Dear: Who Now?!

Chapter 21

I'm scared out of my movie watching trance as Mom and Joey come back into the room complaining. "Geez dad! Do you HAVE to have the tv so loud?!" Joey asks with an annoyed look on his face. "Yeah. We thought someone was being murdered in here." Mom chimes in exasperated. I look over to Lou and can't hear what he's saying but it looks like he's mocking them which makes me laugh. When he hears me laugh, he laughs too and soon we're both laughing. 

Mom and Joey look over at us like we're nuts, which just makes me laugh harder. Lou seems to sober up and grumbles something before grabbing the remote and turning the tv down slightly - not that it really makes a difference and we go back to our movie. I vaguely hear mom say "Omygod! I LOVE the Halloween Franchise!" Joey seems disgusted. "Really? They're shit!" He replies back to her which causes them to have a mini fight about the movie and somebody named Logan Paul, which starts another fight. Annoyed - at seemingly the same time, Lou and I both tell them to shut up! Which they do rather quickly. Submerged back in silence, we give our full attention to the movie.   

Time seems to have zoomed past! We watched all the movies. And I think we had dinner at some point but I don't remember. Yawning, I get up and stretch, then walk past Lou, past the tv and the couch mom and Joey are sitting on and into the bathroom that mom randomly pointed out to me. I look around the very small and slanted bathroom while I relieve myself. It smells like stink and it's a mess! You can tell men live here. There's a built in wall shelf to my right that's full of magazines, pens, bits of toilet paper and lose change. I roll my eyes at is as I finish up and take two small steps to the sink to wash my hands when I realize there's no towels to dry my hands on. Rolling my eyes, I wipe my hands on my pants and exit the bathroom.

Re-entering the living room, I see Joey has his hand on mom's right leg near her knee and she has both of her arms wrapped around his forearm and her head resting on his bicep with her eyes closed. It almost looks like she's smelling his hoodie or something. He's looking straight ahead at the tv. Shaking my head slightly, I make my way over to Lou who's playing some game on his phone and starts yelling at it when he dies which makes me laugh.

Eleven rolls around and everyone's tired. Mom and Joey get up. Mom comes over to me. "Joey and his father have been nice enough to let us stay the night so we don't have to go sleep in that nasty motel down the street." Mom says making a disgusted face before continuing. "Since there isn't a lot of room, You can have this couch -" She points to the one her and Joey were just sitting on. "-And we're gonna go into his room where I'll probably sleep on the floor." She says in all seriousness, letting out a little laugh. I nod my head and get up to move to the other couch. "Joey says he has a pillow you can use and a blanket if you want it but I doubt you will since it gets so hot up here." I don't say anything but nod my head. She nods back and leaves with Joey to get the things and bring them to me where I set them up as I please. "Here -" She holds out a light blanket. "It's not the heavy one Joey was gonna give you but it is something if you get cold." I nod my head again and she kissed my head and hugs me for a quick second. "I know this isn't ideal for you and I'm sorry; but at least it's something." She pauses and looks away before turning back to me. "Consider it a sleepover adventure!" She says laughing. She hugs me again and kisses my cheek. "I love you! I'm not sure if Lou sleeps with the tv on or off but if it gets too loud for you, you can turn it down - he's already out." She says looking over at him. I follow her gaze and see he is indeed asleep; sitting up, with his head bowed in his chest and his phone still in his hands. Letting out a quiet sigh, mom gets up and heads back to where I assume she's staying with Joey. "Goodnight." She says quietly before disappearing. I fix my pillow once more, unfold my blanket and run to the bathroom once more before I go to sleep. Once I return, I lay down and just about scream. A cat and the dog have taken my spot. Sighing, I pick the much heavier than expected cat up and out of the way and make some room around the dog before passing out in record time with the tv flashing quietly across my face and Lou's quiet snores fill the room and mix with the animal's.