Carolina [h.s]

chapter fifteen

content warning: hard drug use.

south carolina
july 1990

***

Vada
//

The television was playing an old black and white program lowly. Beer bottles, half smoked cigarettes and ashes clutter the table behind him as he sits on the top of it, bare feet on the chair beneath him.

I watched the way he moved his fingers to light up the joint to his mouth, hand hovering over it. A large smoke cloud puffs out of his mouth surrounding him, making the whole room smell of pot mixed with his aftershave.

I wasn't even sure why I was here or why he let me come in. Last time I was here things didn't end so well.

But for some reason I wasn't as skeptical as I probably should have been. Instead I was calm as I sat with my back against the headboard of his unmade bed, crisscrossed and strangely comfortable.

When he opened the door shirtless and uncovered bruises were shown shamelessly, I couldn't help but stare.

The nasty bruise above his ribcage was huge and looked more than painful. I also noticed his stitches on his right shoulder, a large gash beneath them. Before I could let my mind wander about the things they had done to him, I looked away acting like he wasn't marked at all.

It was silent between us but that wasn't unusual either. Bruised fingers tap ash off the joint, and I watched closely as his lips closed around it blowing out white smoke. The intensity of his stare had me almost hypnotized for a second, as his dark green eyes looked towards me.

"Want something?" he suddenly asks as he tilts his head.

His curls fell on his face but he's used to it as he doesn't bother to move them. Tattoos and bruises are on display and nothing about this boy is plain or ordinary.

Right then I knew I was too sober for this. But I keep my expression calm like his always is. My eyes glance to the joint in his fingertips.

"Something stronger?" I find myself asking.

It was almost two in the morning. I should be sleeping soundly in my purple sheets surrounded by my fairy lights. I should leave him by himself down at the motel below me, not trap myself in the room with him.

His cherry lips twist to the side, biting back a smirk as he shakes his head. "Careful, V" he takes another drag "remember who you're talking to." The smoke passes his lips as he speaks.

"Right, I almost forgot" I roll my eyes standing up "you're like some drug lord or something." I snort as I stand in front of him lips, curved and keeping my eyes teasing.

I go to reach for his joint without permission, but he stands up instead, towering over me. Curls hanging around his face, his head tilts down at me, watching.