Unapologetically Me

Chapter Thirty Seven

My mom was driving me insane and she has only been home a week. She was doing stuff and saying stuff that put me in a hard place with James and even though I knew it bothered him, he would just grin and bear it.

She would nitpick on the different foods we kept in the kitchen. Yes, we had mostly junk food because neither of us cooked, but she didn't either and still complained about not having fresh vegetables or different flavors of pizza rolls and stupid stuff like that. When she wasn't complaining about food, she was walking around the house half naked in a bra and a pair of shorts and even though James didn't say anything about it, it was uncomfortable.

She had disgusting habits like leaving half eaten food in the fridge or sticking her hands in the cereal boxes. And she was a complete slob. Even though she hadn't resumed drinking, she left soda cans, water bottles, candy wrappers and various other sh*t lying around the house like she was too lazy to put it in the trash.

A giant part of me just wanted to give up and move out of the apartment, but now that she was home, she had full control of the bank accounts and I didn't have money. I mean, not money that she knew of. I hadn't put all of the money I made from the estate sale into her bank account just for this reason, but if she even got a whiff of me having any money without having a job first, she would pounce.

And then her and James would get into small arguments because she 'felt uncomfortable ' having him live with us. When I reminded her that he lived in the apartment longer than her, she would get mad and storm off to her bedroom and slam her bedroom door like a brat.

So, now, James was spending most of his days away from home and would only come home at night. This made my mom suspicious and she began accusing him of cheating on me and it was ridiculous.

I sat on the edge of the bed and chewed on my bottom lip as I watched James undress and gather his stuff for a shower. Things had been kind of tense between us since she got home and while I didn't agree with my mom about him being out cheating on me, I didn't like that he didn't want to spend more time with me at home.

"Where did you go today?"

"Michael's. I worked on Peterson's essay and then we played some video games."

"You could have done that here."

He sighed and turned to look at me with a raised eyebrow. I rolled my eyes and nodded.

"I know. I'm sorry. I...I didn't expect for it to be like this. I mean, I knew it would be difficult, but she's grating on every single nerve I have and I know she's pissing you off but what else am I supposed to do?"

"We can leave her the apartment and go stay at my parents'house until we move to Massachusetts." He answered so quickly and I knew that he had been thinking about it since she first moved in. Hell, I had even thought about it. But I couldn't just leave her. If she started drinking again or not paying bills she could be out on the streets and it wouldn't be good.

"I...I can't just leave her. You've seen how she is. She can't do it by herself."

He gathered his clothes and walked to our bathroom and then turned to me slowly. "She's a grown woman, Kelly. She can do more than you think. She's just been reliant on your dad and you to do everything for her that she expects it now."

I pressed my lips and nodded. Just before he walked into the bathroom, he leaned down to kiss me and put bedroom door burst open.

My mom walked in like she owned the place and James grit his teeth and walked into the bathroom without another word. That was another thing. She didn't knock. She had caught us about four times having s*x because she would just waltz in whenever she liked and then she screamed and yelled at me about how inappropriate it was to be doing that in the middle of the day or how disgusting I was for dating to have a s*x life.

"Mom, knock! This is our room and you can't just walk in whenever you want. I've already told you this!"

She rolled her eyes and and glanced at the bathroom door. "Where was he all day?"

"School and then studying with our friend. But it's none of your business."

"Kelly, he's cheating on you and you're just too stupid to see it. Why in the hell can't he just study here? Why does he need to be out all the time?"

I felt my blood boil and I pinched the bridge of my nose to control my breathing. "Mom, can you stop? Whatever we do or say or any of that stuff is none of your concern! If he's cheating one me, then he's cheating but it's not any of your business!" I hissed so that James wouldn't be able to hear me.

She glared at the bathroom door and shook her head. "I need a ride to the pharmacy." She changed the subject.

"For what? I picked up all of your meds this afternoon after school."

"Kelly, mind your damn business. Drive me to the damn pharmacy."

"Fine." I snapped and pointed at my bedroom door. "Go! I have to tell him I'll be back."

"Oh, right, tell that cheating bastard everything like he controls your every move."

"It's a f*cking relationship mom! I tell him I'm leaving so he won't worry about it! He tells me he's going to a friend's house so that I don't worry. It's a give and take type of thing!"

