Chapter 7

Damien came into my room to wake me up later that morning to wake me up. I was expecting him to disrupt my peaceful state of sleep in a dramatic fashion, but he did just the opposite. Instead of bursting into my room and declaring that it was morning like he usually does, he quietly opened my door and strolled inside. Damien sat on the edge of my bed and I felt his hand touch my back, gently rubbing it to wake me up. His actions were soothing, reminding me of his hospitality when Laurence and I were still living at his house. Although he was just a couple years older than me, Damien felt like my best friend and someone I could rely on if I needed help. Despite the fact that he had his own family to take care of, he still goes out of his way to look after Laurence and I. 

Sitting up on my bed, I tiredly rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and stared at him blankly. I was questioning why he decided to disturb my state of sleep so early in the morning, it felt like I haven't even slept at all. While I did appreciate that he broke from his usual routine and waking me up in a polite and thoughtful manner, I was still mildly disgruntled. 

"Well sleepyhead, it's past noon," he argued playfully. "There's no food in the fridge, so I'm taking us out for lunch. Laurence and I are waiting for you." 

 Yawning widely and stretching my back, I agreed with Damien and nodded my head. The fridge lacked any cohesive ingredients to cook any sort of dish and I can't keep feeding Laurence pancakes and maple syrup. Fortunately, with the amount of money we have left, I can use some of it to buy groceries later today. 

"Alright alright, I'll be out in ten." 

Once I finished getting ready, the three of us headed out into the parking lot. Laurence climbed into the back seat of Damien's black jeep wrangler and excitedly pulled the seatbelt over his body. From the front passenger seat, I chuckled at his eagerness to get on the road. It was written all over his face that he was happy that we have to opportunity to eat out, the last time being about a month ago. Following a quick check around his car, Damien jumped into the driver's seat and started the car. With less than a minute, we were out on the road. Instead of any form of conversation between the three of us, the sounds of radio pop music cut through the silence, that was until Damien decided to break the mood with a question. 

"I hope that you two are doing well in school?" 

In the corner of my eye, I caught Damien looking at my brother through the rearview mirror, his eyebrows raised in an interrogating manner. He then looked directly at me for a split second before turning back to the road. The look in his eyes was as clear as day; he wasn't happy that I haven't been updating him on how we were doing, at least, not as regularly as I used to. Life had been so busy for Laurence and me and unfortunately, updating him had fallen off of the to-do list. 

"School's alright. Normally anyways." 

Damien looked at Laurence in the mirror, waiting for his answer. All that he got was an uninterested shoulder shrug from the younger boy. After stopping at a red streetlight, the man pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. Damien was disappointed by our lack of solid enthusiasm, he had expected a far more thoughtful answer from us. Although he wanted more details, he stopped himself and left it at that.

Within fifteen minutes, we were in the city center, parking outside a well-established and well-known restaurant. Damien pulled up into an empty parking space and immediately killed the engine. The three of us piled out of the car and headed towards the entrance. Before I could even grab the door handle, the door suddenly flew open and knocked me backward. Luckily, Damien was there to catch me in time before I fell down the stairs.

"Look at who we have here." 

Damien helped me up to my feet as a hard scowl appeared on my face as the culprit appeared through the doorway. Looking on in disdain, I glared at Whitewood's bitch, who was standing on the standing on the stair landing and returning my cold stare. To make it even worse, standing in the bitch's shadow was her hopeless side chick, Kiana. 

"If it isn't the tart who stole my boyfriend," Jessica hissed,  dramatically moseying down the stairs in her heels and stepping up to me. 

Almost immediately, the smell of her toxic perfume hit me in the face and it took all of my energy not to gag. Jessica must have been crazy to think that anyone would fall for her when a horribly funky smell followed her around.

"Let me guess, you're escorting him too?" she chuckled wickedly, pointing towards Damien. 

After hearing those foul words leave her clown red lips, the temptation of clocking her square in the nose was incredibly appealing. I mean, it wouldn't hurt if she added more plastic to her face when it was already full of it, right? Sticking to my better judgment, however, I forced myself to tolerate her incompetent idiocy and continued to glare at her. This entire scene was taking place in a loaded parking lot, there were no doubts that there were witnesses watching us, some were probably even ready to call the police if things went further south. If I got in trouble with the police, Damien would kill me. 

Before things could get worse, I saw my saving grace.

"Isn't that your precious car being towed, Strippers?" I mocked, pointing to the tow truck on the other end of the parking lot. 

Declaring that it wasn't over between us, she spun on her heel and raced towards the man towing her car with Kiana running behind her. Exhaling my frustrations out deeply, I quickly ushered Laurence and Damien inside the restaurant, wanting to just get out of the parking lot. Once we were inside, I deposited myself into the closest empty booth and sank down into the seat. I dropped my head onto the table and I felt Damien and Laurence scoot closer to me.

"I guess I can see why you don't tell me this stuff," Damien sighed.  "You didn't really steal her boyfriend did you?"

"Of course not Damien!" I scoffed. "You know me better than. She's the one that can't take a hint that no one likes her, especially her so-called boyfriend." 

Disregarding any further questions from Damien, I waved down a waitress for menus. I just wanted a peaceful lunch after what happened and nothing was going to stop me from having that. 

Later that night, when I finished taking a nice hot shower and changing, Damien was already in the living room waiting for me. He didn't notice me come in however, instead, all of his attention was on Laurence. He was walking him through a number of chemistry problems, scribing them into a notebook. Smiling fondly, I walked into the kitchen and went through my usual routine of fetching money from the honey jar. Leaving two hundred dollars behind, I neatly folded the money and shoved it into my pocket. Jumping to the floor, I pulled my jacket on and strolled back into the living room. 

"Ready to go?" he questioned.

"Yeah," I replied. "We'll be back later Laurence. You know the drill."

"Yes, sis. Work hard." 

Locking up the apartment tight, Damien and I headed out into the parking lot and climbed back into his car. I pulled my seatbelt on and buckled in for the long ride ahead. Damien did the same thing and started the car. Soon after, we were on the road, heading towards The Pits.