Falling For A Bad Boy - T.Holland

s e v e n t e e n

I sat in the living room watching a random movie I found on Netflix. It was fairly quiet today, I had no school, Kyla was out with friends, and my dad was at work. So it was just me, Netflix and my bowl of chips. It was great, I didn't have to do anything for anyone. I could just sit, by myself, and relax. Something I haven't done in weeks. 

As I was watching the movie I heard the phone ring from the kitchen. It was weird since the house phone never really rang because all three of us had a phone. I was curious to who was calling so before it stopped ringing I quickly picked it up, not saying anything. It had sent to voicemail but I still listened quietly simply out of curiosity. 

[ Hello, it's Marie... ]

My heart absolutely dropped. How did she get this number? Why is she calling? Why the fuck is she calling!?

[ I just wanted to let you know that I'm excited for next week and that I'd be bringing a gift for both of the girls, hope that's okay,]

Next week? Bringing a gift? No fucking way. My damn mother is coming to visit us next week? I was so angry. I wanted to scream so much. How could my dad keep such a thing from me? He really doesn't care does he, I mean, he knows how much I don't like her but still chooses to invite her over like nothing ever happened.

"What?" I say quietly, I never meant it to come out but it just did. I was so in shock and honestly a little scared.

[ Avery? Is that you? Oh my god, I've missed you so much, I- ]

"What the hell do you mean you're excited for next week?" I say completely ignoring anything else she said.

[ Oh, yes, of course, your father invited me to come to visit next week. I hope that's okay with you, I really can't wait to see my two beautiful girls- ]

"Stop. Just stop. I'm not okay with it! Do you expect me to be happy when my abusive druggy of a mom comes to visit me? Hell no!" I yell. I seriously could've kept going with the line of insult but decided to stop and let her speak.

[ I know why you think of me like that, and I wanted to apologize in person but since you're already here, ]

"You have 1 minute to explain why the hell you did that shit to me before I hang up."

[ O-Okay, I have no excuses for what I did. It was terrible I know but after I left when you were 13 I started to really get better. I didn't want to risk going back to my bad habits again and thought that you both would be better off without me. I'm so sorry Avery, I never meant for it to be this bad. I'm a lot better now, and I have been for 3 years now. I really hope you can forgive me for everything I- ]

I just hung up. I couldn't take it. She never once sent a letter, called or sent a damn text. I was so angry, I didn't know what to do with myself. I just wanted to deal with it somehow. The first person that I could think of was Tom. He'd definitely know how to calm me down right? He's done it before, who says he can't do it again?

So I ran to his house and knocked at his door. Nikki opens it wide and notices the slight tear stains on my cheeks. "Sweetie is everything alright?" She asks, letting me in. "Uh, yeah just some family drama," I joke, trying to cover up the fact that my mother wants to come back. She nods her head and calls Tom downstairs, leaving me and him alone for a few moments.

"Hey love, everything alright?" He says as he walks down the last few steps of the staircase.

"No," I say quietly so no one else could hear. He frowns and walks over to me. "What's going on? Have you been crying?"He asks, clearly worried.

"Uhm, my mom is coming to visit next week and I don't know how to deal with what I'm feeling," I say, starting to panic. It had finally hit that I'd be seeing my mom in less than 7 days, and I didn't know how to feel about it.

"What are you feeling?"

"Like I wanna punch something, or drink then punch something. I'm angry and sad, and extremely just scared, to be honest. How the hell do I deal with this?" I look up at him. Tears forming in my eyes again. I could see how worried he was just by the way he was looking at me.

"Let's not do the drinking part but I think I can help with the whole punching situation."

I didn't really know where he was taking me. He just told me to get in his car cause he was gonna take me somewhere. I trusted him, it's not like he was gonna bring me to some gang fight...haha...right?

We stop in front of this big building, it looked like a gym but it didn't have the basic moms walking in and out with friends from book club. So I had to check that off my list. Plus, there wasn't much around. It was rather quiet other than the few cars at the intersection, a gas station, 2 or 3 fast food places not too far away, some more Crossfit or whatever gyms around, and that was it. It wasn't like your day to day gym. We walk inside and I don't know why I was even surprised. There were a few boxing rings and some punching bags and more equipment all around the big building. I scoffed at his 'surprise'

"What?" He asks with a slight smirk. "You scared"

"Of course not," 

"Ok then, let me get you ready."

It's ok, you can do this.