Bruised (Jack Barakat)

Chapter 3

"God, this pizza tastes like heaven," Dilan groaned, grabbing her third slice of pizza from the box on the counter. I nodded, feeling a thump in the couch and an arm around my shoulders. I glanced my eyes over to my left, where I felt the shift, and caught a glimpse of messy brown hair. He was scrolling through twitter on his phone, scrunching his eyebrows.

He face looked focused, almost as if he was doing something important. Before I could speak, I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket.

Alex must have felt it too because he focused his eyes on me. I blushed hard and snuggled my hand into my back pocket, bringing my phone to my face. 'Your Mom' was printed in white while a picture of my mother with icing all over her face from my 16 the birthday. I sighed and got up excusing myself from the noise of the room. Alex gave me a confused glance when I excited the room and onto the open area.

I moved to a small area on the back of the stage and picked up my phone, "Hello?" My voice was hoarse and strained. I laid my back against a wall and looked down at my light blue jeans. My mother made a few noises before answering, "W-W-Where the hell are you?"

Cool, mom. Call your daughter when you're drunk.

"I'm at the All Time Low concert, remember? It lasted a little longer than I thought it would" I scratched the back of my neck.

"Y-You're my bitch. So you-u need to come home now" She laughed.

I rolled my eyes before sighing, glancing my eyes on the ceiling. I then closed my eyes, wanting to be back at the party where I was enjoying myself.

"No, mom. Have your boyfriend take care of you, you're drunk. See you when I see you" I opened my eyes, slid the red button, and placed my phone back in my pocket.

I took a deep breath, knowing I'm going to be in shit for hanging up on my mother. I then looked to my left, where the party was, and slid myself off the wall. I walked slowly to the room, wanting time to think.

When I got there, I opened the door and looked around at everyone crowded around Dilan and Brian, lead singer of The Summer Set, playing Guitar Hero.

Just as I smiled to Alex, signaling everything was alright, I started breathing quicker. My heart pounded through my chest, tears filling my eyes.

Shit, no. Not now. Oh, please. Not now.

My stomach filled with butterflies and my throat started closing up. Dilan, who glanced over at me at one point, saw my facial expression and made an excuse to give up her spot.

She took my hand and took me out the door, where tears started rolling down my face. Thank god, for Dilan I didn't want to cause any more attention to myself.

"Ssh, baby. It's okay" She brought me to her side, where she slung her arm around my shoulder and rocked me.

"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine" Her voice was soft and sweet, just like Ryan's.

When I was little, and every time I was upset about something, Ryan would sing 'You are my sunshine' while rocking me. It soothed me in a way no one else could. It also got to a point where if I would get upset during class, I'd make my teacher call Ryan to sing to me.

When I met Dilan in 4th grade, the year my brother got sick, she would sing to me just as my brother did. She was there for me when my brother got even worse and I was scared for his life.

In 8th grade, the year I was diagonsed with a serve anexity disorder, my brother died. I was sick, sick for days. My mother was scared that I was dead inside when I would sit on the couch for two days, not moving an inch