Destined To Explode
Twenty-Four.
Sunday
“You drive like a fucking lunatic.” I raise my eyebrows as I watch Jack change gear yet again even though we have just barely pulled onto the freeway and we had been over the speed limit for at least ten minutes by my count. “Do you really want to get pulled over, Jack?”
He shrugs, his eyes still glued to the road ahead of him at least that could be said. “The road’s clear so I don’t see the problem.”
“Fine, whatever just don’t get me killed, okay?” I lean back into the comfortable leather seats of his Nissan Xterra. “Oh, and you need to drive me somewhere after we are freed from Lolo’s grip.”
“I ain’t no chauffer, Pop.” He laughs, taking his hand from the wheel momentarily to flick my ear as I pull my hair into a bun; sick of it getting in my face. “Not too far out of the way is it?”
I shake my head, biting gently on my bottom lip. “It’s just outside of the main town. I’m, uh, going to look at an apartment.”
“No, shit! Can I come and see it with you? Man, you don’t wait around, do you?”
I laugh at him, rolling my eyes at the once again excitable man. “Some of us like being independent, Jack. I love my Mom but living with her just isn’t working. We don’t really get along very well these days.”
“You should buy a house with me or something. You know, a small one like Alex and Rian’s place.”
“Jack, I can barely afford the rent on places here, never mind half of what a house will cost.” I sigh, living with someone else would actually be ideal but I really couldn’t stretch to a house, especially if I wanted to keep any of my ‘rainy day’ money.
“I’ll buy it then. Seriously, I have the money just sat there doing nothing and if you want, then you can pay your half back in instalments.”
“Do you even want to live with me, Jack?” I smirk. “I’m an annoying little jerk at time, you know that.”
“Well, then we would work together well because I’m a jerk all the time! I think that it would be great, personally. It gets us both out of the rents houses, we can have parties of our own and I can finally get a dog!”
“What if I don’t want a dog?”
“We’re getting a dog.”
* * * *
“Now Jack, your Mother tells me that you’re touring again, so soon after you’ve gotten back. Do you not like seeing your family?”
“I, uhm –“
“And so soon after dear Poppy got back. I was told that it was Alex that went to fetch her from that horrible man; I always knew that he was a nice, young boy.”
“Gran, I –“
“Poppy also said that she’s joining you on tour this time, selling merchandise? Maybe she can persuade you to cut your hair and shave off that ridiculous beard.”
I want to laugh as Jack just gives up trying to argue with Grandma Lolo who had stopped playing with our younger cousins to greet me warmly and then complain at Jack about every fibre of his being and every action that he’s taken.
“Granny Lolo, Jack’s hair is fine, I’m sure that he would have come to get me if he’d have known about what Rick was doing; Alex just happened to come visit at the right time and you know that Jack’s band is getting really big now so touring is pretty essential to their career, he’s following his dreams, Gran.”
I raise my eyebrows and I know that I’m being what would be classed as cheeky to my Grandmother but Jack really didn’t deserve the shit that she gave him, especially when May and Joe hadn’t made the effort to come and see her at all and sure they were a couple states over in New York but Jack probably had better things to be doing with his time when he was so close to touring.
Lolo doesn’t really talk to either of us much after that and we both focus on keeping the younger kids amused in the small yard, even if it is still freezing in Maryland, before we leave again, bidding our goodbye’s to the extended family because who know when we’ll see them next.
“I expect phone calls; from the both of you.” Jack and I both look at each other before we bend to kiss her cheeks and give her a small hug each. “And don’t be strangers when you get back either. I don’t bite.”
Jack’s comment of ‘not with those dentures’ as we leave is what earns him the sharp elbow in the stomach which he complains about the whole ride back to Baltimore.
* * * *
Monday
It’s hard to pry my eyes open as I hear and all too familiar knock at the front door of my Mother’s house. I had not been asleep, my senses totally aware of my surroundings, the soft acoustic music playing from the dock in the far corner of my room, the slow patterned fade of the yellow fairy lights and the constant flicker of the candle flames as they fight to stay lit, the insistent draft making them drink in fresh oxygen even faster.
I leave my dimly lit haven, stumbling down the stairs with only an ounce of grace, the hall only illuminated by the porch light, the same light that causes Alex’s shadow to stand tall as its projected through the glass panels in the door and onto the dark wood below. I don’t defer Alex from entering as I open the door and make my exit back upstairs, needing the heat of the lit flames to re-warm me, trusting Alex to put the door on the latch and follow.
I’m not disappointed as I turn to face the entry to my room, Alex standing just outside of the threshold, smiling unconsciously as his eyes trail up my body, only covered by his own bands shorts and the lacy bra that he had come to favour so much. It’s hard not to return his smirk as he takes long strides into the room, pausing only momentarily to toe off his shoes and shut the door before he stops in front of me, hands seemingly magnetized to the top of my thighs, resting barely above where the revealing shorts end, pinkies daring to touch skin as they start their routine up-down stroke.
I gaze up at him from my slight height disadvantage, one hand leaving the confines of the other as it twists free from behind my back and reaches up to gently touch the nape of the boys neck. Without speaking a word, his shoulders bow over while I simultaneously press my weight onto the balls of my feet, our lips meeting halfway, moulding into each other in a way that only practice can create.
