Living the Life of Riley | ✔

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Nineteen

Carefully making my way over the ice, I walked up the dingy path.  This was practically home to me.  I knew every crack in the path, every secret this building held.  Would it surprise you if I told you it was a block of flats?  Well, I knew every couple, old perve or person living in these flats.  No-one moved out and no-one ever moved in.  With the exception of me.

During my friendship with Mason, I’d often ‘move in’ with Mason when things got too heated at home.  This was also where I spent most of my time with the crew.  This wasn’t just Mason’s home, it was a home to us all.  We’d lived here, eaten here, crapped here and each and every one of the crew knew that if we needed somewhere to stay, Mason’s was always open.  Whether it was his flat or his neighbour’s (who was apparently the hottest chick alive, but I didn’t agree.  She looked like she’d been born from a horse’s butt), there was always somewhere for us to stay.  Hopefully he wasn’t too busy.  With it being Christmas Eve, I knew Mason might have gone to visit his mum.  Unlike me, he had daddy issues.  I had mummy issues.  What a great pairing we made!

Frantically pushing the grey doorbell (I didn’t know what to call it – it was a metallic box that was almost frozen), I made sure Mason knew I was here.  I buzzed him for about two minutes, on-and-off knowing how much it annoyed him.

“What?”  A gruff voice answered.  I was pretty sure I’d woken Mason up even though it was five in the afternoon.

“It’s me.  Can you let me in please?  It’s freezing.”  I stuttered into the mic.  I hadn’t worn the best clothing – only a few layers.  In this weather you needed to be wearing a sheep to be even considered slightly warm.

“Alright, ‘me’, who are you?”

“You can’t recognise the voice?  Wow, Mase, thought you were smarter.  Turns out you’re almost as dumb as I am.  And you stayed in school.”  I laughed, a little.  It was too cold to really be laughing.  I couldn’t feel my face – luckily I’d grabbed a woolly hat.  At least my head was warm.  And my ears… slightly.  But it wasn’t enough to stop the shivers.

“Mars?  Jesus Christ.  I’ll let you in.”  Hearing the buzz, I rushed to the doors thanking whoever was up in the clouds.  Maybe something would go right.

~ ~ ~

“And that’s the whole story.”  I sighed, leaning back into the worn out couch.  Mason looked a little stumped, a little shocked and angry.  The anger rose when I mentioned I was pregnant.  Let’s just say I skipped over that whole part.  I didn’t want to make Mason angry.  He wasn’t a nice guy when he was angry.

“So, you got kicked out and instead of coming here… you ran to your uncle?”

“I went with my gut instinct.  I couldn’t leave here forever and you know that.  Caroline’s psychotic – what do you think she’d do if I knew I lived here?”  He made an ‘oh’ with his mouth.  “Exactly.  She’d go bat shit crazy and no-one wants that.  Plus, I needed space.”

“And that space made you come running back to daddy!”  He laughed.  I laughed with him; the familiarity of being with Mason made me feel safe.  Strangely enough though, not as safe as I felt with Tristan.  It was odd.  Mason and Tristan were the same build and almost acted the same yet there was something different about Tristan.

“It sure as hell did.”  Was my only response.

“But you can’t run away from yourself.”  Oh, God.  Here we go; Mason being ‘righteous’.  It wasn’t what I needed.  Not what I wanted.

“Mase-“

“No.  Mars, you always do this.  When people get too close, you run.”

“I didn’t do that with you.”  It was true; I hadn’t run from Mason.