You Know Me

2| 'Good' News

I sit my phone back down on the nightstand and look over myself thoroughly through my wall mirror. Running my hands over my wrinkled shirt, I give up with a sigh. This woman is all about appearance. Even coming to my home she will expect me to look my best. Instead of making myself feel down over the bitch, I rub some of the mascara from under my eyes and run my hands through my hair to get some of the frizz out.

"Ms. Stone! Good morning, I was just cooking some breakfast, would you like some?" Stella's voice chimes through the apartment, along with the sound of my mother's heels against the hardwood.

"Where's Josie?" my bitch of a mother asks, ignoring Stella's courteous invite.

I step out of my bedroom door and hurry down the hall before Stella makes a fool of herself. It's not hard to do with my mother around. As I'm finally in view of the living room, the smell of my mother's overly excessive amount of hairspray overlays the delicious smell of Stella's cooking. That and the presence of her brings a strong sting to the back of my throat. She always has that effect; she brings back the memories of before.

I rub the small brandmark on my bicep that I attempted to cover with ink before reaching the corridor. The black hole in my stomach that I had just seemed to overcome takes over, almost consuming me as I see her with her perfectly curled hair, pointed high heels, and a short dress that fits her bitchy demeanor perfectly.

"Josie! Darling, come here," she says, beckoning me with open arms.

I roll my eyes but oblige and slowly make my way over to the most hateful woman I know. Her perfume and hairspray invade my nostrils even worse as she pulls me in for a hug, almost making it hard for me to breathe. In mid-hug I look past my mother and see Nick, my first victim. I pull away fast and look at my mother with a scowl.

"Oh, honey, are you sick? You look awful," she insults me with a smile and runs her hands over my wrinkled shirt before feeling my head with the back of her hand.

"I'm fine, mother, I just woke up," I growl through my gritted teeth. "What is he doing here?"

"I came to visit you and Dorien," Nick answers for her as he looks down at his feet. The disappointment on his face is clear as he realizes that I'm not as happy to see him as he is me.

It's nothing against him really, but his attraction to me is just annoying. I cut ties with anyone that was around when my tragedy happened, I even tried to cut ties with my mother but you see how that's working out. Nick was there on the sidelines with my brother, watching me go from light to dark. I know he's come here to try and save me but I don't need saving. My brother has already tried enough for the both of them since our departure.

"My brother isn't here," I roll my eyes.

He knows that my brother isn't in town. Hell, everyone from my old town knows that my brother left for the army weeks ago. They all tuned in to his live-stream 'going away' party that I failed to attend.

"Oh, yeah. Forgot," he lies and takes a glimpse at Christian's face before looking away quickly.

"Well, Josie, it doesn't matter who he came out here to see, but if you really must know, we wanted to stop by and see how you were doing," she says as she too looks at Christian with concern and sits on the couch, leaving enough space to make it known that she doesn't want to be bothered.

"I'm Christian, Stella's boyfriend," Christian greets her as he sticks his hand out for her to shake.

She looks at his hand then at him and nods with a half-grin to hide her look of disgust. Christian quickly retreats his hand back and watches Stella as she shakes her head and continues to cook our eggs.