The Son of a Preacher

Chapter sixteen: Starting to drown

Lucas,1986,Huntsville,Alabama

It's been a few weeks since my mamma got out of the hospital. She is more dead than before, the drugs really messed her memory up. Sometimes she would even forget where she was, so I had to take care of her even more now. Especially since she lost her job at the library, I had to find a job to take care of us. So most of my nights were spent at the supermarket and my weekends were taken up by working on farms. I had to keep this family afloat, even though it was already starting to drown. Caleb and I are not back together or anything but we at least said hi to each other in the halls.  Greg of course was annoyed by this and I never told him that Caleb was with me at hospital. I felt like if I told him, he wouldn't want to be friends anymore. I can't afford to lose anyone else in my life. I'm biking over to Greg's house now to ask him if he wants to hang out. 

Every time I have an off day, I try to hang out with Greg. Lately though, he's been distant. He always says he other things he has to do. I know he's busy trying to train for football camp this summer but still I miss him. I go up to his front door and knock loudly. It takes a few minutes before someone answers. 

" Hey Greg." I say, smiling big at his messy bed hair. 

" Hey Lucas." He says with a lazy grin.

" Do you want to hang out today?" I ask hopefully.

" I don't know, I was going to practice some today." He says not looking me in the eye. This lets me know he's hiding something. He always does that when he's trying to keep something from me. 

" Please, we haven't hung out at all this week!" I beg, even pouting out my bottom lip for good measure.

" Fine but only for a little while." He says reluctantly ,opening his front door fully.  

" Thank you so much!" I exclaim.I throw my arms around his neck, raising up and pecking his cheek. 

" You know I can't resist you." He whispers, shaking his head with a grin. 

" I know, no one can resist this." I say pointing to my pouting lip. 

" Get inside, before I do something, I'll regret." He says once again not looking me in the eyes. 

I shoot him a weird look but come inside anyways. Every time I come into his house, I still can't believe how big it is. It even has long, spiraling staircase. His living room and kitchen even have separate rooms entirely, unlike my trailer where it's only separated but an open doorway. He leads me up to his bedroom.His bedroom is almost as big as my entire house. I jump up onto his bed, bouncing up and down on his soft mattress. 

" I think the only reason you come over, is for my bed." He laughs.

" Yes, I'm sorry Greg I'm going to steal your bed and marry it." I say burrowing my face into his mattress. 

" Yeah right, you're stuck up Caleb's butt." He mutters bitterly under his breath.

" Is that why your mad at me, because Caleb and I aren't mad at each other anymore?" I question annoyance slipping into my tone. 

"No I'm glad that means you can finally let him go, but that doesn't mean you guys have to talk in the hallways!" He says anger slipping into his voice.

" He's just saying hi, there's nothing wrong that." I say in disbelief. 

" Hi could turn into friends and then friends could turn into more!" He snaps clearly pissed at me. 

" What's wrong with that!" I snap tired of dealing with his crap.

" You really want to go back to him, after all he's done to you!" He yells, clenching his fists tightly together.