Motion Sickness

With no one in the house, home was empty and quiet. It depressed me and I knew it was the quiet that made me on edge because I could hear the little drips of water from the faucet… in the kitchen… two hallways down.

Dad wouldn’t be back until god only knew when but I couldn’t stand to stay in school after Zoey’s little accident. I went into the kitchen but didn’t take off my shoes. I had purposely gone through mud just so Rose wouldn’t be paid for doing nothing. As far as I was concerned the bitch only talked. She may appear timid and shit but she was worse than Taylor when it came to gossip.

I bit my lip and looked around. What to eat? Point is I was starving. Fries never exactly filled my black hole of a stomach. I didn’t understand how air filled Zoey’s the last couple of days.

Oh, the choices. There was a lot of left over shit. I didn’t do left overs, so I snatched the phone off the counter but first had to mentally ask myself what I wanted.

Pizza? No. Chinese?

Ewww, definitely not.

I felt like Italian in the pasta form. I groaned. That would mean having to pick the shit up because what Italian restaurant with good pasta delivered? None, but I didn’t want to go out. Why? Because I felt fucking lazy.

Dealing with potential anorexic cases could do that to you apparently. I dug out my keys in my pocket and glared at them then glared at the phone for not providing me with the number of an Italian restaurant that delivered! This was some type of inhumane shit.

I slammed the phone back into its receiver, realizing that I was seriously overreacting, and stormed out the kitchen. I was on a mission because my pasta craving was no longer just on the want level. It was on the NEED level.

“Ryland, are you home?” I froze.

That was my dad’s voice. Why was he home? I sighed. There was no reason to hide now since he was standing in front of me. He had sweats on and a T. The last time I saw him dress that casually was when he had the stomach flu and didn’t want to get vomit onto his ridiculously priced suits so I was surprised.

“Hey John.” I greeted flatly. “You’re out early.”

I almost always called him by his name so he wasn’t exactly fazed by my remark but his eyes followed the mud prints and he raised his brows. The old man never could raise just one. I shrugged innocently as if I had no idea where the marks had come from even though I still had my shoes on.

“Why aren’t you at school?”

I bit my lip to hold back an amused laugh. I obviously didn’t want to be there but he didn’t need to know that. I held my finger up and leaned into the wall.

“I got bored.” I answered. Unlike with mother I wasn’t in the mood to sugar coat. Though I was slightly doing just that.

I wouldn’t tell him that Zoey was starving herself and fainted again. I wouldn’t mention how terrified I was about being able to feel her bones, or how light she was as I carried her to the nurse’s office. I wouldn’t mention how stupid I felt for lying about wanting to kiss her.

John just nodded. I was fucking skipping and he was nodding. Way to be assertive dad.

“Don’t let it happen again. Colleges look for extra curriculars. You realize that, don’t you?”

Was it sick of me to actually want him to yell at me? I really did but he walked out without another word. I tightened my grip on the keys and walked out. Why the fuck did I care anyway?

I mean this is usually every kid’s dream…to have a dad that buys them whatever the fuck they want and then leaves them the hell alone. I could literally hear the voice of an extremely cheesy commercial guy. All the toys in the world but parents not included.

I got into my car and for a while I didn’t move. I just sat in my car blankly because I didn’t know what I wanted. Pasta didn’t sound appetizing anymore. Sitting upstairs in my room didn’t sound appealing either.

I could have gone back to school but I didn’t need to or want to so I just sat, and eventually fell asleep.

It was a dreamless sleep and when I woke up I was drenched in sweat. It was burning in the car but the sun had gone down and I felt gross.

I climbed out into the cool air. A shiver ran up my spine. I was stiff and my neck hurt. Plus I still had homework to do but that was nowhere close to the top of my things to do list.

As I climbed the steps of the porch I pushed thoughts of her out of my mind and checked my cell. I had more useless texts added to the old ones and one potentially useful text from Derek.

Going to the lounge. Show up or you’re obvs a pusy.

I chuckled to myself. My throat was dry, my neck hurt and I smelled pretty bad. Did I want to go to the lounge? Second question- since when the fuck did my past decide to haunt me? Because first Taylor and now Derek?

John’s car wasn’t in the driveway so I assumed he had left and there was nothing I had to do, well except for homework but whatever. I walked up the stairs to my room, dialed Derek’s number and locked the door to my bathroom.

Derek picked up with a raspy hello.

“The lounge?” I asked getting straight to the point. “What time?”

“Now man.” Derek replied.

At least now I had something to do…