To Be Alone With You

3. sober

CHAPTER THREE

SOBER

—

Kaspian's grandmother was home, and he definitely wasn't having a good time.

First, Zahra came over to his house, because she had apparently left her earphones at his house the last time she visited.

That resulted in his grandmother looking at her in distaste, and Kaspian could practically hear the racist thoughts going through her head.

Second, she kept asking him if he had finally found a girlfriend, and if he had stopped his temptations from guiding him.

Kaspian wanted to clock her in the throat.

Third, she criticised everything his mother did, from her cooking to her parenting. That made Kaspian's blood boil more than anything else.

"Abuela, please. Mom's rice tastes just fine, can we just eat?" Kaspian groaned, a slightly sharp tone to his voice.

"Valeria, please tell your son to stop behaving like this," she said, tutting to herself.

"Mamá, he's perfectly well behaved. I don't have to scold my child to get him to behave," his mom replied, shooting Kaspian a look that said 'Don't piss her off.'

They ate their food in silence, the only sound was the scraping of cutlery against the plates. Kaspian felt like there was a cloth tied around his throat, preventing him from breathing.

"So, Kaspian. How are your studies going?" His grandmother questioned, looking him dead in the eye.

"They're going good, Abuela," he replied, eating faster in order to avoid speaking as much.

"And I hope you have stopped your running? That was a waste of time, especially at your age. You shouldn't be focusing so much on activites that will not matter in a few years," she chided. Kaspian was completely against violence, but he desperately wanted to punch something. Preferably someone.

"He hasn't stopped it, and he doesn't have to, Mamá. He's managing both, so let him do both," his mom defended.

Kaspian let out an exasperated sigh, one that didn't go unnoticed by his grandmother.

"What was that for?"

She is the most unreasonable person I've ever met in my life.

"Mamá, stop it. He didn't do anything—" his mother began, before she was cut off.

"No, Valeria! He's been so disrespectful from the time his father left. And now he's just gotten so much worse, after—"

Kaspian abruptly stood up, chair dragging against the floor. "I'm not hungry," he stated, putting the remaining food in a container and washing his plate.

"How can you let him speak to you like this? If I were you, I wouldn't tolerate this. He needs to get help," his grandmother scorned, plate of food long forgotten.

She's not wrong about that.

"Can I stay the night at North's place? I'll go to school from there," Kaspian said to his mom, moving up the stairs to grab his car keys and bag from his room. Staying over at someone's place on a weekday never really worked out, considering Kaspian had to pack his running shoes, extra clothes and everything else. But he was desperate.

His mother was too upset to do anything but nod, and Kaspian took that as his note to head out.

Entering his car, he sent out a message to his friends.