Jesse's eyes flickered open as they adjusted to the morning sunshine. He had fallen asleep accidentally last night, and quickly realized this as he looked down to see the same Pink Floyd t-shirt and wrinkled jeans that he had been wearing the day before. He shifted his eyes over to his nightstand, where he saw the time on his digital alarm clock: 7:53 AM.

"Shit," he whispered to himself as he remembered the events of last night.

He sat up at the edge of his bed, running his hand through his hair and rolling his eyes. He would have to leave his room sometime and face the awkwardness of seeing his parents. He grunted, reaching over for his cell phone on his bed, which was somewhat covered by the corner of his pillow. He flipped it open. One missed call. He dialed the number and held it up to his ear.

"Jesus Jesse, you know what time it is? This better be important," Badger's raspy voice spoke from the other side.

"Oh, yeah, hey man.. sorry about that. I fell asleep early last night, just woke up."

"You went to bed early?" Badger asked in disbelief. "Man you should've been there last night, me and Pete were taking hit after hit. It got fuckin' wild," he said, ignoring his previous question.

"Yeah, well sorry I couldn't be there. My parents suddenly decided to act like they care about me and got pissed at me for basically no reason. They threatened to kick me out."

"Oh shit. You can come live with me," Badger offered. "We could party all the time," he laughed.

"I might just have to take you up on that offer. It sucks here lately."

"Totally. Come by anytime bro," Badger requested. "I've gotta get some sleep though, night Jess."

"Alright, sleep tight," Jesse said as he hung up the phone and stood up off his bed.

He huffed as he made way his way to his bedroom door. He opened it, almost immediately regretting this action.

"Jesse, is that you? Come down here!" his mother yelled from down the stairs.

He sighed but said nothing else as he walked down the hallway and made his way down the stairs toward the kitchen. He stared blankly at his mom and dad who were sitting across from each other at the kitchen table.

"Sit down," his mom gestured to the seat at the end of the table.

Jesse cautiously walked to the chair and sat down, not making eye contact with either of them. He looked down at the table as he scratched his hairline and raised his eyebrows.

"Jesse," his mom began. "We've been thinking, and.."

"We think you would be better off living with your aunt," his dad interrupted.

There was a moment of silence as they all waited for each other to say something or to react.

"Ginny said that she would be happy to have you," his mother added, trying to lighten the mood.

"What, so you're just gonna try to get rid of me? Try to pretend that you don't have another son? What are you gonna tell the neighbors, that I died?" Jesse questioned with passionate anger in his voice.

"Sweetie, calm down. I think this will be the best for both of us," his mom answered. "She said you can move in tomorrow morning."

Jesse gulped as he tried to wrap his mind around this. He stood up from the table and looked at both of his parents.

"Yeah, whatever guys," he said with a small laugh at the end of his sentence. "I'm out," he said as he made his way to the front door of the house.


Badger passed the joint to Jesse, blowing out a ring of smoke.

"That's messed up, man," Badger commented.

"Right? I mean, I knew they never liked me all that much- it was mutual. But come on, they could've just waited a couple of years for me to move out on my own."

Jesse took a draw from the joint and leaned his head back against the wall.

"So what's your aunt like? Is she nice?" Badger asked.

Jesse lifted his head from the wall, looking over to Badger.

"Yeah, I mean I guess so. She's the only one who ever acted like I wasn't a complete fuck-up from the moment I was born." he answered.

Jesse's throat closed up and he could feel himself wanting to cry, but he held it back because he didn't want Badger to see him cry.

"You know, I think I'm gonna go take a walk outside. Thanks for listening," he said as he stood up and gave the joint back to Badger.

"You sure?" Badger asked with a worried voice.

"Yeah," Jesse answered quietly, opening the door and walking out.

He waited until he got to the end of the road and tears started falling down his cheeks. He felt so lost, so forgotten. How could his parents just forget about him like this and abandon him? Their relationship wasn't anywhere near close to being good, but he's their son. They should be obligated to not to give up on him like this.

Jesse sat down on the cold winter grass and looked around at the outside world. He had no idea what to do now; he couldn't go home and see his parents, and he didn't want to go back to Badger's because he didn't want to explain why he left.

He thought about what it would be like to live with his aunt. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad.. after all, it couldn't be nearly as bad as it is to live with his parents. At least she actually acted like he cared about him and loved him. She always used to tell his parents to calm down when they would yell at him or complain about him to her.

He stood up off the ground and walked over back to the sidewalk; it was becoming way too cold outside for him to stay there on the ground. He walked without determining his destination, but quickly realized that he was walking in the direction of his house. He didn't care though, he just kept on walking down the sidewalk. Besides, maybe it's better to get this over with and just go home to pack and get ready for the next morning.