Toxic: A Sociopath Novel

Chapter 25

I woke up the next morning alone;William had vanished without a trace. Heleft no note, sent no text message, and hiscar was removed from the parking lot. Iswore under my breath then searched forhis name in my phone, but that was gonetoo and I couldn't find him on any socialmedia. I gave up and plopped on the couch,allowing it to devour me and then I juststarted sobbing uncontrollably. I didn't stop,not even when I heard a bundle of keys andone of them turning in the lock."Babygirl, what's wrong?" I let mylast tear fall when I realized that it was mymom. I felt a touch of déjà vu as I leapedinto my mom and we had a cuddling session."What's wrong babygirl, tell me." She triedagain. I wiped my nose on the sleeve of myrobe and sniffled one last time."I just want to see Christopher, but Idon't want to go alone. Will you come withme mom? You can invite his mom andsocialize with her while I fix my relationship, if you want." She didn't ask any more onthe subject and proceeded to callChristopher's mom. She answered on thethird ring."Hey," my mom said. "I was justwondering if you want to go to dinner withme. You can bring Christopher and the kidscan work out their issues." I heard his momsigh on the other end of the phone, butsurprisingly, she agreed."I suppose." She said. I clapped myhands in excitement as my mom hung upthe phone."Fujiyama's, five o'clock." My momtold me. I offered for my mom to help mepick out something to wear and to helpstraighten my hair. She agreed, andwatching her do my hair in the mirror,made me want to cry. For the first time insixteen years, my mom and I were togetherand not chocking one another. I finally feltaccepted by her. I have real long and thick hair, sostraightening it takes almost two hours. Welost track of time by talking and crackingjokes that it was almost 4:30 by the time wefinished. I quickly threw on enoughfoundation to cover up my black eye andthen we hurried out the door to my mom'sSUV. We hauled out the parking lot and onthe main road, shaving off seven minutes ofour thirty two minute trip.We didn't see Christopher or hismom when we got there. We parked thecar and went inside, asking the hostess forhelp. She kept a smile on her face as shepointed us in the right direction.Christopher rolled his eyes when we saw usbut his mom waved us over. She convincedChristopher and me to sit in the boothbehind our mom's. He didn't seem toothrilled about it but he agreed.We gave the waitress our order andthen we just sat there for a few minutes. He was lost in his phone but I was lost in him.We didn't talk until the food came out,when he finally got off his phone. He pickedup his fork to dig in but he stopped when Ispoke."So," I started, but then blurted. "Canyou be my boyfriend again?" he continuedto look at his food when he answered."Why would I want to do that?""Because...you love me?" I tried,making my voice sound as babyish as I could."But, The real question here is, doyou still love me? And to be honest, I don'tthink you do. You just come back becauseyou knew I'd be here. So tell me, whathappened LeighAnn? Did he fuck you thenleave?" I heard the hurt in his voice."Lighten up, Christopher." I said."We're in high school. I was just having alittle fun.""That's besides the point, LeighAnn.High School or not, you do not disrespectyour relationship. And remember when you told me you wanted to be with William? Ibacked off and let you have your funbecause you're right, we are in high school,but sometimes, couples make it past highschool, past college and whatever comesafter that, and it was my fault for thinkingthat would be us. I've gone through somuch for and with you and you stillcontinue to treat me like shit. You sat hereawhile back and talked about how toxic mysister was but it appears to me that the onlytoxic person here is you." I had no words tosay to him, so instead, I pushed my plateaside and jumped over the table, pushingmy tongue down his throat. He didn't stopme, he embraced me, and when we pulledapart, I joined him on his side of the booth."Well," I whispered. "I see that youstill love this toxic person. C'monChristopher. We can have a goodrelationship with toxic relationship sex. Wemight be in high school but I really love you;I really love sex." He didn't say anything, he just held my chin. My mom's phone startedto ring and I tried to ignore it and not let itruin my moment with Christopher, but herringtone was pretty loud and embarrassing.It was one of the neighbors from theapartments. They hung up and my momappeared at our table."We have to go, our apartment is onfire!" Christopher and I popped up. Hismom left a hundred dollar bill on the tablesand they followed my mom and I to theapartment.When we arrived, we had to park onthe street because the entrance wasblocked off. It's a second story apartment,so I expected the building to have collapsed,but it was still standing and there were noflames.We made our way up the stairs tofind the door busted open and twofirefighters , inside the tiny apartmentbathrooms. "What's going on?" My mom askedand both the firefighters turned to look atus."We answered a call to a fire alarm,smoke coming from the bathroom. Theresult being a flat iron that never gotunplugged. Luckily, there was no damage tothe apartment, but just a piece of advice:UNPLUG YOUR IRONS. We will repair thedoor." One of the firefighters explainedbefore leaving. One of them returned withsome tools to fix the door and then left,closing the door behind him.Our mom's agreed that Christopherand I needed some alone time so theyparted ways with us. It was awkward whenthey first left, and Christopher debatedleaving too. He made a run for the door."You're welcome to stay, if you want."I insisted. He turned back around and shot atwo second sarcastic grin at me. He told mehe was going to take a shower and I shookmy head in acknowledgement. I waited a few minutes and then quietly snuck into thebathroom. I removed my clothes thenpushed the shower curtain aside andstepped over the tub.I grabbed Christopher from behindand placed my lips along the line of hisshoulder, then slid my hands up his pudgeand just held him, letting the water soak usboth.