When The Rain Stops (BXB)

Chapter 3

Rory's grounded. Which doesn't mean that much to someone who's almost eighteen, except he's lost his phone and all use of technology for the next month, including the TV.

It isn't a super big surprise to me. The asshole had it coming.

Mr. Harwood changes the gauze on my arms and back. I'm halfway between being a mummy and a burn victim. Which I kinda am. So I'm glad Mr. Harwood knows his shit about first-degree burns, which I apparently have. I don't have to go to the hospital or anything. And being bandaged up makes me feel like I just got out from fighting, so I look badass. Every part of me hurts, but I look badass.

When we decide, after two days of being cooped up in the Cottage, to go see a movie at the Heritage Theatre, I'm kinda excited. Mom lets me get a slushie. Blueberry. Because I think I've been scarred for life with the thought of something cherry-flavored coming near me.

Finding Nemo is playing. So is Star Trek and My Big Fat Greek Wedding. There's a fourth theater in the building, but we're not allowed in it.

Mom, Mr. Harwood, and I go for Star Trek. Rory, Dad, and Mrs. Harwood split for true punishment – My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

And it isn't as good as I remember it, so I hang out in the lobby for the last twenty minutes. Mom wants to come with me, but I tell her that I'll be okay, to enjoy the last bit of the movie.

"Jackson?" I turn and Ken's glaring at me with a couple people around him. When I look at him, he grins and walks towards me. "Jack, welcome back, bro." I head over towards him. I'm about to give him a good hug when Ken grabs my arms. "Woah. Dude."

I pull away. "Rory."

His eyes widen. "That's psychotic."

"Though the burns might've been my fault."

"Bruh."

I look at him. "So...back for the summer?"

He shrugs and grins. "Yeah. It sucks." Ken walks towards the lobby, his friends already ahead of him. "I got a job as the ticket dude, so if you need any hookups for..." He looks up. "...Magic Mike or Transformers, I'm your guy." Ken winks at me.

"Those're the movies?"

He nods. "Yeah. They're pretty bad." He snakes his arm around my neck, and I wince. "Sorry, sorry."

Ken's at college now, but he comes back because New York's too expensive to live in. Three years ago I got locked out of the Cottage by the asshole, so I walked back to town and he helped me break in the door. Granted, Rory had reason for locking me out. I did break his nose.

But since then, Ken's been the saving grace of summer. A break from my family and Rory's. And he's on the soccer team at school, so he tells me what I should be doing to get a scholarship.

Ken introduces me to his friends, who've come to see Finding Nemo. They leave after a few minutes, but he stays. "What'd he do this time?" Ken asks.

I look and him, my blueberry slushie almost gone. "He put juice powder in the showerhead. I thought I was dripping in blood." I look down. I still don't feel clean, but I haven't been allowed to shower alone after that.

He leans back and scratches his head. "Who started it?"

"He did," I say. "He put plastic bugs in my bed."

"Oof." His neck tenses. "How'd your parents take it?"

"The usual. Mom asked what I did." I look at the gauze on my arm. "But this seems like the thing where Rory's shit isn't gonna be put up with anymore."