, leaning her head back as she looked at me.

"Tell me the truth," I said, seriously. "Not directly," she looked at her hands, playing with her fingers. "What does that mean?" I asked.

"I stress about the shit I get you into," she explained. "You don't get me into-" "Babe, I'm literally the reason you've gotten into all your fights," she bursted.

"That's not true," I shook my head. "What fight have you gotten into that didn't happen because of me?" She asked.

I paused to think, but it took long enough for me to know I took too long to answer.

"Exac-" "The beginning of the year," I cut her off. She looked at me questionably. "I got into a fight with Marlo in the beginning of the year, because he was being a dick to me," I explained. "That's one," she said.

"What does it matter? I only do it to-" I cut myself off. "You know what you were gonna say," she said.

I only do it to help you, is what I would've said.

"I-" I sighed. "See?" She questioned, reaching for the gears. I put my hand over hers and stopped her, wanting to talk more.

"How is school stressing you out?" I asked. "Detention, the assembly, people.. shitty people, to be exact," she said.

I paused, knowing she had every right to be stressed about that.

"Kyle?" I asked. "I feel like he lowkey thinks the whole Kayla thing is my fault, too," she admit. "I'll tell you now that he doesn't," I assured her.

She shook her head, not taking her eyes off of me.

"What... what else is happening with your parents?" I hesitantly asked. She shook her head, looking out the front window.

"Nothing," she said quietly.

Lies.

"Babe," I sighed. She ignored me and put the car in drive again, making her way to my house.

She didn't look at me when she said that, and she spoke quietly. That was her method of lying.

The short ride ended as she pulled up in front of my house, stopping the car.

"I love you," I softly said, slowly kissing her lips. She responded quietly, softly looking into my eyes. "I love you, too, babe."