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Steve and I drove home after our Russian crushin' session at Scoops Ahoy and once we got home, I went straight to the kitchen. To my surprise, I saw my mother standing there, drinking a glass of wine. "Hey, mom, I didn't expect to see you here," I said, the shock in my voice very obvious.
"Relax, I won't be here long," She said coldly, and I continued staring at her. "You and Dad are leaving again?" I asked, and she shook her head. "Your dad is in Florida on a business trip. He's already gone. I'm not traveling with him anymore," She said bluntly. I furrowed my brows, but finally understood what she meant. "You two aren't together anymore, are you?"
My mother clearly didn't know what to say to me. She had always been very short with her words with her kids, and she always shut down a conversation with ease, but she seemed utterly at a loss at the moment. "Mom, say something," I said, getting choked up a little. Tears threatened to spill from my eyes. I felt strange because I was so upset about this, even though it shouldn't matter to me. My parents were never really close with us or each other, so it should've made no difference to me that they were splitting up. They honestly already acted like they were split, but of course, they weren't officially broken up.
I wasn't sure what to say, I didn't know whether to comfort her or to ignore the situation completely. She seemed emotionally shut down, so I thought it would be better to just walk away. I went upstairs to my room and looked around. There were clothes strewn all over the place and my bed was messed up, so I decided to clean up a little bit. I picked up everything, hanging up clothes and throwing dirty ones into a laundry basket. For the first time in close to two weeks, I made an attempt to make my bed and make the room look nice.
I became so immersed with it that I nearly jumped out of my skin when I heard a few rapid knocks on my window. I turned around and saw Billy standing on my balcony, smirking at me. I rolled my eyes, crossing my arms and shaking my head at him. No, I mouthed. He looked confused but knocked again lightly. Come on, he mouthed. Me being weak as I am though, I let him in. I opened up the window and allowed my boyfriend to come into my bedroom. His boots hit the floor and he put a hand on my waist, attempting to pull me in for a kiss, but I rejected his advance.
"Are you kidding?" I asked, not sure why he was acting so normal. "Kidding about...?" He trailed off, his tone questioning me. I groaned, "Has your toxic masculinity really clouded your fucking brain so much that you forgot all about your little jealous rampage?" He shook his head, "I don't know what you're talking about." "I don't want to hear it, you-"
"No, like I really don't remember," He stated, interrupting me. I scoffed but heard him out. "I don't even remember coming to work this morning," He said, and I cocked my head a little. "What's the matter?" He asked after seeing me spacing out. "This is all too much," I concluded. "This is so crazy, everything lately has been getting so crazy."
"I didn't mean to get you upset. I would never do that intentionally, babe, you know that," Billy said, and I nodded. "I know," I said, walking closer to him. He pulled me into a hug, his hand on the small of my back, and the other reaching for my face. "I love you," He said, but in a way that was different than any way he had ever said it. I smiled nonetheless, making sure he knew I was appreciative of the comment. I kissed him in response and made eye contact with him. "Please just promise me something," I asked, and he nodded in response.
"Promise me that if you feel anything going wrong or you feel unlike yourself, you'll tell me," I started. "I want to help," I finished, completing my request. "I will, babe, I will," He said. I sighed and sat down on my bed, picking up my Walkman to untangle the headset attached to it. As I did, Billy groaned. I looked at him curiously and tilted my head in a questioning manner. "I probably should tell you something... weird... that happened to me," He admitted, and I raised an eyebrow at the proposition.
"I was driving home and... well... I crashed my car a little. I got out to check it out, but there was something in this abandoned building. I don't know what it was, all I know is that it pulled me down with it, and I- I don't know," He said, looking visibly defeated. "What?!" I exclaimed, shocked at the story he was telling me. "A-are you okay?" I asked, now standing up, examining him, making sure nothing was broken or damaged. "I'm okay, I think, I don't know. I've been feeling weird, but I think I'll get over it," He answered.
I made a small effort to smile, to try to do something that would distract from the fact that my life was undoubtedly going to shit. Everything was so twisted, it was hard to keep up with it all. Once Billy left, I went into Steve's room, knocking twice before being allowed in. I sat in his desk chair and folded my hands. "Any Russian updates?" I asked, knowing that he had been racking his brain about it all.
When he shook his head, I sighed. "Well, goodnight," I said. "Night," He answered. I went back into my room, threw on a sweatshirt and climbed into bed after an incredibly long day.