It's been a while... College is...yeah, like, super busy. You get it, don't you? By the way, this probably isn't edited. Sorry.
When I arrived home, Mom was asleep on the couch. Her shoes were thrown several feet from her. I didn’t miss the open bottle of tan liquid sitting on the coffee table. Hesitantly, I bent over and sniffed the substance. Beer, alcohol?
I crouched toward her sleeping face. Had she been drinking? She never drank alcohol, why’d she start? I studied her somnolent face. Smudges of her mascara were under her eyes, signaling that she had been crying. The effects of her age began to show around her eyes and the corners of her mouth. She was a beautiful women wearing years of exhaustion and calamity on her shoulders.
I gently shook her shoulders. “Mom, wake up.” She stirred but didn’t hear me. “Mom, c’mon,”
I had brought a plate of leftovers home for Mom (I couldn’t let Shane see me, so I had to sneak it out like I did with the cookies for Vanessa and Valerie). I set the plate down on the coffee table so that both of my hands could be available.
I shook her one last time before she lifted her head to look at her surroundings. “Ashleigh?”
“C’mon, Mom. What’re you doing sleeping on the couch?”
Her messy brown hair covered her eyes as she placed her hands on my shoulders to steady herself. “My dear, Ashleigh.”
She was definitely drunk. Her words slurred around and I could smell the stink on her breath as she spoke. I helped her up from the sofa and led her to her room where she crashed on the bed. Taking a warm blanket from her closet, I covered her up with it.
There was definitely something wrong. Why had she done this? She never got drunk…never. And to see how she passed out on the couch with mascara down her face made me sick. What was wrong?
When I woke up for school, Mom was already gone. She must’ve taken care of herself early this morning. I hoped she was on her way to work and not on her way down a spiraling black hole.
After school I had arrived at the Greene’s house. Brandon and Jasmine’s car was still sitting in the driveway, so they hadn’t left yet. I also noticed another car – a shiny bright red one. The license plate read CockyS, figuring it was probably Shane’s. I guess I hadn’t noticed it yesterday when I had rushed up to the door.
As I went in, Brandon and Jasmine were rushing out.
“Good evening, Ashleigh!” Brandon panicked. “We’re running really late. I’m going to have to ask you to cook the kids’ dinner tonight.”
Jasmine had already started up the car.
Shane’s brother say what? “But–”
“I’d ask Christopher to do it, but he’s pretty busy and he’ll be drowning in paperwork for a while.”
Before I could mutter another word, Brandon turned on his heel and rushed into the car. The car backed out of the driveway and they were gone. What was I going to do?
I entered the house to see Ethan sketching on a little notepad. “Hello, Ethan,”
He ignored me, continuing to focus in on his sketch. Well, that was expected. Before taking another step, a tall figure swiftly walked past me, nearly knocking me over. I looked up at Shane to find his narrowed eyes glued to several files in his hands. When he reached the stairs, he ran up them two-by-two. What was up with the males in this house?
YOU ARE READING
Mr. Stupid Rich
Teen Fiction"He was made of money, and I knew anything but that. How was I supposed to trust him when people like him cared about nothing but themselves? If they did care, the poor wouldn’t be poor, right?" Meet Ashleigh Wills, your typical high school senior t...
