I Eat Oreos

12

Gavin

Watching Uncle Terry go underground crushed my heart. The pieces fell to the pit of my stomach.

I drove back up to South Carolina early in the day on Sunday. No one came but me. My family didn't put up a fight when I told them I wanted to be alone. Maybe God did care about me.

After the burial, I decided to go home to check on Layton. I didn't tell him when I was coming back. I wanted to surprise him so he couldn't prepare himself. He would be at work by the time I got there so it'd be a very good surprise indeed.

I took out the key, unlocked the door, and walked in. The apartment was spotless. It smelled like Lysol. There were no boxes of takeout, no clothes anywhere, not even a crumb. Either he got a maid or something was up.

I went straight to his room to find him there. He was lying on the bed looking like he lost his doggone puppy.

I don't know why, but anger rose in me. When he saw me he looked terrified.

"Why. Are. You. Here?" I asked with a dangerously low voice. I already knew; it was evident on his face. I just asked with a bit of hope it wasn't what I thought.

"Listen, Gav," he sat up and walked toward me slowly. His hands were in front of him as if he were afraid I was going to beat him.

"Jason was just upset today." My breathing was getting quicker and rougher. It had to have been the 5th time, if not more, this had happened. The more he tried to explain the angrier and I got.

"Stop," I said. "Layton, just stop! I'm always having to fix your mess! I always have to look after you and I'm sick of it! I'm done! Fix it yourself!"

"Gav..."

"No! You know what..." At that point, I was out of my mind. I couldn't control anything I did or said. I opened his closet door and started throwing clothes out. All of my anger tore his clothes off the hangers. Some of them ripped.

"Get out. Find someone else to take care of you and your crap!"

He looked terrified, completely shell-shocked, but I couldn't care less in that moment. I was heated. I'd been a volcano saving up for this moment to spurt hot, burning lava everywhere.

I couldn't look at him anymore. Quickly, I was in my car driving back to Georgia; to the Morgans'. I needed to see Kayla. She'd be upset with me, I knew, but she'd at least be there for me.

Only an hour and a half later, I was in their driveway. Kayla's car wasn't around. I would just go to my room and wait for her. It was probably best that I didn't be as angry as I was when I was around her. I didn't want her to experience the wrath that I felt like handing out.

As soon as I walked in, I knew my day couldn't get any worse.

"Gavin," Tiffany grinned at me as soon as she saw me. "What?" I had no patience, none at all. She needed to say what she needed to say and get the heck out of my face.

"I have some good news."

My face fell. Nothing she thought was good was gonna be good for me. I looked behind her to see my aunts at the table.

"Tammy, Teresa, and I decided to stay for New Years. We wanted you to stay with us. I felt it would give us time to catch up."

I knew I was tomato red at that point. Apparently, she thought me giving her my room meant I was trying to form some sort of bond with her. The lady didn't realize, that wasn't for her, that was for me. And Kayla. I was just trying to do my best at being nice.

I nodded my head and walked away. I still believed in respecting my elders so it was either let it go, or embarrass her.

Going to my room, I felt like yelling. I felt like punching something. Everyone wanted to make me mad. It was make Gavin mad day. All of my soft spots were being poked at.

Only about five minutes later, Kayla came in. I was not calm yet.

"Gavin, you okay?" I heard her ask softly. She sat next to me on the bed and looked down at me with a soft smile on her face.

"Not really. I just..."

"Your mom?"

"She's not my mother," I corrected her instantly. She sighed. "I'm sorry, Gavin, that you're so angry. I wish I could help."

"Well, you can't Kayla. You can't fix everything. So stop trying to." In the back of my mind, I knew that wasn't a good thing to say, but I did anyway. 'Cause, at the moment, I was being dumb.

"Oh. Wow, I'm sorry you think that way. I never meant to come off that way," I could sense she was hurt. I felt hurt just for hurting her.

"Can you just give me a minute, please?" For a moment she just looked at me. She then nodded and got up.

Before she left, I heard her say, "I'll pray for you." And I knew she would. Maybe that was what I needed.