“You drive like a fucking lunatic.” I raise my eyebrows as I watch Jack change gear yet again even though we have just barely pulled onto the freeway and we had been over the speed limit for at least ten minutes by my count. “Do you really want to get pulled over, Jack?”
He shrugs, his eyes still glued to the road ahead of him at least that could be said. “The road’s clear so I don’t see the problem.”
“Fine, whatever just don’t get me killed, okay?” I lean back into the comfortable leather seats of his Nissan Xterra. “Oh, and you need to drive me somewhere after we are freed from Lolo’s grip.”
“I ain’t no chauffer, Pop.” He laughs, taking his hand from the wheel momentarily to flick my ear as I pull my hair into a bun; sick of it getting in my face. “Not too far out of the way is it?”
I shake my head, biting gently on my bottom lip. “It’s just outside of the main town. I’m, uh, going to look at an apartment.”
“No, shit! Can I come and see it with you? Man, you don’t wait around, do you?”
I laugh at him, rolling my eyes at the once again excitable man. “Some of us like being independent, Jack. I love my Mom but living with her just isn’t working. We don’t really get along very well these days.”
“You should buy a house with me or something. You know, a small one like Alex and Rian’s place.”
“Jack, I can barely afford the rent on places here, never mind half of what a house will cost.” I sigh, living with someone else would actually be ideal but I really couldn’t stretch to a house, especially if I wanted to keep any of my ‘rainy day’ money.
“I’ll buy it then. Seriously, I have the money just sat there doing nothing and if you want, then you can pay your half back in instalments.”
“Do you even want to live with me, Jack?” I smirk. “I’m an annoying little jerk at time, you know that.”
“Well, then we would work together well because I’m a jerk all the time! I think that it would be great, personally. It gets us both out of the rents houses, we can have parties of our own and I can finally get a dog!”
“What if I don’t want a dog?”
“We’re getting a dog.”
* * * *
“Now Jack, your Mother tells me that you’re touring again, so soon after you’ve gotten back. Do you not like seeing your family?”
“I, uhm –“
“And so soon after dear Poppy got back. I was told that it was Alex that went to fetch her from that horrible man; I always knew that he was a nice, young boy.”
“Gran, I –“
“Poppy also said that she’s joining you on tour this time, selling merchandise? Maybe she can persuade you to cut your hair and shave off that ridiculous beard.”
I want to laugh as Jack just gives up trying to argue with Grandma Lolo who had stopped playing with our younger cousins to greet me warmly and then complain at Jack about every fibre of his being and every action that he’s taken.
“Granny Lolo, Jack’s hair is fine, I’m sure that he would have come to get me if he’d have known about what Rick was doing; Alex just happened to come visit at the right time and you know that Jack’s band is getting really big now so touring is pretty essential to their career, he’s following his dreams, Gran.”
I raise my eyebrows and I know that I’m being what would be classed as cheeky to my Grandmother but Jack really didn’t deserve the shit that she gave him, especially when May and Joe hadn’t made the effort to come and see her at all and sure they were a couple states over in New York but Jack probably had better things to be doing with his time when he was so close to touring.
Lolo doesn’t really talk to either of us much after that and we both focus on keeping the younger kids amused in the small yard, even if it is still freezing in Maryland, before we leave again, bidding our goodbye’s to the extended family because who know when we’ll see them next.
“I expect phone calls; from the both of you.” Jack and I both look at each other before we bend to kiss her cheeks and give her a small hug each. “And don’t be strangers when you get back either. I don’t bite.”
Jack’s comment of ‘not with those dentures’ as we leave is what earns him the sharp elbow in the stomach which he complains about the whole ride back to Baltimore.
* * * *
Monday
It’s hard to pry my eyes open as I hear and all too familiar knock at the front door of my Mother’s house. I had not been asleep, my senses totally aware of my surroundings, the soft acoustic music playing from the dock in the far corner of my room, the slow patterned fade of the yellow fairy lights and the constant flicker of the candle flames as they fight to stay lit, the insistent draft making them drink in fresh oxygen even faster.
I leave my dimly lit haven, stumbling down the stairs with only an ounce of grace, the hall only illuminated by the porch light, the same light that causes Alex’s shadow to stand tall as its projected through the glass panels in the door and onto the dark wood below. I don’t defer Alex from entering as I open the door and make my exit back upstairs, needing the heat of the lit flames to re-warm me, trusting Alex to put the door on the latch and follow.
I’m not disappointed as I turn to face the entry to my room, Alex standing just outside of the threshold, smiling unconsciously as his eyes trail up my body, only covered by his own bands shorts and the lacy bra that he had come to favour so much. It’s hard not to return his smirk as he takes long strides into the room, pausing only momentarily to toe off his shoes and shut the door before he stops in front of me, hands seemingly magnetized to the top of my thighs, resting barely above where the revealing shorts end, pinkies daring to touch skin as they start their routine up-down stroke.
I gaze up at him from my slight height disadvantage, one hand leaving the confines of the other as it twists free from behind my back and reaches up to gently touch the nape of the boys neck. Without speaking a word, his shoulders bow over while I simultaneously press my weight onto the balls of my feet, our lips meeting halfway, moulding into each other in a way that only practice can create.
So I just read the whole thing and it's fucking amazing!
12/26/13