Jesse
“I feel like I’m gonna throw up, Worm.”
“Jesse you’re going to be alright, man. You know this is the only way.”
Jesse chewed on his bottom lip as he paced back and forth behind the Greyhound bus he was supposed to board along with the twenty or so other passengers headed to Atlanta. He did know this was the only way out of his messed-up situation, so he tightened the straps of his backpack and hefted his large, leather duffle bag onto his shoulder. With his phone still pressed firmly against his ear, Jesse got on the bus and slowly made his way to one of the seats in the back. He didn’t want anyone to see how terrified he was. Leaving in the middle of the night to an unknown city with only a few bucks in his bank account wasn’t the smartest move he and Worm could’ve come up with, but it was all they had.
“Do you think he saw you leave?” Worm asked after Jesse stuffed his duffle underneath his seat.
Jesse chewed on his thumbnail as he checked the dark parking lot. “I don’t think so.”
“Did he hurt you, Jess?” Worm bit out. “Tell me the truth. Did he do something to you?”
“No. But the suggestions were getting more and more…” Jesse whispered. “He wasn’t going to stop trying, Worm.” Ugh, this is such bullshit. “I should’ve just kept my damn mouth shut until it was time to go back to school.”
Worm sighed in exasperation. “That was your home, Jesse. You shouldn’t have to be harassed every time you go on break or come home to visit.”
“I did the right thing telling my aunt, right?”
“Yes,” Worm agreed. “Your uncle is a closeted, cheating son of a bitch. And your aunt will come around. She’s just shocked and mad. Give her some time, dude.”
Jesse nodded as if he was trying to convince himself. “I had no choice. She needed to know.” He thought of how devastated and heartbroken his aunt looked after he told her that her husband had been coming on to him. That the man she’d been married to for the last eleven years has been secretly craving cock… his cock and heaven knows who else’s.
Jesse had come to live with his aunt and uncle after his mother passed away from a brain aneurysm four years ago. Aunt Sonya was the only family his mother had left after she divorced her husband and came out as a lesbian to her conservative family. His aunt hadn’t been enthusiastic about taking him in since she didn’t have kids and enjoyed her freedom. But he’d been nineteen back then, and it helped that he came with a hefty life insurance policy. His mother had made the decision to raise him on her own, and she’d always put him first in every part of her life. Even in her death, she made sure he’d have the tools he needed to be okay.
After the funeral, he’d thrown himself into preparing for his first year of college instead of focusing on the hole in his chest where his mother had been. When he’d come home from the dorm on break, he would notice the way his uncle Robert had tried to hang around in his bedroom a little too often. He wasn’t a fool, and he hadn’t been a young man too lost in his grief to know what was happening. But Jesse had managed to duck and dodge Robert’s flirty bullshit for four and half years; however, his advances were getting blatant, and he was done. So, he’d taken his best friend’s advice and told his aunt the truth.
After she broke down in front of him and called him a liar… she told him he had to leave.
“Jess,” Worm said a little louder, breaking him from his thoughts.
“Yeah. I’m here.”
“I’ve been making some decent money, Jesse, so I can help you out until you can find a job. It shouldn’t take you no time with your degree,” Worm said again, going over his plan. “As long as you’re contributing to the bills, my dad won’t mind.”
“What did he say about me staying there?” Jesse’s knee began to shake as the bus driver stuck her head out the door and yelled for all to board. Worm was quiet for too long, making Jesse’s stomach flip inside out. “Felix! You did tell him I was coming, right?”
When Jesse was met with more silence, he leapt up from his seat, but the bus was already moving.
“Stay seated while I’m in motion, sweetie,” the driver blared loud enough that he drew attention from the other passengers.
Jesse eased down in his seat, trying to take long, calming breaths. He had a one-way ticket to a place he didn’t have permission to be. “You’ve got to be messing with me.”
“Jesse. Don’t get nervous. I didn’t tell my dad because he’s hardly ever there, and when I do come in, I stay in my room. I’ll tell him when you get here that you’re going to help out with the bills and some of the handiwork that needs done.”
“Handiwork,” Jesse snarled. “Worm. I wouldn’t know which end of a hammer to hit the nail with, for shit’s sake. What have you done, man?”
“Don’t worry. He works all the time—he’s not gonna be focused on us,” Worm tried, but he wasn’t able to disguise the hurt in his voice. “He doesn’t have shit to say to me unless he’s coming down on me for getting in trouble.”
“Well, not anymore because I’ll be around to make sure you keep your nose clean and finish your diploma,” Jesse said. He tried to focus on something positive and not frighten himself with all the negative thoughts that were trying to consume him.
“Right!” Worm said with more enthusiasm. “Wait until I show him I got my GED. He’ll have no choice but to acknowledge that shit because he’ll no longer be able to call me a lazy-ass dropout.”
“I’m really sorry about you and your dad’s relationship, Worm. But you know he loves you, right? He just doesn’t want you running with those bad crowds anymore.” Jesse pinched the wrinkled skin between his brows. “You’ve been arrested twice already. If my mom knew that I was headed towards…”
“I know. I know. I’m sorry.” Worm sighed. “That’s why I’m glad you’re coming, bro. When he sees me hanging out with a college grad, he’ll love it.”
“If you say so.”
“I do,” Worm agreed. “Just enjoy the long ten-hour bus ride, and I’ll be waiting for you at the station. My house isn’t too far from there. Cool?”
Jesse rubbed at the pounding near his left temple. “Yeah, cool.”
“Can’t wait to see you again, bro. It took you way too long to finish school.”
“Most colleges are four years, dipshit.”
“Whatever, brainiac. You should’ve done it in two, then.”
Jesse disconnected the call with a smile curving his lips. Everyone was quiet as the bus made its way down the long stretch of dark highway. Jesse thought of this as the next phase in his life—adulthood—and decided to embrace it instead of running in the opposite direction.
This could be the start of an amazing new year.
Mason
“Good evening, officers.” The sound of Erlene’s cheerful voice and the sweet smell of freshly baked cinnamon rolls greeted them when they walked inside the busy bakery at the corner of Decatur and Edgewood Avenue. “Officer Clark, hello.”