How A Heart Breaks

That was some type of stench in the air, some kind of mixture of bacon, burnt toast and rotten milk. The smell makes my nose wrinkle in distaste and I sit up, glancing around the empty bedroom. There’s no body beside me, which I know I fell asleep with last night, which only means that Pash is already wide awake and doing something…

Groaning, I stretch my tired limbs and throw my legs over the edge of the bed. Rubbing my eyes, I get up and throw on some clothes. It isn’t until I throw open the curtains that it really hits me…

We’re home.

I lean onto the windowsill and stare out into the town that I’ve called home since birth. It’s been months since I’ve been back but everything seems to be the same. The old lady I passed last night still smelled, the apartments are still squished together, the store at the end of the street is still shitty looking and cheap. Everything is the same and maybe before I hated it but now I’m so grateful to have it all back.

You don’t realize how much you miss something until it’s gone.

Chuckling, I step away from the outside world and walk out into the hallway. Nathan and Pash still had their apartment so instead of heading to see my parents when we got back, I came here. Knowing my parents they’d be pissed if I came in as late as I did, even if they haven’t seen me in forever. They still think my job of choice is a terrible one and don’t approve.

Sighing, I step into the kitchen to find Pash with his head on the island, fast asleep while Nathan is making breakfast…or should I say attempting? The toast is burnt and the eggs, I think they’re supposed to be scrambled, look gross. The bacon looks fine though so at least he got that right. You can’t do anything wrong to bacon, it’s a sin.

“Oh hey, morning Porter,” Nathan says to me around a grin.

“What the hell are you doing?” I laugh, taking a step towards him.

“Making breakfast,” he replies around a scowl. “Damn, I haven’t made shit since we went on tour. It’s harder than I thought.”

“I suggest you stop…this shit is probably deadly.”

Nate just shakes his head and hands me a plate of bacon since the rest just looked like it’d be unhealthy. I step over to Pash’s side and nudge him. He grunts in response. Oh hell no, boy best not be ignoring me!

“Pash!” I scream into his ear, causing him to sit up quickly with eyes that would match a deer’s in head lights.

“Porter? The hell,” he groans and rubs his eyes. He seems angry for a moment but when I lean up to run my lips over his, he’s perfectly fine.

“Good morning to you too, sleeping beauty…bacon?”

“Did Nate make it?” Pash sniffs it, like that’ll tell him if it’s safe or not.

“Yes.”

“I wouldn’t trust it if I were you.”

Laughing, I take a bite and note that it tastes perfectly fine. If it is poisonous or something than I guess I’m screwed. Pash eventually starts eating as well and we seat in silence together while Nate is in the living room watching something on TV.

“Are you going to go see your parents?” Pash asks out of the blue.

“I think you meant to say we.” I ‘correct’ him.

“We? Why we?”

“I’m not going by myself,” I grunt, taking a swig of my orange juice. “No way in hell. They’ll chew me out for sure.”

Pash sighs because he knows that means he has to go too, which I know he doesn’t want to go either but he cannot disobey me. He will never disobey because I am the shit and that’s just how it goes!

“All right, get dressed so I can go visit.” I jump up and head for the bedroom with a groaning Pash right behind me. The two of us change and wave to Nathan before going off to my parents place.

“What are we going to tell them about the tour?” Pash asks, bobbing his head along with the beat of the music.

“That it was great and we didn’t do anything illegal.”

Pash laughs. “Good idea.”

The meeting with my parents doesn’t take long and thankfully we leave in under an hour. Afterwards I ask Pash to take me to the CD store, which is where I’m going to work at. My boss hasn’t told me what times I work yet so I needed to stop and get them.

I step out of the car and leave Pash behind. Opening the door, I head over to the counter to see a boy with dirty blonde hair and brown eyes. His name tag reads Brian. I smile at the boy and ask, “Is the boss around?”

“Are you Porter?” Brian asks and I nod in response. “He told me to give you this when you stopped by. He isn’t here right now.”

Brian hands me my time schedule and I sigh in relief because I didn’t want to end up messing anything up during my first day of the job. Grinning at Brian, I thank him and I find out that we will be working together because we share practically the same schedule.

“Cool, see you on Monday!” I wave to the boy and head back outside to jump in the car.

“Got your schedule?” Pash asks.

“Yep! I don’t really want to work though.”

“Who does?”