The Bad Girl and The Good Boy (#Wattys2014)

~*~Two~*~

*Kade*

I wait until I’m just on the borderline of town before I go into one of the disgusting toilets of a petrol stations. Disgusting, truly. I take of my black rimmed glasses and shoving them in the bottom of my duffle bag, taking my time as I put in my clear contacts, blinking a few times into the stingy and blurry mirror, I quickly pull off my sweater shoving that in my duffle bag leaving me in just a black tank, before changing out of my camo pants and into a pair of grey joggers, switching my shoes for sneakers. Zipping up my bag and slinging it over my shoulder I look at my almost complete transformation, the black ink twirling up my left arm standing out to me the most, this was the biggest thing that went against everything I ‘was’, went against what everyone thought of me, was the snake coiled around my arm. No longer the little nerd, I finish off the look by ruffling up my hair a bit before leaving the toilets heading along the border to the gym just on the edge.

Tossing my reflection a smirk, this was me.

I walk into the gym, ignoring all the other people as I head over to my corner, everyone immediately disappearing, going to other places in the gym. I dump my duffle bag on the floor and take in a deep breath, getting a good whiff of what was familiar now.

This was, is, my territory.

 
I fish my keys out of my duffle bag, now full of smelly gym clothes, spotting my glasses sitting there in the bottom, I get the rectangular black rimmed glasses out and put them on, squinting, glasses weren’t made to be worn with contacts at the same time.

I push the door open, surprised to see the light on as I walk in, closing the door behind me. “I don’t think so Kevin,” I hear my mother’s voice sigh, letting my glasses drop a little down my nose I peer into the lounge room, where the light was coming from, the rest of the house was still dark. “Figure it out!” My mother’s voice went louder with each word as she rubs the bridge of her nose, her blonde hair piled on the top of her head in a tight bun. “What do you mean you’ve lost the records?” She says in a strained voice, sounding as though she was trying not to yell.

I watch as she picks up her bag that she must’ve only just put down, “I’ll be there in twenty minutes.” She sighs before hanging up, turning around and seeing me for the first time.

Her mouth drops agape, as if she’d forgotten she did in fact have a son, as if she’d forgotten that I still lived here, that she wasn’t as alone as she acted. “Kade.” She says, almost as though she was picking her words carefully.

“I heard,” I mumble, running a hand through my messy hair. “I’ll be fine.” I add walking past the lounge room, I start going up the stairs to go to my room when I hear the front door open, it didn’t close for a few moments, almost as if my mother was contemplating saying something. Something like goodbye, or I’ll be home late or don’t wait up. But the door shuts, shunning me into silence.

I get out of the shower twenty minutes later, dressed in just a pair of black flannel pants, I grab my hamper from my bathroom and my gym clothes out of my duffle bag before heading downstairs, passing all the family portraits as I went, all the old memories, and walk into the laundry room, tossing everything into the washing machine turning it on and walking out, into the kitchen.

Opening the fridge searching for anything to eat, the fridge, as usual, was full. It always was, sometimes it was even over full. If mums boss ever made her come home, she’d always go out immediately, whether to shop for food, for more suits for her collection, or just went out to a yoga session or two of them. She’d do whatever it took to stay out.