Young, Gay and Sweet

I'm Breaking Down

It was official, Jay and Kimberly were at war. Oh, how things had drastically changed. Jay was no longer the sweet, cute and charming young lad who Kimberly loved as a son, he was the short-tempered, cussing, rude and obnoxious boy who was a bad example to his siblings. 

Jay didn't eat dinner at the table anymore, now he took his plates to the couch in the abandoned lounge room at the back of the house and watched Gordi's journey on his phone. Sometimes he would eat what the rest of the family were having, and sometimes he would grab whatever the hell he found in the pantry and turn it into a meal. The family didn't even try getting him back, they knew that it was a lost cause. Ever since Jay had lashed out at Kimberly, his cuss words and choice of language cutting like a knife into Kimberly's heart, the family was starting to regret their decision to take him in. He wasn't the sweet boy they thought he was. No, they now saw his true colours, and he was a handful. Perhaps he belonged at a better trained home, a home that specialised in 'Special Children'. Or maybe they just had to send him off to discipline camp.

Yet despite all of this, Jay's terrifying lash of aggression did keep Kimberly up at night. Was it possible, she thought, that what he said could hold some truth? Was she a bad mother? Was she looking at all of this the wrong way?

That night, Jay had taken a packet of chips from the cupboard and thrown them into a bowl, squirting some mustard on top. He shoved the food into his mouth like a wild animal, the crumbs littering the deteriorating brown couch, that had rip after rip in it. Either a bear had stormed into the house and mauled that couch a long time ago, or someone had used cloth-scissors to cut it up. Whatever it was, the state of this brown couch couldn't have been caused simply by age, no, somebody had done this purposefully. But Jay liked the holes, because he could crouch down and stick his feet in them while he rested his phone on a cushion. It was infact, a convenient situation.  Jay liked this abandoned lounge room, and had decided to turn it into his very own bedroom.

Jay heard squeals of laughter from the dinning room, which signalled that it was Tickle Monster time. He heard the boys pounding footsteps as they ran to their rooms. He chuckled a bit to himself, he did miss messing around with Jeremy and Michael, but their parents had cautioned them against it. A few more days and they'll kick me out, Jay thought to himself, and just when I thought I had a home....

"Uh, Jay?"

Jay lifted his feet out of the couch and turned around, chips still filling his mouth.

"Maffoo?", he asked, spitting some crumbs, "Wha' are you doin' hee?"

Matthew crossed his arms, like he usually did before lashing out with a bowl of freshly cooked sass.

"Look Jay, I came here to check on you, just in case, you know, you were doing drugs in here"

Jay swallowed his chips with a noisy gulp, "Get the hell out of here Matthew!"

"Whoah, whoah", Matthew said, taking a few steps back, "Lets not lash out at one another".

"I ended my relationship with Kimberly Mummy to stand up for you, and you won't even let me sleep in your bedroom. You've been such an asshole to me since I came here. What is it Matt, ya jealous? Ya taking your problems out on me! Ya targeting me to distract yourself from the lack of a relationship you have with your bitch ass mother!"

Unexpectedly though, there was silence after that short speech. Matthew said nothing sassy, instead, he sighed. 

"Look, I'm sorry Jay. Iv'e been a real dick. I actually came here to...to thank you. It was about time that somebody opened my mothers eyes and....you stood up for me. So, uh, thank you. And trust me, your words are impacting my mother. Don't think for a second that you are all alone, because, well, you aren't".

Matthew walked over to Jay, shuffling awkwardly next to him on the couch. Suddenly, his butt fell into one of the couch holes, and he landed with an oomph. This caused Jay to start cackling, and Matthew laughed a little to.

"Iv'e been rethinking my choices and, as a friend, I have decided that I should be here for you. So, wanna sleep in my room tonight?"

Jay beamed. "Yes", he said, "Finally! Wow, you were such a dick!"

Matthew rolled his eyes, "Yeah, yeah. And I'm trying to be nice though, so collaborate or I will punch your jaw out".

Jay dragged his suitcase back into Matthew's room, where it had started. And that night, for the first time since he'd joined Matthew's house, he slept on the mattress beside Matthew's bed. But this time, it was Matthew who couldn't sleep. Okay, maybe that was because Jay was snoring. And at about two in the morning, Matthew heard some hushed voices from his parents room.

"But we did agree to look after him for at least six weeks", Matthew heard his father say.

His ears pricked up, were they talking about Jay?

"But I just don't think I can handle him anymore. How long does it take for somebody to adopt him?"

"Thats irrelevant", Edward interrupted, "For at least six weeks or until somebody steps out to adopt him, that was the deal. Honey, the kid needs a home".

"Maybe Matthew was right", Kimberly moaned, "Maybe we should have just thrown him to the Birch's".

Matthew's heart sunk. Oh no, please don't drag him into this.

"And I don't think that we are qualified to look after him anyway", Kimberly added, "I mean, he clearly has special needs".

Edward sighed, "It's a common case of ADHD".

"And he's not safe for our children", Kimberly said, almost ignoring her husband, "Corrupting their minds with such sinful practices".

"Well, for at least four more weeks, he is our children", Edward stated, "And we promised to take care of him".

"I just thought he was so sweet!", Kimberly cried. Matthew could almost see his mother collapsing, hear the tears pouring down her cheeks, "But he wasn't, he really wasn't. All those things he said to me, calling me a bad mother! Oh Edward, maybe it's true isn't it. Maybe I am a bad mother after all! Maybe he was right! Maybe I'm the sinful one! Maybe I will burn in hell!"

Matthew was honestly quite shocked. He had never heard his mother break down like this before.

"That boy is bad for all of us", Kimberly whimpered, "I don't care what the state says. We should just toss him to some other family for the remaining four weeks". 

When Matthew finally got to sleep that night, he dreamt of Jay. Perhaps this was meant to be, Jay was the prophet sent down by Jesus to teach his mother the true meaning of being Christian. For now Kimberly was questioning her intolerant ways.