Chapter 45
The next day, after the girls left, I got a text from Jessica.
Hey Carla. So the guys are coming over to my house and I was wondering if you wanted to come?? Josie and Madison too obviously
I smiled to myself and texted back;
Josie and Savannah have a nail appointment that I refused to go to, but I can still come! When??
He replied almost instantly;
They're getting here now-ish. You can come whenever though.
Wow. Thanks for the notice.
K. Be there soon!
I ran upstairs to my room and opened my closet doors. I threw on a comfy pair of leggings and one of my even comfier sweatshirts.
I looked like absolute trash but who cared??
It was when I went to knock on my mother's door that I smelt it. The fumes that I had become oh so familiar with.
Alcohol. It was always alcohol. Whenever my life seemed to be getting better, alcohol always had to come in and ruin it again. I didn't even bother to knock on her door. I didn't care to care. I needed to stop giving a fk.
Tears building up in my eyes, I turned around and swiftly walked down the stairs. By the time I got to my car, the tears had vanished. I wasn't going to cry over this. I just needed to cover up my emotions. Eventually I would believe myself.
When I got to Jessica's, I got out of my car as quickly as possible. Whenever I was in my car I would think. I couldn't afford that right then.
When I knocked on the door, Kade answered it with a huge smile. I walked in.
I have to say, it was weird walking into Jessica's house without being thrown over somebody's head..
When I walked into the room where everyone usually hangs out, I was caught by surprise.
Asmodeus and Jessica were wrestling each other on the floor, presumably for the tv remote which was being held away from Jessica with Asmodeus's strong arms.
"GIVE ME BACK THE GODDAMN CONTROLLER!!" Jessica yelled. Asmodeus chuckled and continued to be tackled over and over again by Jessica.
I stood there watching for a solid five minutes as the two goons fought for the remote. Kade stayed by my side, looking amused as ever.
"You literally just attacked me when I was sitting on the couch- you never even had it!" Asmodeus defended as he stiff armed Jessica, who was trying to push Asmodeus over.
"What happened to Jessica?" I asked Kade, noticing the bruise on his jaw and his arm. Kade shrugged.
"He enjoys getting himself into petty fights during football games.. he's a crazy cookie that one," he replied, and I chuckled at his 'cookie' comment.
Eventually, Asmodeus broke free and swore under his breath as he stood up and caught his breath, turning the TV on. Jessica rolled over on his back and caught his breath.
I cleared my throat and they both looked up at me.
"K, glad you got that sorted out. Now give it to me," I smiled and reached for the remote, which was still inside Asmodeus's hands.
He pulled away and looked at me harshly, "you can't just intrude on our night and then ask for the remote."
"I didn't intrude, I was invited du-m-b-as-s. Now give me the clicker," I stepped closer to him.
"What the hell did you just call it?" He furrowed his brows at me.
"A clicker. Do you need a hearing aid?"
"Why did you call it a clicker?" He gave me a judgmental look.
"Because that's what it's called, du-m-b-as-s," I responded, tired of his shit yet again.
"It's called a remote," he corrected, and the other two nodded in agreement.
"He's not wrong," Kade chimed in, but I just put a hand up at him and continued looking at Asmodeus expectedly, waiting for him to hand over his precious remote.
"Sorry I don't have the same lingo as you weird Californians," I apologized sarcastically, "now hand it over you absolute dingus."
"No."
With that, I quickly lunged at him and reached for the clicker, but he was already holding it away from me. I let out an aggravated grunt when he put his hand on my head and pushed me away from him, a textbook straight-arm.
I paused to glare at him for successfully pushing me away, but he just chuckled a little before I went back at him, holding one of his arms away from me as I reached for his other hand. I honestly didn't even give a crap about the clicker at this point, I was just being unapologetically stubborn. I hadn't even noticed how close we were until I failed at getting the clicker a second time and pulled away annoyed.
I could tell that he was trying not to crack up at me. Kade was already cracking up, and Jessica let out a fake chuckle.
Asmodeus handed me the remote and continued to hold in his laugh. I glared at him and plopped down on the couch, Kade plopping down right next to me.
"So anyway, Kade and I will go get some snacks at the store," Asmodeus said and Kade grunted.
"Why do I have to go EVERY TIME??" Kade asked, the couch shifting as he stood up. His question was unanswered.
When they left, it was just Jessica and I. Jessica plopped on the couch right next to me, where Kade had been.
"Woah- your bruises," my eyes went to the marks on his forearm that I hadn't seen before, and I reached to take it in my hands. He shrugged and pulled it back from me, causing my eyes to snap back up to meet his.
"Yeah... maybe football isn't always the best outlet for me," he cringed slightly and chuckled.
"Are your parents okay with the fact that you get into so many fights? I mean, I'm sure they hate to see you hurt so much," I kept looking at his dark eyes as his gaze flickered down.
"My parents aren't very happy with me at the moment, no," he returned his gaze to mine, and forced another small smile, "I'm basically on house arrest untill further notice."
"They'd rather ground you than try to help you?" I scrunched my brows at their twisted logic, but he just sighed with another shrug.
"Incase you haven't figured it out yet, my mother and father have a pretty backwards concept of what it means to be a parent," he replied. "I mean, Asmodeus's parents were pretty much mine as well."
My heart stopped dead in my chest.
I couldn't hold it in as I immediately said, "Were?"
His eyes widened slightly when he realized what he said, but then he cleared his throat.
"Forget I said that," he tried to shake it off, and I played along for his sake... but the detail most certainly didn't leave my mind. Not even as we continued on to discuss much lighter topics.
...were.
We talked for a little while about anything and everything. Life was so simple when I was around Jessica. He always made me feel so accepted.
At one point in the conversation, we were laughing so hard that I accidentally fell into him.
He helped me regain my stability by holding onto my arm. When I finally was sitting straight again, we stopped laughing.
There was about 10 seconds of just staring at each other with smiles on our face.
Then, something completely and utterly insane happened.
In a split second, Jessica's lips were on mine, his hand on the side of my face.
I was too overwhelmed to react in anyway. I hesitantly kissed back.
He was a really good kisser, but it just didn't feel right. He was too far into the friend-zone for it to feel magical.
He must have sensed my hesitation, because he pulled away and looked down with guilty eyes.
"I um, I-" he got cut off my someone clearing their throat.
I looked up at the door, and felt the urge to curl up in a little ball and never come out.
"Well you guys sure didn't seem to miss us while we were gone," Asmodeus said as he stood at the door, holding a bag of food.
Fuck.