A Light in the Dark

A Phone Call in the Middle of a Jog

11: Mason

I hated running. I’ve always hated running. So why was I jogging around my neighborhood with my earphones in? Let me tell you, I have no clue. It was Friday and Kaitlyn had been seeing her dad every day so I hadn’t been able to talk to her outside of school. I was really worried about her and-

“Jeez man, slow down, you’re killing me.” Curtis snapped me from my reverie and I rolled my eyes at him.

“You’re the football player, my friend. I can’t believe you actually drove here to jog around.”

“I can’t believe you actually want to jog around, you always told me you hated running.”

“Yeah, I always told you I hated everything.”

“Touché my friend, touché.”

Silence ensued and my thoughts went right back to worrying about Kaitlyn. Then, I thought of my mom. I couldn’t believe she had a boyfriend. Well, she didn’t call him that but I honestly hoped that she would soon. She deserves to be happy, especially after my dad. I heard a sharp ringing and it cut through my thoughts. Staring at my friend, I stopped and watched him pull his phone out of his shorts pocket.  

“Hey babe! What’s up?... A plan? Now? Oh sorry.... yeah sure…. Fine…. Oh yeah… see you in five minutes.” Curtis looked up at me while he put his phone back in his pocket.

“Well, I gotta go, see ya man.” And with that he jogged away towards my apartment. I shrugged and followed, but instead of going to his car I went inside. I got a water and dropped down on the couch. I flipped through the channels and landed on a random one playing The Walking Dead reruns. I shrugged and returned to my water, barely even paying attention to the show. I quickly fell asleep.

I woke to the shrill sound of my annoying ringtone. It was Curtis telling me to open my front door. Groaning, I got up from my comfortable position and opened the door for my idiot friend.

“Get in the shower! You smell like a garbage pile.” He announced.

“Why does it matter?”

“Because we’re going to a party.”

“Curtis, I don’t th-”

“Suck it up man. You’re reputation is still out there like wildfire, if you really don’t want anyone to bug you, they won’t. Dani just asked me to go with her and-”

“Woah, woah, woah stop right there. I am not going to be your chaperone or designated driver or anything. And I am not going to stand there and watch the two of you make out all night.”

“Of course not! You’re going to end up having to drag my drunken a-”

“Wait a second,” something I heard earlier suddenly made it’s way to my mind, “when you picked up the phone earlier, you said something about a plan. Curtis, what’s up?”

“Nothing. Dude, you haven’t been to a party since what, August? I’m getting you back out there and if you don’t drink or anything, fine! Just come on and have a good time!”

“You’re evil, you know. I’m going to end up having to deal with the two of you drunk idiots and I swear to God if either of you tries to get behind the wheel of a car I will personally-”

“Mason, dude I know. I get it. Now go get un-smelly and we’ll head out.”

“You did not just say un-smelly.”

“I did, now go shower.”

I rolled my eyes at my idiotic friend, but did as I was told. I used to go to parties with him all the time. We’d smoke and drink and hook up with random girls and I would be doing that mostly just to prove that I wasn’t a prissy rich schoolboy like the rest of the guys at Renderon. Or to show my dad he wasn’t the only one who could come home stumbling drunk. I never said I used to make smart decisions. I even continued doing that after my dad died, but that petered out pretty quickly when I got over my initial rage at him. Once I’d realized how stupid that was and how much it worried my mom, I stopped. I don’t want to be more trouble than I already am and I don’t want to be a burden on my mom. However, if Curtis was asking me to go to this party there’s got to be a reason because ever since last August, when I was a complete boring idiot at the last party I went to, he hasn’t even mentioned the parties that he’s been to.

After I showered and got dressed, I met him outside where his father’s car was parked. Curtis sometimes takes his dad’s car when he goes on long drives instead of his motorcycle. The party was forty-five minutes away from my house so I settled in as Curtis played some of his favorite rap music in the background. I’ve didn’t really like the song he was playing so I tuned it out and just enjoyed the ride.

A/N

Okay so a lot of these chapters were originally going to be 2 PoV's in one chapter, but then I changed it to switch every PoV which is why the chapters are so short. One more really short chapter next week and then they start to get longer.... and more exciting (i hope).