AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I threw some of her shit in a box and taped it up. “No. Not really. What else do you need packed?”
Mom had decided to move in with my dad in the new trailer that came with his new job. I didn’t know if they were together fully or not, but at least my dad had his shit together this time and was capable of taking care of my mom. It was sort of a weird feeling because, for the first time in my life, I didn’t have to parent my parents. I had no obligations other than Devon and my job, and it was weird. Good weird.
“Just those clothes in that bag,” Mom said, pointing at a pile on the bed. “Are you sure you’re okay with this?”
Hell yeah. I couldn’t wait until she moved so Devon and I could have privacy. We didn’t want to live here, but we’d take over the rent until we found somewhere else to move. It was fine for now, and since we both had jobs, even though mine paid like shit, we could afford it and still put a tiny bit away on top of that.
Look at us being all mature and shit.
“Yep. Happy for ya.” I smiled at her, honestly happy she was happy. “Just don’t put Dad through hell. He worked hard to get where he is.” And familiar patterns were easy to fall back into. Two junkies living in one place was never easy, but I had faith that my dad had finally turned a corner in his sobriety. If I really broke things down, I’d say my parents were mostly addicted to each other. Devon and I might be obsessive and insanely unhealthy in our relationship, but I couldn’t imagine either of us putting the other through the shit my parents had.
I mean, yeah, we fought, used violence as a vice, didn’t have the best relationship dynamic, and were constantly at each other’s throats, fucking everything up as we went, but we had respect. We had love. That had to count for more than all our mistakes. It might have been wrong in the eyes of society to act the way we acted, but it worked, and I’d learned a long time ago to just go with what worked. I didn’t have good role models and barely knew anything in the way of healthy relationships, but to me, what I had with Devon was as close to perfect as I’d ever hoped to get. Healthy or not, I loved him, he loved me, and we’d figure the rest out as we went.
Maybe I could try tamping down my aggression. Like, just a bit.
“Madd? You here?” Devon shouted, walking in the front door and slamming it shut behind him. “Turns out, I need your signature for this marriage certificate thing, so get your ass in gear.”
I rolled my eyes, and Mom laughed. I left her to pack and smiled at Devon picking through the cabinets for something to eat.
“Hey,” I said, grinning at him. “How was your day?”
He gave me a weird look. “Fine. Why?”
“People ask that sometimes when their partner comes home.” I shrugged.
He gave me another weird look. “Are you ready to go?”
I wrapped my arms around him from behind while he munched on stale crackers. He tensed, but he settled into my hug eventually.
“What is this shit?” he asked.
“Kindness, I think.”
“Ew,” he laughed. “It’s almost as weird as you calling me babe.” He turned, grinning at me. I knew he secretly liked it when I called him that. It didn’t happen often, and it didn’t feel natural, but sometimes, it just rolled off the tongue. “The town hall closes in half an hour. Let’s go.” He pushed me away and shouted goodbye to my mom.
Okay, so maybe kindness could happen sometimes, but competitiveness would never go anywhere. That was our love language. So, with that in mind, I raced him to Nate’s truck, shoved him into the side of it, and stole the keys from him. Devon groaned, holding his elbow that had hit the mirror.
“That’s more like it,” he laughed. He climbed into the passenger side. “Compete with me forever, Madd, but Iamready for all that happiness shit you talked about before.”
“Yeah?” I laughed, turning the ignition. Nothing happened.
“Yeah. Even though we’re shitty people, we still deserve a happy ending, right?” He smiled at nothing.
I turned the key two more times before the truck started. “Yeah, but we aren’t anywhere close to our happy ending, asshole.” I put the truck in reverse. “We’ve barely fucking started.”
I saw him smile at nothing again. He might not know how to accept gentle kindness at all times, but that didn’t mean he didn’t crave romance sometimes. I’d remember that.
45
-Devon-
Mypenmanshipwasuttershit, but I tried anyway. Crumpling my latest piece of paper, I pulled out a fresh sheet and tried again.
Maddox,
You’ve always been an asshole, but that night we kissed at the track was the first time I learned you were also a pussy. Like always, I had to take the reins when you backed out, not ballsy enough to actually kiss me first.
Thank fuck for me or we’d still be beating the shit out of each other because of some hate feud between our dads when we were kids. I’m not saying I don’t hate you anymore, because I still do a little bit. I just love you now, too.
