When The Rain Stops (BXB)

Chapter 25

Ken slaps my shoulder and smiles. "Eeeeeey, Earth to Jackson." He starts shaking my by the shoulders before seeing Rory. "Oh, shit, man. I didn't know you guys were in town. Shoulda texted me." He pauses, and stands back up. "Where's your parents? Wanna say hi."

I grit my teeth and sigh. He hasn't seemed to've noticed that there's only two places set. "Dude, now's not the fucking time."

"Why?" And then this fucking dumb shit leans down and whispers, "Is it an intervention?" He stands back up. "Because I've seen the way your moms drink. Holy shit, I've seen guys chug like that, too."

Rory smiles. "Take a seat, dumbass. I need to feel better about myself."

When Ken finally notices the two empty spots at the table, he asks, "Wait, you guys're here alone?"

"No, I'm just here because Princess was crying and screaming."

I kick him. " I'll talk to you later, okay? Now's not the time, Ken."

He exhales. "Okay, bruh. Well, I'll be there if you need me." And then walks away.

"Good," Rory huffs, picking up his fork. "I can feel my IQ going back up."

I glare. "You can stop now."

"What, you've lost your edge already?" He smirks. "Aw."

"You can stop now."

Rory shovels some pasta into his mouth before asking, "You really gonna eat all that?"

And all of a sudden, I'm...so tired. I don't care. I just don't.

So I sit there, eat my veal, order the chocolate cake, which is still better than D'Agostinos' cake, and stare down Rory from across the table. Meanwhile, Rory, with a look in his eyes that says "Kill-Me-Now", talks about terrible it is spending spring break at the Cottage with me, how bad the service at the restaurant is, complaining about Evan and Caleb and school. What's worse is that he never stops.

After Rory pays for the meal, going on about how cheap I am, I stand up. "Gonna go outside."

He looks me up and down. "Fine, but if you're not back in 3 minutes, you're walkin' back."

The threat's empty and I don't care.

It's started raining but I end up in the parking lot by the back entrance. A car's parked beside me and I'm only a little wet but I'd rather be sick for the rest of the week than put up with that anymore.

I sigh and sit down.

"Hey, fuckwit." Rory kicks my foot. "I'm heading back now."

"Can you stop? There's no one here." I pull out his phone from my pocket and throw it at him. "Fuck off."

He scoffs. "Fine. But I'm going." He turns.

"Then I'm not coming back tonight."

He stops for a second. But Rory keeps walking, gets in the car, and drives off without looking back.

I stand up and watch him drive back towards Lakeside Drive. "Are you serious?!" I scream. When the car turns passed the vacant lot by the Dollhouse, my stomach twists. I sigh and turn. "Just go," I whisper. I go back to the back door and sit there, staring into the ground with nothing in my head and feeling empty. My eyes burn. I wanna cry.

It's only after a couple minutes that I stand back up, ready for the worst walk him in human history, when Rory's car roars back into the not-D'Agostinos' parking lot and stops the thing right in the middle of the blacktop. Rory stomps out, leaving the car open and on, and comes at me.