FORCE | topper thornton

TWENTY THREE

I tossed and turned in my bed, before letting an annoyed groan out of my lips, trudging out of my room and down stairs, heading for the kitchen. It was October first, the weather was starting to get a little cooler, which I loved, don't get me wrong, I loved the summer at the beach, but I loved being able to wear my boots and a sweater too. I sighed, deciding on a midnight bowl of cereal, that sounded decent enough, I poured the Cheerios into the bowl, sighing as the milk splashed everywhere when I poured it. I grabbed a couple of paper towels, wiping away the spilt milk. My mind wandered with thoughts, I turned eighteen in a little over a month, which meant I moved in with Topper in a little over a month, I was terrified and excited all at the same time. Terrified because we've had a couple of arguments lately, nothing major, not to Topper at least, but our most recent one was keeping me up at night, quite literally. He had the boys over, they thought it would be a great idea to have a party, fine, I'm not upset about that, I'm upset about Topper letting Rafe have a girl do a line of coke off of my boyfriends chest. Topper was absolutely shit faced when this happened, so if it hadn't been for the fact that there was a video of it, he wouldn't have believed me. I think more than anything, how drunk Topper got was what bothered me, ever since his mom died, he'll go on binges, no drinking for a couple weeks, and then it's like he emptied a whole bar by himself. I grimaced at the thought, it was ridiculous, and we'd just gotten into a fight about it again earlier tonight, when I called to talk to him and he was drinking alone in his house, I cautioned him not to get extremely drunk, and he was already halfway there, so he got angry, then I got angry. Now here we are, me standing in my kitchen eating soggy cereal while he does who knows what alone in his house.

As if he read my mind, my phone started buzzing on the counter beside me, I sighed, setting the bowl down and picking up my phone, answering it as I pressed it to my ear. "Hey." I mumbled, chewing the tip of my thumb as I waited for his response, I heard a muffled sniffle before his voice came along the line. "Kenzie, baby, I'm sorry." He spoke, I could hear the slight slur to his speech, signaling he didn't listen to me when I told him not to get drunk. "For what?" I responded, beginning to pick at the loose thread hanging from my shirt. "For being a dick to you earlier, for-for being such a wimp and crying because I'm fucking drunk off my ass, I feel like such a fuck up.." I frowned at his words, I couldn't stop myself from climbing off the counter, scribbling a note for my dad so he didn't freak out when I was gone. I walked over to the door as Topper continued to let out muffled cries and slurred words. "Baby, I'm gonna come over alright?" I soothed, sneaking out the door quietly, grabbing my keys off the hook. "No! No, I don't need you to come over, I'm fine." He tried to assure me, "Topper, I'm coming over, you need me, I want to help you bub." I whispered, hearing him mumbled an okay before the line went dead.

I slipped my key into the door, twisting it and pushing down the handle, the door slowly opening, it was dark but I could see a light on in the living room. I tossed my keys on to the entry way table I had picked out, shutting the front door behind me, "Topper?" I called out, hearing a hiccup followed by a hum, I followed the noise, sighing when I saw him leaning back against the couch, a couple of glass bottles scattered around, but I knew there were more that he had already cleaned up. "Kenzie, I'm sorry." He slurred again as I walked around to face him, "I know baby, I know." I whispered, straddling his lap, pulling his head against my chest as his arms wrapped around my waist, pulling me as close as he could. "I am such a screw up, I didn't even know my mom was sick." We had recently found out that she had been diagnosed with a heart condition, but she hid it from him. "No, sweetheart, you're not a screw up, you're amazing." I explained, much like he had done for me many times, "you're the most important person in my life, you're so sweet and caring, and you always take care of me before yourself and I love for that, I love you so damn much that it hurts. It hurts me to see you like this baby, so please please let me help you." I whispered, holding his face in my hands, kissing the top of his head before he nodded. He leaned against me once more, "I love you too, baby girl." His voice was still hoarse and slightly slurred, but I knew he was determined to move past this, well at least that's what I told myself. "Let's get you to bed." I mumbled, climbing off of him despite his protests, "stay with me?" He asked like a child as I helped him up the stairs, silently praying he didn't fall because we'd both go down. "Always." I assured him, sighing in relief once we walked away from the stairs. I ushered him to the bed, stripping him off his shirt, he was already clammy from the alcohol, I got him to lay down and he almost instantly fell asleep.

I decided to take the time to walk around and see what all he had gotten unpacked. I tip toed out of his room, giving him a final look as a soft snore fell from him, I entered the guest bedroom, it was remotely set up, a simple bed, no bedding yet, he claimed I was better at that, a dresser, nothing in the closet. I walked to the next room, it was currently holding the boxes he hadn't unpacked, I rummaged through some of them, most of them were old childhood things that he didn't know what to do with, but yet couldn't get rid of. I sighed, I knew what the downstairs was like, so I made my way back to his room, entering it quietly. I glanced in the closet, it was only half full, this thing was huge, surely it had to be a quarter of the size of the bedroom, which was massive. I gave it a final once over, smiling at his progress before shimmying my way into the bed beside him, careful not to wake the sleeping boy.