She snorted and rolled her eyes. She stepped out of the bedroom and walked towards the living room. I shut the bedroom door and laid back on my bed and closed my eyes. I counted slowly back from ten until I had calmed down and then sat up and put on my shoes.

I stepped into the bathroom and took a deep inhale of the steam filled with the scent of James' body wash.

"I'm taking my mom to the pharmacy. Do you need anything while I'm out?"

"I'm good. I'll start something for dinner. And..." He poked his head out of the shower and looked me over. "Think about it. I know you think she needs you, but she doesn't. And we don't need to deal with all of the sh*t she's doing."

I bit my lip and nodded."Okay, I will. I love you."

"Love you too."

We left and I drove her to the nearest pharmacy. She took her purse and looked back at me. "I'll be back." I nodded and watched her walk in, then I pulled my phone out and took a deep breath.

I dialed Chloe and felt like I needed to get everything off of the chest. When she didn't answer, I sat and stared out of the damn windshield at the store for what felt like an eternity, waiting on her.

When, after thirty minutes passed, she didn't come out, I went in after her. I walked the aisles of the pharmacy and looked around for her, but I could find her. It was only when I got to the beverage aisle that I saw her standing in front of the alcohol, staring at it with a dazed look.

I grit my teeth and walked to stand beside her, crossing my arms over my chest. "You even think of buying any, I will not hesitate to put you out on the streets."

Shr smirked and shook her head slowly. "I'm not. Just saying goodbye to a dear friend of mine."

She continued to stare at the fridge and I could see her hand shake from the reflection of the fridge doors.

I took a deep breath and grabbed her arm gently. "C'mon. Did you get what you needed?"

"Yes." She sighed as I dragged her away from the fridges. She had a couple of small bottles of pills and as she payed for them, I took a look at what they were. Pain killers and allergy pills.

I raised my eyebrows but I didn't say a word. We went back to the car and when we got back home, she went directly to her room and slammed the door shut.

Back in our bedroom, I laid down in bed next to James as he read a book and closed my eyes.

"I'm trying." I told him quietly. "I'm trying to be good with her and not make you upset, but it's f*cking tearing at me and I don't think I can do it. I don't want to be around her anymore. I love her to death, but...I can't."

"I know. And I'm not trying to make it hard on you. I know that it's getting annoying with all of the bickering and sh*t, but I...she's pissing me off bad. I can't be around her."

"I know. Just...two more months and we'll leave."

He placed a bookmark in his book and set it on his bedside table. He reached his hand out for me and I crawled up in bed and laid my head in his lap.

"Are you sure you're going to be able to leave her then? Because you're having a hard time now, to just leave her to go to my mom's house not even a couple miles away from here."

I closed my eyes and sighed. I knew he was right but I didn't want him to be. Mom knew how to drive. She knew how to work a phone and feed herself, so why was it a big deal for me to leave her?

Not only that, but she treated us like sh*t, even though we were doing everything for her.

In the morning, it didn't even matter what decision I had to make because when I went to check on her before school, she was gone. All of her things were there, in her bedroom, but a suitcase was conspicuously missing from her closet and all of her medications were gone.

James convinced me to go to school and not worry about it, but throughout the day, as I texted her and didn't get a response back, I began to get worried.

It wasn't until I got out of school and checked my bank account to see if one of my payments went through for the car insurance, that I saw that it was fully emptied out. My bank card sat in the cup holder of my car and I realized then, as I checked the app, that my mom had gone to the pharmacy to take my money out of the ATM.

The smirk on her face last night and the way she avoided talking to me on the way home hit me and I sat in the car feeling completely empty.

I must have sat there for an hour before James called me.

I didn't even know what to say to him. She left with all of my money and all of her money and I didn't even know where to begin to look for her.

Just a week out of jail and she had completely f*cked me over.

I answered my phone and I couldn't help the sob that escaped me as I told James what I discovered. He didn't seem surprised. If anything, I could practically hear the 'I told you so' in his voice and it pissed me off.

I went home and gathered all of her sh*t in random boxes and trash bags. If she came back, she wasn't allowed back here. I didn't want to see her face again.