I'll Swim, You Play Your Football

Chapter 11

Landon's POV

I walked into the motel room and was practically tackled by a crazy woman, also known as my lovely mother.

"Landon! Where have you been? I love you Landon, and you left me with these people!" She said grabbing my shirt and pressing her body against mine. I looked down and saw her eyes were completely bloodshot and her words were slurred. Her lips were all cracked and bleeding and she looked a mess.

"Come on mom, let's get you to bed." I said in a calm voice. Matty, Callie, and Tom were standing off to the side watching. I took her hand and she followed me into her room. I turned on the lights and led her to her bed. She sat down and I helped her to lay down.

"I'm going to get you some extra blankets okay. Don't move." I said slowly walking out of the room. I went into my room and reached up to the top shelf of my closet to pull down a heavier blanket. I went back into her room and saw she was asleep. I laid the blanket over her and went back to the others.

"When did she come back?" I asked sitting on the couch.

"Not long before I called you. She was going crazy, I didn't know what to do." Callie said. Matty sat down and patted his knees. Callie sat on his lap and I dug in my pocket. I froze. I pulled out my lighter and felt through my other pocket. I stood up and hurried to my room. I looked on the ground, through my little nightstand, and under my mattress.

"What's wrong?" Tom asked standing in my doorway.

"There are no cigarettes left."

"So just get some tomorrow." I shook my head and felt my hands getting clammy.

"I need one now." I said feeling a little shaky.

"Okay, okay we can go get some. Come on." He said grabbing my arm and pulling me out of the room.

"Anyone else want to come to the convenient store?" Tom asked. I grabbed my keys when Callie and Matt both got up. We locked the door and went down to the car. I opened the door and scrunched up my face. The smell of illegal drugs was overwhelming.

"We cannot drive in this." I said closing the door.

"Why?" Callie asked skipping over while pulling a Matty along. I motioned for them to open a door. Matty opened one and immediately turned his face away.

"Uh, yeah, I don't really want to get arrested." Matty said as he closed the door.

"I guess we have to walk then." I said locking the car.

"Yay an adventure!" Matty cheered and ran across the parking lot. I rolled my eyes when he pouted since the rest of us all walked over. "You guys aren't looking very adventurous." He started walking with us down the sidewalk.

"Sure we are." I tried reassuring. Matty glared over to me every time we reached a beam of light from the street lights. Otherwise it was too dark to see him. He kept running ahead and we were all joking around. It was about a mile walk, so we got there in about 15 minutes.

I hurried across the parking lot and went right up to the counter.

"Hey Steve, three packs of Marlboros." I said taking out the money. The others walked in a minute later and started wandering around the store. Steve gave me the cigarettes and I immediately opened one. He pulled out a cigarette of his own, and I lit it for him along with mine.

"How've you been?" He asked. I closed my eyes and blew out a cloud of smoke, finally feeling relaxed.

"Fine. My mom just came back high and drunk from NYC, so that's always a good thing." He nodded and rolled his eyes.