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The next day Joey and I woke up to thousands of tagged posts and tweets about people thinking we were together. Of course, they were technically all wrong. Though I wasn't looking for anything special, I didn't mind the thought of being with Joey at all.
Soon my door creaked open with Joey standing behind it. "Yeah?" I looked up. He shrugged and sat on the side of the bed "I assume you seen all the pictures and theories and crap." He said. I nodded "eh, we can easily clear it up if that's the case." I shrugged tossing my phone aside.
"I don't really wanna clear anything up." He said simply. I raised my eyebrow "why not ?" Joey grinned a little bit and spoke up "cause anything can happen."
I laughed and hovered over him "so what are you implying birlem ?" He smiled grimly "I'm implying that we could be a thing anytime possible. An official thing"
Not knowing what to say or think, I felt my cheeks flush red. Quickly, he pecked my lips and moved me aside. "I'll be in my room if you need me" he smiled. "Alright, I think I'm gonna go to the store" I say back.
He nodded and walked up as I grabbed the extra car Keys and went out. Only a day or two had passed of me being off of consecutive drugs which was hard already as it was. I threw up ever few minutes and I was constantly itchy. So Instead of going to the "store" I was going to re-up.
It'd been awhile since I'd been on my side of town and I had a strong doubt my mom or aunt would be around there after all these years. So I decided I'd get what I needed from that side of town.
It was a long way from where Joey and I stayed so I hoped I could make it without him being suspicious. When I arrived, the same drug dealer in the busted down apartments greeted me.
"Look at you, all grown up" he smiled grimly. I nodded "it's been awhile I guess." He shook his head "you think? You just disappeared one day. We all assumed you went to jail or something"
"Uh no, I got taken to rehab actually." I said. "I guess that didn't work out" he chuckled. I nodded and continued "I just need the strongest of what you've got." He nodded back and turned inside of his unit.
I waited around in the steps for awhile. It wasn't long before I seen a blonde haired woman walking up the steps. Of course at first I assumed she was going into one of the units, but as she got closer I realized it was someone I knew. My mother.
"Well well." She grinned. A million thoughts ran through my mind. I stood there dumbfounded frozen in shock with almost nothing to say. "Well I know I haven't mistaken you for some other drug addict, It's rude to ignore your mother."
I shook my head "mothers are usually there for their kids." I said stepping away from her. "Jesus chassity, I don't bite. I never asked to be a mother anyway. I just didn't have money for abortions at the time." She laughed. "So what, are you gonna tell her that you seen me? Are you gonna take me away or something?" I said, clutching my phone tightly.
"Well I have absolutely no interest in bringing you anywhere with me. You're already sore to my eyes and I can tell you're still as terrible as your father, but I suppose telling my sister you're over on this side of town wouldn't hurt."
"How'd you know I was here, are you following me?"
She laughed and shook her head "not everything is about you. I'm here for a job, chassity."
I shook my head "Chase, my name is Chase now." interrupting everything, the man came back out with what I wanted in exchange for money. Quickly, I pushed past my mother and got into the car wasting no time to leave. It was a lot to stomach but before I could do anything else Joey called.
"You good?" He asked into the phone. For awhile I didn't say anything until I again realized I was on the phone "y-yeah uh, I just got distracted." His tone was more confused than ever "distracted ?" "I'll explain when I get back, okay?"
"Yeah..alright." He said before hanging up. Once I got far enough out from where I'd just seen my mom, I made a small detour to a liquor store, and being that I was not 21 I gave the money to a stranger to pay for as many bottles of alcohol as they could.
Soon enough I got home and rushed inside, tucking my drugs away in my pants pocket. I ran into the kitchen to open a bottle of jack daniel and started to chug it down as fast as I could.
"Jesus Chase, take it easy." Joey trotted into the kitchen prying the bottle from my hand. "I thought you were going to the store, not alcohol shopping."
"I seen my mom at the store and I left Joey. She's still as terrible as she was all those years ago." I said fighting back tears. "Why what did she do what happened?" He asked. "She called me an eye sore for one, I just..." I couldn't continue, due to the tears that began to stream down my face. As much as I hated people seeing me cry, it was different with Joey.
It was moments like these when I remembered why I could never be with anyone. I had too many of my own problems, and I lied about all of them. Here I was crying about the fact that I saw her, but more about the fact that I knew my aunt could find me at any given moment now, and Joey knew nothing of it. I wanted to leave it that way. If something happened he wouldn't be left attached to me with so much of my baggage.
soon he pulled me away from his chest "let's go outside into the back, get some air" he said slowly. I nodded and he and I walked into the back while I wiped my eyes. He and I sat in the back yard, looking at all of the city lights. "Chase, maybe it's not a good time right now but..I want us to be official."
"Official..like boyfriend and girlfriend?" I repeated. "Yeah" he smiled. He was happy about it, but I wanted no attachment. There wouldn't be a reason to hurt him now so I nodded yes making him smile even more than before. "I love you." He pulled me into his chest. I just nodded and smiled, I couldn't say it back.
