The Usual: A Jonathan Brandis Fanfiction

Five

Tuesday

  I thought things were looking up. I had a new friend, a boyfriend who also happened to be my best friend, and plans for Orlando. But my parents, my God forsaken parents, broke me down.

Earlier That Day

  "Linger on, your pale blue eyes," my record player quietly hummed to me as I wrote an essay for English as part of my final.
  "Marie! Get your ass back in here!" I heard my father scream. I heard my mom running through the house, to the front door (as if she had a car to leave in), before I heard a loud smack.
  "Tom! Leave me alone!" she screamed through tears.
  I cracked my door and peeped out to see what was happening. I saw my mom against the door, shaking beyond belief, tears pouring out of her eyes. My dad towered over her, holding an iron rod.
  "You're going to get back in the bedroom, you're going to shut the hell up and you're going to do as I say. Clear?"
  "No! I'm tired of you doing this!" she screamed. "My daughter hates my guts because of you! You've ruined me! She doesn't have one good memory of me because of you! I hate you!"
  My mom was sober. She was actually saying something nice for once and she was showing something close to love. I saw my dad raise up the iron rod and before I knew it, I ran to tackle him down.
  "Absidee! Mind your own business!" my mom screamed, pulling me by my hair off of my dad and threw me to the other side of the living room.
  "You're nothing more than your mother. You're a slut. The easiest, ugliest bitch on the block. And you'll never be anything more," he sneered at me. I looked to my mom, who was still just as shaken up. She rolled her eyes and stood up.
  "I'll be in the bed room," she told him, giving up the fight. My dad watched her walk in and then stood above me.
  "Try me," he muttered, pointing the iron rod at me. He threw it down and walked to his bedroom. I ran back to my bedroom, choking back tears. When I walked by my parents door, I saw my mom snorting cocaine, my dad rubbing her shoulder.
  "I've gotta leave," I cried to myself quietly. Then, I noticed it. The tiny, shiny piece of metal. My blades. "It's not worth it," I thought to myself. But, I found myself cutting deep into my arms nonetheless. My tears poured out as blood trickled out from my arm. I washed my arm off, threw on a sweatshirt, grabbed what few belongings I had, threw them in my car, and I left. I went to the one place I felt safe- Jon's.
  I pulled into the driveway as Greg seemed to be finishing up some yard work.
  "Absidee- oh no, Absidee, what's wrong?" he put his arm around me and led me to the front door, where he guided me inside and set me on the living room couch.
  "Do you need Jon?" he asked as he sat beside me. I nodded and stood up. "Jon!" he called up the stairs. "Jon! Come down here!"
  Jon ran down the steps, his eyes looking puffy and almost as if he had been crying, but once he saw me he ran to hold me.
  "Absidee," he held me against his chest, stroking my hair.
  "What happened?" he asked his dad.
  "I don't know," his dad rubbed my shoulder. "Absidee, you don't have to tell me. But if you need me or Mary, please tell me okay? Or tell Jon."
  "Do you wanna go up to my room?" he asked me. I nodded and let go, following him to his room.
  We sat on his bed and I tried to calm down and explain what happened.
  "It's okay, just breathe," he held my hands. I then explained the story to the best of my ability, still shaking and crying.
  "Abi, just breathe, it'll be okay," he kept trying. "I'm so, so sorry," he was now crying with me. "You know you deserve better. Your mom is going through addiction and doesn't want help. You can't force her to get help. You need to leave. Abi. Your life is in danger," his voice was shaky.
  I took a deep breath and pulled up my sleeve. He gasped and cried even harder. I couldn't stop crying.
  "I'm so sorry," I cried. He just hugged me tight and told me over and over again, "I love you."
  I tried to breathe and collect myself. "C-can I please stay here for a little bit? I don't want to go back," I cried hard again.
  "Of course, let me go talk to Mom and Dad, okay?"
  I nodded and went to the upstairs bathroom to clean myself up. I splashed my face with some cold water and washed off what little makeup I had on. I washed my arm off again and threw my hair up in a bun. I changed out of my jeans and into sweats with a faded tie dye shirt.
  "Absidee!" Jon's parents called upstairs.
  I ran downstairs and tried to put myself together the best I could.
  "Absidee, honey, we'd be more than happy to let you stay with us until you and Jon move to Orlando. Don't worry about rent or anything. Okay? Do you need to go get your stuff?"
  "Thank you so, so much. And I only have a few things left at the house. I'll run by and grab them."
  "Jon will go with you," Greg voluntold his son.
  Jon smiled and we walked to my car, where I had to throw some stuff from the shotgun seat to the back seats.
  "Sorry for the mess," I joked.
  "No problem," he laughed as he sat down.
  "I really appreciate this," I told him.
  Jon smiled at me and said it was no problem. But something was off. The usually carefree, hilarious, sarcastic, smartass Jon wasn't there. He was quiet and reserved.
  "What's wrong?" I asked.
  "Nothing, I'm just stressed a little," he added a fake laugh. He looked in the mirror on the sun visor and examined his face.
  "Jon, there's nothing. No pimples, no acne." 
  He sighed and sat back. He leaned his head on his arm. His baggy flannel slid down his arm as he lifted his arm. He always wore huge clothes. Huge. He's tiny, he didn't need the tiny clothes.
  My thoughts were cut short as I pulled into my tiny, trashed house. "Stay here," I informed him.
  As I walked in, I felt a sense of joy rush over me. I would never have to suffer here anymore. I stepped in my room, where there was only my record player, my crate of records, the last few remaining clothes in my closet, my full length mirror, and comforter. Most of my stuff was in the trunk and backseat of my car already, like my clothes and shoes. I made a few trips to my car to set the stuff in there and finally grabbed a pen and paper, telling my parents I was leaving.
  "Now that I'm 2 months away from being 18, I figured it's best to get a head start on my life and leave. Not that you guys care, but unless you hear otherwise, I am fine and alive."
  "Let's go," I said as I sat in the car. Not once did my parents come out to check on me. Jon reached into my dashboard to pull out a CD to play, and when he put it in, Catholic Boy by Jim Carrol started to blast.
  The Basketball Diaries is of course my favorite movie, so Jon bought me the soundtrack to it. Jon cranked the volume as loud as it would go and we screamed People Who Died as loud as we could.
  As we pulled in and Jon helped me grab some of my stuff, I said, "I'm assuming your parents don't want me sleeping in your bed?"
  "They don't care. They never have. We have an extra room we use for storage where you can put your stuff. If we had an extra bed I would offer you that, I'm sorry."
  "It's more than okay, Jon."
  His parents helped me grab my stuff and get me settled in.
  "Let's go out to dinner," they suggested after we finished. It was now 8 o'clock and we were starving. They picked a really nice restaurant in the downtown area, where a teenage girl recognised Jon and asked him to sign her napkin.
  I thanked Jon's parents for the dinner and we all headed back home.
  I stepped in Jon's room as he walked Megan, settling in. I noticed a magazine on his nightstand, flipped to a page with a very buff guy.
  "What Girls Actually Love About Guys!" was the title, and a bunch of girls had written in saying what they found attractive in guys.
  "No acne! Absolutely none. Wash your face!!"
  "Can't be skinny! Can't be fat! Hit the gym guys!"
  "Perfect teeth!"
  Jon was never one to give a shit about what was popular or cool. So, not giving it a second thought, I scoffed and closed the magazine.
  I put on a big t-shirt and shorts and washed my face. Popping in a Velvet Underground CD, I got underneath the comforter and finished working on my English essay. 
  "Good choice," Jon walked in, turning up the music ever so slightly.
  "I love them," I smiled, as I finished my closing paragraph.
  "Essay for Johnston?"
  "Of course. It's finished now. Wanna read?"
  Jon nodded as he grabbed my paper. After a few minutes, he handed it back and exclaimed, "Abi, I really think you should be a writer one day. You took what was supposed to be the most boring essay -story and made it into something exciting. I don't know how you do it."
  "Writing just comes naturally," I shrugged as I put my paper away.
  Jon turned off his light and pulled me close, both of us falling asleep to Pale Blue Eyes.

