A/N: I still haven't figured out where I'm going to leave this. I don't know if I want to follow the movie's end or not.
Chris and I left it at that. I didn't want to talk anymore. There was too much going on in my head. I wasn't going to listen to what he said. We emerged from the path bloody and covered in dirt. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow then." He focused his eyes on mine.
"Yeah." I turned my head away from him. He followed the tree line out of my yard, only glancing back once at me. I was already trying to figure out how to get back into the house without my parents yelling at me. I stared at the back of my house, my eyes fixed on the window that used to be Denny's. I wish I had my brother, he wouldn't understand but maybe he wouldn't ask too many questions.
I hurried in the back door. The laundry room was always stuffy even in the early June heat. I needed to get another shower; I had sweated through the back of my shirt. Darting from the laundry room, past the kitchen and towards the steps was when mom spotted me. "Gordie?"
I didn't even turn to look at where her voice was coming from; I didn't dare show her the probable trail of dry blood leaving the cut on my forehead. "Chris and I got stuck in a briar patch, I'm sorry I got my clothes so dirty." I swallowed hard and went for the steps. I slid my eyes in her direction.
"Gordie, I want to talk to you." She had put down the iron. Mom usually set up the board in the living room so she could watch her stories and iron dad's work pants.
"Mom, I just want a shower." I kept it short. "We can talk after." I quickly took the steps two at a time before she could say anything else. I sighed against the bathroom door relieved. Today was going down as one of the most irritating days of my life.
I wandered back into my room with a towel around my waist. I held pajamas in my hand for a moment. I should just go to bed forever and never get up. I decided against it, Dad would yell at me during dinner for being so lazy and disrespectful. I after I got dressed I peeked out the hall window to see that the car was gone. "Your dad's out getting a part for the lawn mower, the blade broke." Mom breezed past me. I hadn't even noticed the uneven pattern of long and short grass. Next to the tipped over lawn mower was his tool box.
"What do you want to talk about?" I turned to face her.
"Your cheek is swollen." She said flatly. "You didn't get caught in a briar." She had to look up at me now. Her baby all grown up with complicated problems of his own.
"It's nothing." I tried to wave her away.
"Nothing? You're going to look like a no good hood at graduation. Let me guess Chris is going to look the same?" She crossed her arms and gave me that stern mother glare.
"It's complicated." I sighed turned to head back to my room.
"You told me it was nothing." She followed me.
"Mom, please." I groaned, "I'm tired."
"Gordie, something is going on with you. It has been for a long time." She stopped at my door way. I froze on my path to my bed.
"It isn't anything. Teenage hormones, it doesn't matter." I turned to look at her.
"Your dad never talks to me about anything; you never talk to me about anything. Your brother always wanted my opinion." She looked at the floor, she was hurt. "You said we could talk."
"What do you want to know?" I asked her. It would be stupid of me to just let the flood gates open and spill out too much. I sat on the edge of my bed, she came over to join me.
"What's going on between you and Chris? Is it another girl problem? Did he like Kelly?" Mom's brows were arched. I swallowed, I shouldn't lie to her.
"He doesn't like Kelly." I rubbed the back of my neck. "It's not a girl problem." Mom nodded at me, waiting for more information. "I ditched Chris at that party, he's really sore about it."
"It seems a little more complex than that." She pursed her lips, pointing at my now aching cheek.
"We promised not to tell anyone. You know like a guy's code of honor." I tried to explain, her eyes narrowed. She was quiet for a few moments. She fluffed my pillow, but it crinkled.
"What's this?" She reached her hand into the case and pulled out a rectangle of paper. My heart sank. It fell so low it passed my stomach and out of my ass and through the bed. "It's taped." Mom's fingers smoothed over the tape. I shrugged. The best thing I could do was play dumb because I couldn't even get my brain to calm down to lie. My head throbbed, I wanted to die. It was from Chris. She was going to open it up and I was going to die. She wouldn't even have to kill me; I'd have a brain aneurysm. I watched her slowly turn it over in her hands. "Obviously, it's mean to be private." She handed it to me.
I took it tempted to shred the whole fucking thing and light the scrapes on fire. "I guess." I said staring at it, I wanted to crumple it.
"After graduation, we're having a nice long talk. You and me. Okay?" She leaned over and gave me a kiss on the cheek. "Now take a nap." Mom got up and left, closing the door behind her. I wanted to scream and break things. Chris Chambers, how fucking careless could you get? I fiddled with the edge of the tape. I wanted to read it. I also remembered the poem incident during valentines. I needed to puke. I folded it and carefully walked to the bathroom. I retched out my guts into the toilet. Mom didn't come to check on me. That letter was warm in my pocket.