Underlying Hunger ✓

Chapter 12

The door to our house squeaked open an hour or two later. My sister's voice resounds around the house as she addresses me, "Don't you have anything better to do, like... homework?"

I pause my show and turn my head towards the figure that's standing in the kitchen. "No, I finished all my homework at school." With Grayson not being there at study hall to distract me, I actually got all my work done.

She gives a satisfactory noise and wonders up to her room. Emily only has a couple days left before she has to go back to school. She was supposed to leave a while earlier, but her dorm building had a fire, so the school let her stay back until the place was ready for people to live there again.

My mind wanders to the date on my mental calendar. Today is Grayson and I's one month anniversary and he didn't say anything about it...

He didn't say anything about plans or just the day in general. I wonder if I should say something. I mean, according to society it'd be pretty weird for me to do so, but if he doesn't I just might, no matter what society says.

I hear light footsteps down our stairs and my head turns toward the noise. Emily is back downstairs, this time in another outfit.

"I'm going out tonight," She yells as she leaves without giving me anytime to ask her any questions, or even say goodbye.
I guess it's back to a boring old day then. Maybe I can add a little bit of sulking into the mix.

My lazy butt stays on the couch for another three hours; I sometimes got off the couch to get some water.
The open slam of the door shakes my hand, spilling the water I was in the middle of pouring. I go to grab a towel as my family walks in, angry.

I wonder what happened this time...

"How dare you tell me to leave early?! I'm a legal adult; I can do whatever the hell I want!" My sister yells at my mom.
"I am your mother! If I want you to be home when I come home, you're coming home! Especially when you're under my
roof, even if it's only for a certain period of time."

They fight like this for a while before I realize I should go.

I go upstairs and try not to let their fighting affect me. They haven't fought like this since Emily came home, I mean,  there was no reason, until now I guess. They did fight like this all the time when Emily still lived here. That's partially the reason why I'm thankful she went to college. Of course I missed her, but I think it's what's best for the family's well being.

I can still hear them fighting from my upstairs bedroom.

I could never deal with fighting. Sometimes, on rare occasions, my parents would fight. For some reason, I was always super sensitive to it. My sister would be fine, acting like nothing even happened, but I would be sitting in my room, crying, which is exactly what I'm trying to prevent from happening at the moment.

Soon enough, soothing music flows through my head, calming me down as I lay under my blankets, eyes starting to close. My headphones stop me from being able to sleep on my side without it feeling uncomfortable, so I lay on my back, my eyes staring at my ceiling.

My eyes drift close and my mind turns blank.

++++

The constant vibration wakes me up. My blurry eyes look at my bright screen, squinting at the sudden light.
An app I didn't even know I had, has been sending me constant notifications. I roll my eyes at the stupid game and put my phone on silent.

Just as I was about to roll back to sleep, my eyes see the time on the clock that's placed on my dresser.
It's almost ten o'clock and nothing from Grayson...