Brains and Brawn (BxB)

Chapter 31

"How are you holding up?" He asks softly.

"I don't know," I answer, letting a few tears drop. "She appologised."

"What are you gonna do?"

I just shake my head in response. He seems to get the message as he pulls me closer to his side and we just sit there until I manage to calm down.

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When I go back to the waiting room, I thank everyone for coming, but I felt bad for them just waiting here without doing nothing, so I asked them to go home. Only Leo stayed back and Chris, too seeing as he's going home with me. Macy and John got here sometime while I was outside, but I told them to go home, too. They were hard to convince, but they enventually went away, after a lot of convincing and reasoning.

I go back to my mom's room to get Chris, seeing as visiting hours are ending, but this time Leo comes with me.

Inside, Chris and mom are both laying on her bed, her arms around him while he sleeps away without a care in the world, while mom runs her hands through his hair.

"I'll get Chris, we'll wait in the car," he goes to the bed and picks him up, my mom looks at him weirdly but doesn't say anything.

He stops in front of me before exiting and I check to see if Chris is still asleep. When I see that he is, I rest my hand on Leo's cheek and whisper a "thank you". He shoots me a wink and goes outside with Chris.

Once the door is closed, I turned to my mom.

"Who was that?" She asks. She's seen him before, she was probably just too intoxicated to remember.

"Leo," I answer vaguely.

"He's very handsome. Is he your friend?"

"No, he's my boyfriend."

"Oh...does he make you happy?" She asks.

"He does, yes, very much," I answer, honestly. "He's been there for me these last few months, every single time I needed him and I love him very much."

"Then I'm glad he was there for you when I wasn't," she says with once again tears in her eyes. I can see in her eyes yhat she feels guilty beyond belief, but I can't find it in myself to forgive her just yet. I don't know if that makes me a bad person or not, but I just can't, at least not yet.

"Yeah, but that's not what I'm here for. I wanted to know what you want to do once you get out. You said you wanted to get better and I'm all in for that, so, I guess what I'm trying to ask is, would you like me to sign you into a rehab facility?"

"Oh, Matt, don't worry about that, I already spoke to the doctor. They want to keep me in here for one more night, but they'll release me tomorrow and the hospital already talked to me about it and I'm already signed in one, it's in the next town over. Will you be ok on your own for the time being?"

"We've been doing just fine for the past months, we'll manage," I can't help it, I let a bit of the bitterness slip into my tone. I regret it for a bit when I see the look on her face. I mean, she's my mother, but then I remember all the awful things she's told me.

"You're right. There's money in the safe in the attic, the code is still the same, it should be enough," she says.

"Ok, well I'll see you tomorrow."

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My mom comes home the  next day to get some clothes, anything other than that will be provided by the facilities. 

Leo stayed with me through the night, he's been my rock now, more than ever and I love him for that. I told him to go home after my mom got home, I would have to drive her to rehab, I figured Chris would want to say goodbye to our mom.

We are currently standind outside, my mom is at the entrance signing the needed papers while I'm sitting with Chris, waiting for her to finish signing in.

"Well, that was everything," she says once she comes back to join us. "I guess I'll be going, then. If everything goes according to plan, I'll stay in for two months, see how frequently I suffer from withdrawl, how many times I'll want to relapse and according to that they'll decide when to let me go."

I nod, following her explanations about the procedure.

"I don't know when you'll be able to visit me," she continues. "I'll suffer the normal symptoms of withdrawl, one of them is mood swings, maybe irritability, I don't want to snap at any of you, not anymore, but I'll call. Will you visit me?"

"Of course," I answer. I'm willing to forgive her, she knows that. But it'll take time and it'll take effort, but obviously I'l eventually forgive her.

"Ok, then, I guess I'll see you when I see you. You have my credit card, too. If you need anything else, just ask."

I nod once again, not really knowing what else to say and she leans down to hug Chris goodbye and then me. He doesn't fully understand what is going on, he mostly just knows that he won't see mom for a while and that makes him cry.

She had to go in eventually and Chris left with a promise from me that he could have pizza and ice cream for dinner, so I texted Leo to meet us at a local pizza restaurant close to our school.

"Hey," Leo greets with fist bump with Chris and a peck on the lips for me. "How are you holding up?"

"I don't really know how I feel, to be honest, still processing," I answer honestly.

"That's fair, come on, let's go sit down," he holds my hand and guides Chris and I to a little booth in the corner, where we end up spending the rest of the night.

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A/N: Urgh, I really hate this chapter, I'm sorry, that's why it took so long to update. So I'm sorry it sucks.