Wednesday

  Getting ready for school was a lot less hectic at Jon's than at home. At home if I made one wrong move, my parents were up and screaming. Jon took a quick shower before I did and then we both stood in front of his mirror and got ready. He did his hair and I did my simple makeup look. Before we knew it, we were ready to head to Cup O' Joe.
  "You guys are here extraordinarily early. What's up with that?" Myles asked us as we took out usual seats.
  "Absidee decided to take over my house. She can't get enough of me," Jon smirked. I rolled my eyes and smiled.
  "Of course she can't! You're the definition of perfection," Joe batted his eyelashes as he set down our cups of coffee and freshly made muffins.
  Jon laughed and rolled his eyes. "No, I'm not," he smiled.
  I laughed at him and then explained briefly to Myles and Joe why I left home. They nodded understandingly and patted my knee.
  "I've got mad respect for you, Jon. You're a great guy. Absidee is so lucky," Myles shook his hand out of respect.
  "I'm the lucky one," Jon blushed.
  So we left for school as usual, and that day seemed surprisingly easier. I don't know why or how, but it comforted me to know I was finally safe.
  "Hey, Abi, Brittany and I were wondering how you, Rachael, and Jon would feel about going to the beach with us this weekend. Dad has a huge beach house we can all stay at for the weekend. You guys in?" Ryan asked me in calculus.
  "Uh, I'm free. I'll ask Jon. You know Rachael will definitely say yes."
  "Sweet. There'll be lots to drink and lots of fun stuff to do," Ryan smiled.
  Ryan would probably never have to work a day in his life. Living off of his father's money and charming girls with his beautiful hazel eyes and perfect dark hair was what he did best. However, he wanted more out of life.
  "I want to travel," he had told me in a deep conversation one night on the porch.
  "Then travel," I answered him.
  "I think I may," he thought to himself.
  Ryan traveled to Iceland that summer. He explored all over and made friends with several different people. He photographed his experiences and the turnout was amazing.
  "Looks like there's more to you than a pack of beer," Jon joked once Ryan returned.
  Eventually, the rest of the day went by. Jon agreed to the beach, now we had to get Rachael's answer.
  "Sure! I'll drive down and meet you guys at Jon's. Sound alright?"
  "Sounds good," Jon responded. We said our goodbyes and hung up Mary's office phone.
  "Alright, Abi, looks like you're back to packing. Beach weekend here we come!"