Tommy’s mom even helped me decorate the rooms.
I wanted to make it as real as I could. I wanted the warmth that her home always had, wanted it to be the exact opposite of what I lived through with my real family. No more eviction notices, drugs laying out in the open, empty refrigerators and cabinets. Fucking hell, I wouldn’t have to put up with passed out strangers invading my space ever again.
Casey drags his bags up onto the bed and starts to pull his clothes out. “Can I bring my gaming systems over?”
“I don’t see why not,” I say as I pick up a couple of piles and help him with opening up the dresser drawers.
“Grandma said this was a working summer break, so I wasn’t sure I’d be allowed.”
That throws me a little.
“Huh? How long has this been in the works?”
“Since right before school let out, I guess,” he says.
I don’t even know how long ago that was. If I’m being honest, I don’t have a firm grasp on where exactly I’m at on the calendar.
“How long ago was that exactly?” I ask and put another stack of shirts in the dresser.
“What do you mean?”
“Like… Shit. When was that?” I ask and feel like an even bigger asshole lush.
“Grandma and Avery started talking about you three weeks ago. Two weeks before I got out,” he says like I’m an idiot.
“Oh,” I say brilliantly. And yeah, that kind of gives me more information. “When do you go back?”
“Home?” he asks, and there’s a hitch in his voice when he says that word, home.
“Well, I meant school, but either.”
I really and truly almost don’t want him going back home. It’s fucked up how weird that is to think.
“I get nine weeks for summer break then I head back. I’ll be going into gifted seventh grade,” he says with a small shrug of his shoulders.
I give him a light punch to the shoulder. “Damn, man, that’s awesome.”
“Not really, I don’t like gifted classes. Everything is so much faster, and it’s like they’re trying to shove books directly into my head. Every night it’s homework and computer work. And since I’m really good at math and science, they drown me in it,” he grumps out.
“Yeah, but you’d be bored to tears in the regular classes,” I say, trying to find a bright lining.
Casey throws the last of his clothing in a drawer with a huff. “That’s what Grandma says, but I miss my old friends. Not like it matters. Grandma left me here with you until I graduate college.”
Fuck.
“I seriously doubt it’s like that, Casey…” I say but trail off because I don’t exactly know what it is like.
Fuck. Me.
Information would be so helpful right now. I could especially use a timeline of what the fuck I’m signed up for.
Casey just grunts and plops down on the bed. “She and Avery both want me here. They said I needed to have a new perspective on things. I probably shouldn’t have called Grandma a bitch, either.”
I drawl out the word, “Yeah.” Then I shake my head. “That might have been a bad move.”
Nodding his head, he looks up at me. “Do you think she hates me?”
How many times do I have to look into those eyes and see Tommy staring back at me?