Catch My Fall | ✔

21. Go To Bed

Lamar didn't live too far. Actually, he lived only thirty minutes away from Romeo's mom. The second I sent Romeo the text, I remembered we weren't on the best of terms at the moment. But the message had been sent and, a minute later, read.

That's how Romeo ended up outside my house at ten at night. I was sitting in a chair on the porch when he arrived.

"What is that?' He asked, pointing to my overnight bag on my lap as he walked up to meet me.

"Snacks, mostly." I said it, trying to keep the mood light, but he wasn't smiling.

He shoved his hands into the pockets of his jean jacket. "Why am I here?"

"As I said in my message, I need you to drive me somewhere," I said, standing.

"Now?" I nodded. "No. Go to bed."

He started to walk back to his car. No? He couldn't just say no. I followed him to the driveway. "Romeo, this is important."

"Then why can't you ask your mom to take you?" he asked, pausing at the end of the driveway to turn to me. "Or Indy? Or...anyone else."

The way he spat out those last two words made me wonder if he was talking about Andre.

"I don't want to get my mom or Indy involved," I told him, stopping a few feet away. "Not yet, at least. Please? I wouldn't ask if it wasn't important."

"Where are you even trying to go?"

"At the moment, your mom's house." His brows pulled together. "I was thinking we could crash there tonight and then tomorrow morning we could go meet my sperm donor."

He was really paying attention then, taking a step closer. "You found him?"

"Yes. Well, he found my mom," I told him. "He sent her an email with his address." I pulled it up on my phone to show him.

He stared at the email for a long while. "This could be some sort of scam."

"It's not. I looked him up," I said, putting my phone back in my pocket. "But if things do go wrong, that's why I got you. For your big, strong muscles." I poked his biceps, hoping for even a chortle. Nothing.

"No." He continued to his car, climbing into the driver's seat.

Even with things rocky between us, I thought he'd still be there for me. Even with my poorly thought out plans in the middle of the night.

The yellow light of the street lamp illuminated his car. He just sat there, rubbing his brow. What was he doing?

I started to call out to him when he got back out of the car. He looked at me over the hood. "My mom said it's fine for us to stay," he told me and I noticed the phone in his hand. "But only if we clean out all the junk food from her house."

A smile played across my face as I walked to his car. "All I heard was free food." When I pulled the handle of the passenger's side door, it was locked. Romeo didn't move to unlock it. The two of us just stared at each other over the hood of his car. "You gonna unlock the door?"

"Is he your boyfriend?"

I noted the way he refused to call Andre by name. "No," I said. "I mean, I don't think so. We haven't talked about it."

He reached into the car and unlocked the door. What would've happened if I'd said Andre was my boyfriend?

● ● ●

"Are you getting sleepy?"

Romeo had gone even quieter than usual, which he did when he was tired. Like talking would use up what little energy he had left. We were only half way to his mom's house, on a highway that ran through the desert. Aside from the occasional car or truck, we seemed to be the only people out there.