Rayston Point Road || Editing

Chapter Thirty

"Isaac." I crossed my arms behind my back, leaning against the wall by his door. I watched as Isaac moved his hands and picked his head up, looking down at me. "What do you need to talk to me about?" I watched as Isaac's expression changed, as if he had forgotten the reason I had come inside with him, and a defeated sadness crept into his expression, sagging his shoulders as he sat up, leaning forward with his head in his hands. I pushed myself off of the door, walking over to him.

"Hey," I whispered, sitting on the edge of the bed next to him, concern pulling my eyebrows together and my mouth down into a frown. "Isaac, what's-"

"My parents are separating," he interrupted me, his head still in his hands, his words directed down at the floor beneath his feet, but still reaching my ears with perfect clarity. I shifted slightly on his bed, sitting further back with the sense that I wouldn't be leaving for a while, and looked at Isaac as he ran his hands over his face.

"Isaac, I'm so sorry," I said gently, watching as he sighed heavily and straightened, running his hand back through his curls until they fell back over his forehead. When he looked at me, his eyes still glassy and bloodshot, I wondered if it wasn't just from the drinks he had at dinner. Without thinking, I reached forward and took his hand.

"What happened?"

"Izzy happened," Isaac sighed angrily, hunching over again as he ran his free hand over his eyebrows. "She found out that our parents were still seeing each other, and she got into this huge argument with her dad, insisting that he end the affair. He basically called her an insolent child and she went and acted like one. She told her mom, her mom then came over on Sunday and confronted my mother. My dad was home and heard the whole thing. They fought all night." I wondered if that had any influence on Isaac showing up at my house before sunrise the following morning, the day he took me canoeing on the marsh.

"My mom moved out last night. My dad had a lawyer over this morning to draw up divorce papers. Apparently," Isaac laughed bitterly, throwing his hand up, "Apparently he knew about it the first time it happened, and he forgave my mom with the ultimatum that it had to stop. And, apparently, my mom just didn't give enough of a shit about him, or about me, to remember that when Izzy's dad showed up again!" Isaac pulled his hand roughly from mine as he stood up abruptly, running his hands through his hair again before he rested them on his hips, pacing in front of me, agitation running tension throughout his body.

"I mean, she had a choice, Loren! My dad, her husband, who she's been married to for almost twenty-five years! She could have chosen him, and me. She could have chosen me! And Izzy, Izzy just couldn't mind her own damn business, as usual!" He stalked back and forth across the room, his back rigid, his eyes darkened with more anger than I had seen in him in the six weeks we had known each other. Each word he spoke was filled with more anger and volume than the next, and his cheeks started to flush as he ranted. "Once again, she believed she could just manipulate people into doing whatever the fuck pleases her, only this time, this time she fucked up every one's lives!" As the last words crested through his lips, he whirled around and grabbed a framed photograph of himself and his mother on his dresser from what appeared to be a recent event and, with as much force as he could muster, he pitched the framed through the open doorway. I flinched as the frame slammed into the opposite wall of the dim hallway, the frame shattering and clattering to the hardwood floor.

The action seemed to break Isaac from his trance, and he stared out at the path the picture had taken, his hands relaxing by his side as he heaved in and out, his chest rising and falling sharply. I stood slowly, walking over to him and placing myself in front of him, watching as his eyes lowered to my face. He blinked quickly when I stopped in front of him, and I couldn't help but frown as he attempted to make the trace of tears disappear behind his eyes.

"Hey," I exhaled when his eyes flickered to the mess behind me again. "Why don't you to take a shower? I'll clean up the hallway." Isaac frowned as he looked down at me, confusion working its way into his eyes.

"No, you don't, you don't have to."

"I don't mind," I said quickly, offering him a small smile. "Really. Just point me in the direction of a broom," I tried to joke, watching as Isaac's lips twitched into a brief, half-hearted smile, before informing me that there was a closet off of the kitchen filled with cleaning supplies. I nodded, taking a step back, my gaze lingering on him before I turned and left his room. My eyes glanced down at the glittering shards of glass shattered over the floor as I walked over them, and once I was down the hallway by the top of the stairs, I paused, turning back towards Isaac's room. I waited for a moment, listening, and when I heard the water start to run through the pipes that lead to the bathroom connected to Isaac's bedroom, I retreated down the stairs.