**Thanks for reading this story, it's my first so I hope you like it. Please review and tell me what you think! This starts before Season 1 when Jax is 24 -I don't own any characters from SOA**
Chapter 1
Driving down the interstate towards our new-old home the hot, dry air whipped tangles in my hair. I was not looking forward to moving back to my childhood town. The leather on the steering wheel burned at the top where the sun was beating down on it. I glanced over at my mom who was passed out in the passenger seat, her legs propped up on the dashboard and her mouth wide open. This was all for her.
Charming, California was the town I had grown up in. It was a small town where nothing exciting ever seemed to happen. The layout of the town was boring too, no major stores or restaurants, no nice parks or pools for kids to enjoy, and even the outskirts of the town were desolate, surrounded by desert-like grounds. There was a small main street where the only business owners had their stores and a gas station on the north end of town heading out. For a kid growing up there it was fine, but for a teenager it was like prison. We had lived there until my dad had died when I was 11. That's when my mom decided to move us to the big city to live with my aunt. My mom had wanted a change from where she had lived her whole life. She was running away from the reminders of her past. Unfortunately she did not have what it took to survive in the real world and now at age 22 I was driving us back to our roots.
Glancing at her sleeping she appeared almost normal. Her hard face was softened and peaceful. A vast contrast from the mom I had been living with for some time now. Since escaping Charming she had not been able to deal with the death of my dad, raising a teenage daughter alone and the other stresses of life. She had turned to alcohol, which she could not handle either and had been on a downward spiral ever since. The way my life had always been, the fact that I need to be there for my mom, leaving never seemed like a feasible option. But I always daydreamed of what it would be like to live on my own. I wanted to have my own little flower store where I could spend all day filling it with beautiful arrangements of fresh flowers and a small house by the beach that I could decorate however I pleased. Maybe also a great guy who complimented me perfectly, our love so strong we could never keep our hands off each other, which of course would make us end up with at least three kids. So many fantasies always taking place in my head, they seemed to soften the blow of the reality that I was living.
I pulled myself from my thoughts and slowed down, turning right into the gas station at the side of the road. It seemed like we had been driving for hours with no civilization in sight so I figured I would fill up just in case this was the only place for miles. My thighs hurt as my skin peeled off the leather seats reminding me that moving in the summer was a terrible idea. I filled up at the pump noticing some men staring at me from the window. They were older and grungy and appeared as if they hadn't showered in a while. I would normally be wearing much more, but in that old car with no air conditioning the less I wore the better. My long tan legs stuck out from my cut off jeans into my navy converse. I was wearing a white racer back tank which was rolled up at the bottom because I was too hot in that car. I had my blonde hair thrown up into a messy bun and my oversized black sunglasses kept sliding down my nose in the hot sticky air. I cringed knowing I had to go inside and face them to get my mom a pack of smokes.
"Hey beautiful, what can I do you for?," the toothless man greeted me as I stepped inside.
I took a breath trying not to judge him even though this seemed predictable. "Just a pack of Camels, thanks," I responded glancing away, out the store window at my mom still fast asleep in the car.
He tossed me the pack and grinned as I handed him the money and quickly high tailed it out the door. Standing outside with the hot breeze was almost as torturous as being stuck inside the car. I rerouted the trip on my phone to see how close we actually were. Good, we should be there by about 7 p.m., hopefully there was A/C in my grandfather's small house.
I got back in the car and steered it towards the highway as we headed back on our way. I focused my eyes on the road and let myself enjoy the quietness of the ride. I loved driving on long trips, it would remind me of times that I had spent with my dad. Driving was like a form of meditation to me. When I was stressed out I would go for drives just to relax and let go of all my thoughts. Sometimes I would suddenly realize that I didn't even remember driving moments before, I was so relaxed. Those were the times that I would feel guilty and promise myself to pay more attention.
My mom had managed to sleep almost the whole car ride. As we pulled off the exit to the hole in the wall town she finally woke up.
"Hey are we almost there?" she croaked out, licking her dry lips, taking her legs down from the dashboard and straightening up.
"Yeah this is the exit so maybe five more minutes or so," I answered taking a quick glance in her direction.
"Do you think we can stop at the store?" she asked, I knew what this meant.
"Sure mom, just point me in the direction," I answered turning left onto Main Street. She pointed out the local general store which had a quaint historic-like storefront. I pulled up in front into the closest parking space and waited in the car as she went inside. I watched her tiny frame walk through the aisles until she was able to pick out her bottle of choice. Good thing I am exhausted from driving I thought.
Her brown hair bounced happily as she came through the doorway, walking quickly back to the car. Looking her over I realized she would be so pretty if she didn't smoke and drink every day. Her figure was nice even if it was small and wrinkly and she had beautiful green eyes, something I got from her that I was proud of. She was very eighties-groupie looking with long feathered hair and high-waisted jeans and her tendency to wear bright eye shadow didn't help that fact. She had weathered away from the years of abusing her body, but you could tell that she had once been a beautiful girl.
We drove down Main Street and took two lefts coming to the street of our new home. It had been my grandparent's house, the home which my mom had grown up in. They had passed away when I was young and had left it to my uncle who had lived in it until recently. He had been hired for a better job in San Diego and had to move pretty quickly. My mom saw it as an opportunity, I saw it as an end to my dreams.
I pulled into the cracked stained driveway and noticed the bushes and plants in front of the house were all overgrown. The small ranch was a light sea foam green where it was even visible, with windows that folded out like glass mini blinds. Maybe with some work I could make this cute, maybe with a lot of work.
I put the car in park and got out. I walked around to the trunk, opening it and scooping out just my bag of necessities. "I will unload everything tomorrow," I informed my mom, exhaustedly, "I am just too tired."
"Sure baby no problem, I hope that there are some sheets on the bed for you at least." Lorraine answered, a little excitedly, but I was sure she was just looking forward to opening that bottle.
"Me too," I sighed unlocking the heavy door. I went inside only to be slapped in the face with hot stale air. My mom made a beeline straight past me to the kitchen, searching the cabinets for the glasses. She found one in no time, popped the cork out of her bottle and poured herself her first drink.
I looked around the house observing all of the ugly outdated furniture while searching each room for the existence of any air conditioners. I found a unit in the living room and one in each of the bedrooms. Thankfully, I turned them all on high to get the temperature comfortable and the air moving inside the house. The house was small but had two bedrooms so I took the smaller room for myself and threw my little bag on the white wicker dresser. I went back out to the hallway and found the linen closet which to my surprise actually had clean sheets in it. I set my bed up and immediately crashed in it. As I drifted off to sleep I heard my mother on the phone happy and loud.
"Gem, it's me! We're back in town!" I heard my mom exclaim to her old best friend. "Yes I know, I know. I should have warned you," she laughed as the hum of the A/C was like a lullaby singing me to sleep.
