When The Rain Stops (BXB)

Chapter 7

I take a shower after turning off the stove. I'm not putting away hot soup. Also because Rory touched me.

And I don't lose my head.

I just scrub myself into oblivion.

But for most of the night, it was just me and the rain outside. I clean up the vomit which, thankfully, doesn't stain or smell like vomit. And with the kitchen gloves, I don't have to fucking touch it. So I Febreeze the shit out of the living room until it smells like cookies in the oven. It's sickening, so I open a window.

Rory's passed out with my blanket. So I grab some books from my room and read them downstairs. I make a sandwich and watched some TV before the signal dropped.

Then it was just me and the rain again until our parents get home.

Their excuse was a downed tree on the road that backed up for a couple miles. Which I'd totally believe if they weren't just in town. And unless they decided to take the long way back, I'm thinking they were having "adult time" at the restaurant that isn't D'Agostinos.

I'm thinking of trying to get Rory's journal before Julia begins calling. "What?"

"Heeeeeeeeeeeey, Jay," she slurs. I can hear a Pitbull song in the background. I can't hear the words. Just the bass. "Whazzaaaaaaaap, baby?"

I inhale, except the air smells like wet. "What?"

"I wanna get back together."

I roll my eyes. "What, Harper's dick isn't enough for you?" How big is he? Stray thought. Not gay.

She snorts. "Jay, you're sooooooo funny."

I'm just getting more pissed off. "What do you want, Julia?"

"Call me Juls, babes."

"I'll eat wet cement first."

She gasps. "That's not nice, Jack," she says. I can hear every step she's taking in her voice. "I thought you looooooooooooooooved me."

"And I thought we were gonna stay broken up because you said you meant it." Now I'm really pissed off. Julia, who said she wanted to officially break up, doesn't want to anymore. And the summer's not even over.

"I did," she whines, "but I miss you." There's a shake in her voice. It just makes me madder.

I grit my teeth. "No. No. I'm not doing this shit anymore, Juls. You wanna get back together with me? Fine. Earn it."

"Jackson – !"

I hang up.

Mom comes out of fucking nowhere and asks what that was. When I tell her, she sits with me with her hand on my shoulder. "I'm sorry, sweetheart."

"No, I'm fine." I actually am. Like, shouldn't I be heartbroken? I've been with her for basically all of high school. And that's, like, a century in real life. But I don't care. I just don't. I lean back and sigh. "I'm just pissed at her. Like...she does this shit every summer, and – "

"Language, Jackson."

I sneer, my tongue out at her. Mom smacks me in the leg. "She does it every summer, and thinks it's just okay to keep doing it. It's..." I look at her. "...fucking annoying."

Mom frowns and smacks me again. "I didn't think this would bother you. You've always gotten back together. I thought it was just your, your thing."

Somehow, she makes that word fucking disgusting.

But then she asks, "So...what's Julia done this time to make it different?"