Austin woke up at the break of dawn feeling like he hadn't had a wink of sleep. Dark rings formed around his eyes showing just how tired he still was. He'd been tossing and turning all night long with thoughts of what had transpired the previous night running through his head on replay.
He got up anyway and slipped into the shower, letting the cold water help wake him up before he turned on the hot water. He didn't take too long in there because he was still kind of tired.
Drying himself off, he slipped on his favorite black briefs -he was a briefs guy-and along with them, dark faded jeans. He chose a loose blue tshirt and completed his outfit with a black zip up hoodie.
After making sure everything was in place in his room, he threw his backpack over one shoulder and exited his bedroom, heading downstairs to the kitchen. He found his mother standing by the stove making bacon.
His sister was seated at the kitchen island, awaiting breakfast.
He walked over to his mom and gave her a kiss on the cheek , "Morning mom!"
"Morning baby," she let go of the pan and turned to face him. She studied his face, more specifically the spot where he had received a blow. His cheek was still a little darker than the other but the handprint was mostly gone. "Oh sweety, does it still hurt ?" She asked him.
"I'm fine mom." But the look on his mother's face said she didn't believe him. So he added, "I'm serious. Don't worry."
She cradled his face in her hands and kissed the bruised cheek gently before letting him go sit down beside his sister.
"I swear that man is gonna drive me crazy one day."
"You mean he hasn't already?" Nicky joked from where she was seated.
Austin let out a chuckle and her mom didn't say anything back. Either she hadn't heard , or she was just letting it go.
A few minutes later, Austin and Nicky were eating their breakfast while their mother excused herself to go do other stuff. They were lucky their father had already left for work because Austin had no idea how this morning would have played out if his father was home when he came down for breakfast.
Nicky took shotgun as Austin drove towards Sam's house. They did that every morning because Sam's dad had refused to buy him a car and sometimes he left too early that he couldn't give Sam a ride to school. It happened so often that he mostly rode with the siblings to school or only with Austin on the days Nicky rode with Michael.
They found Sam sitting on the porch steps and as soon as he saw Austin's car, he picked up his backpack and headed towards them. He opened the back door and slid in before shutting it again.
"Hey McNamaras!" he greeted with a cheeky grin
"We have names, you know," Nicky stated without turning to look at him.
"I thought McNamara is a name." He replied.
"Idiot." Nicky said under her breath but Austin heard her and chuckled.
"You can say that again," he said in response and Sam heard this time.
"What did she say?" He leaned closer to Austin as he asked.
"Nothing." Nicky replied hastily. "We should start going now or we're gonna be late."
"Oh yea, I heard your boyfriend is coming back today." Sam commented. "Are you trying to catch him before he disappears again?"
"Shut up asshole." She said defensively, "And Michael is not gonna be in school today. He's nursing jet lag."
"I wish my parents could allow me to skive every now and then." Sam said as Austin pulled off the curb.
YOU ARE READING
VICE
Teen Fiction*THIS STORY IS UNDER COMPLETE RECONSTRUCTION.* Prickly, sarcastic, self-aware Austin is roped into a risky dare by his best friend that leads to one of the most frustratingly eventful days of his young life. Not one for attention, Austin has prefer...
