Covered In Ink

Chapter 13|Come on, I won't bite

She just glared at me.

"And what about you?" I pointed accusingly at my dad. "What do you think of this?"

He looked down.

I chuckled darkly. "And here I was, thinking that you actually cared about Caleb and I. How wrong was I?"

"Hazel," he protested.

"Don't," I stormed out of the house, slamming the door with all the strength a had.

I don't know where I was going, but I was on a mission. I stomped my bare feet along the pavement, which kinda hurt, but I didn't care. I wanted to get away from my family. I wanted Caleb.

Eventually I stopped walking and sat on the sidewalk. It was getting dark and I had no clue where I was, but I was too numb to even give a shit.

I don't know how long I was sitting there, trying to gather my thoughts, when a familiar truck drove past. I looked up as it rolled past, and sighed as it continued down the street. A few seconds later I heard the breaks squeal. I looked up from my feet to see the pickup truck backing towards me. It stopped next to me, and the driver jumped out, taking a seat next to me on the sidewalk.

"Sunshine, what are you doing out here?"

"I honestly don't know."

We sat in silence for a solid five minutes before I broke it.

"My moms pregnant."

"Wow."

"Yeah, it's disgusting."

"Why do you think that?"

"Because she's forty. There will be a twenty four year difference between Caleb and that baby." I threw my hands in the air. "She hates me, and pretends that Caleb doesn't exist, yet she goes and gets herself pregnant again. It makes me feel nauseous just talking about it."

"I'm sure your mom doesn't hate you," he tried to reassure.

"You haven't seen the way she glares at me, or the way she talks to me. It's like she's trying to replace me with this baby. She replaced Caleb with Jasmine, now its my turn. She wants her perfect little family, and I'm not part of it."

He wrapped a comforting arm around my shoulders. "You know, if you ever feel like you need to get away from your mom, you can stay with us. I'm sure my mom would be ecstatic to have a girl in the house."

"Really?"

"Of course. I know I'm a funny guy, but I don't joke about this kind of stuff." He scratched the back of his neck. "Anyway, we should get you home."

I silently agreed, hopping into the passenger seat.

We pulled into Ryan's driveway, and I jumped out. He followed me to my house where I hesitantly climbed the small stack of stairs to the front door. I opened it a fraction, only to be greeted by my mother's enraged voice. The only person she could possibly be yelling at was my dad. I gulped, and couldn't help but let guilt fill me. That was my fault. I quietly closed the door, turning back around.

Ryan had his back to me.

"Ryan," I called.

He spun around. "Huh?"

"Do you think I can take you up on that offer...now?"

He seemed surprised, which I had anticipated, I don't exactly go around asking people for help.

I saw him hesitate and I panicked. "It's totally fine if I can't stay, but my parents are fighting and it's my fault. I don't want to make it worse by being there-"