Living the Life of Riley | ✔

Chapter Twenty Four

Chapter Twenty Four

One week later and the situation still hadn’t gotten any better. I felt like a chew toy that was being stretched between two dogs. I was worn out and Mason had left to sort some stuff out back in Dalla. I wish I had snuck into his car and joined him – it would have been so much easier than staying here.

“Marzipan, what’s up?” Thom whispered. I was massaging my temples and wondering how I had gotten myself into this situation. Maybe it was karma?

“I’m just very tired.” I wasn’t going to bring it up, but a certain somebody tried to climb into my house, yet again, to be “helpful” and to “help look after my baby”. It’s safe to say that they had a nice, huge bruise from a pan. I was not going to be intimidated in my own house or be forced to look after anyone I didn’t want to.

“Are you sure it’s just that?”

“I think you know the rest.” For the past week, every time I had tried to do something I got a text off Will (God knows how he got my number) or Tristan. Either that, or they would both mysteriously appear if I was in trouble. It was unnerving and annoying. And there was never a moment of peace.

“How about we escape?” Currently, Tristan and Will were now arguing over who was going to buy me a healthy drink. Tristan was arguing that Will was only out for himself and that he wouldn’t let me pick whereas Will was accusing Tristan of not caring about the baby’s health. If I was going to be honest, I would have rather spent the last of my change on buying myself a drink.

“Right, because that’s going to be so easy!” I hissed, trying not to be too loud. Even though they were arguing among themselves, I didn’t want to risk Tristan or Will (or both) having a go at Thom, assuming that I was angry because I was shouting at him. Most of the time it was true, but I would rather shout solo than have a posse behind me repeating themselves like parrots.

“Just pretend to go to the toilet and then run. Simple!” I rose an eyebrow at Thom. It could work, but I didn’t exactly feel like running. It was worse than running up the stairs without any support. My mind quickly changed when I heard them talk about who would be taking me home and who knew best for me. I refused to have my life dictated by two idiots.

Without saying a word, I stood up and made my way to the ‘toilet’. Within seconds of leaving the table, I heard two voices call for me. I stopped, rolled my eyes, and turned to face them.

“A girl can’t pee in private?” I remarked and walked off without a reply. Rather than just leaving, I did ‘empty my bladder’ (as they say) since I had no idea where Thom would take me and I was not risking running around like a headless chicken looking for a toilet.

After relieving myself, I opened the door so that it was wide enough for me to check that Dumb and Dumber weren’t looking at me. When I was happy, I walked out and through the café casually, as if nothing was wrong. I didn’t look behind me, not until I was out the door and across the road. No-one was screaming my name so it was safe to say I’d successfully escaped! I felt like celebrating. My first real freedom, outside, in a week.

“Mars!” Dread filled me before I realised it was Thom. He and Tristan sounded alike, but Thom had a slighter higher voice. I thanked the man who hid in the clouds for giving me relief.

“You scared me for a second.”

“Scared? You?” He laughed really loudly. I’m sure the few oldies roaming the streets stopped to stare (and they definitely were not happy with the noise). “You’ve been in a couple of fights, stood up to Sophia, whacked Will over the head and now you’re scared? Even after all the ‘supposed’ drama you’ve been in when you lived in… wherever it was?”