Page 24 of Lies in Promises
Fuck.
No doubt, the party last night got out of hand. I should have kicked people out a lot sooner than four. I’m going to have to pay the cleaning crew triple for this. I can already hear Henry's lecture when he sees the invoice.
Ignoring the mess as best I can, I walk into the kitchen and make myself a cup of coffee. I should definitely order some food so my head and stomach don’t continue to hate me, but I doubt I can keep anything down, so I’ll just eat something later.
Maybe I’ll grab something to eat when I head into work—appear less drunk and like I actually want to be there.
If I go in.
I haven’t gone in all week. I should have, and I’ve definitely gotten more than one phone call about it, but since my name is on the building, I think I have a little bit of liberty.
Today feels like a good day to grace the people of Lane Enterprises with my presence. The upper management will fucking hate it, but I couldn’t care less what they think.
You need to at least try.
That thought pops into my head in my dad’s voice. It’s been over a decade since I heard it last, but it still pops into my head on occasion, just like my mom’s.
It’s been fourteen years since my parents died, and no matter how much time passes, there isn’t a day that goes by when I don’t think about them. Even fourteen years later, some days are harder than others. When they get hard, I tend to shut down and do things I know they would never approve of, like partying until four in the morning and not going to work.
On the good days, I live the life I think would make them happy. I don’t drink, I look for new business opportunities to grow their legacy. I don’t surround myself with random strangers to drown out all the dark thoughts.
The good days are few and far between, so when they come, I try to grasp them as tightly as I can.
From the looks of it, today isn’t a good day, just like yesterday wasn’t.
I honestly can’t remember the last good day I had.
Maybe I should use that as a sign to get my life in order. There is only so much partying one can do, and that is coming from a twenty-two-year-old, the age where partying is acceptable.
But when you’ve been partying since before college, the shit gets tiring. So maybe it is time to hang up the partying duties.
If I do, what is going to drown out all my sorrows?
I don’t have time to answer that, because a second later, I hear the elevator to the penthouse ding. There is only one other person besides myself with permission to come into my apartment in the heart of downtown Chicago, and that’s Henry.
For a few seconds, I wait to hear the elevator doors open. The second I hear him say “fucking hell”, I know he’s seen the mess.
Guess I’m getting a lecture before even finishing my coffee.
It takes Henry a whole thirty seconds to walk into the apartment and find me in the kitchen. From the look on his face, he’s not happy.
He looks older when he’s angry. He looks older in general, but I guess that’s what happens when the kid you only took care of for a few hours a day becomes your sole responsibility. It ages you.
I’m grateful for Henry. I always will be.
When shit got rough, he didn’t leave. He stayed and raised me, even when it wasn’t his responsibility. He raised me even when I wasn’t his blood. He took on the role of parent, brother, and friend when I didn’t have anyone else to lean on.
When I turned eighteen, I thought I was going to lose him. I thought he was going to leave and live his own life. I was a legal adult, and he didn’t have to stick around, but he stayed.
We didn’t live in the same house anymore, and I may not see him every single day, but he was still very much in my life.
Like this morning.
He had called me last night, but because I was a little occupied, I wasn’t able to answer. And because I didn’t answer, he stopped by, either to lecture me or to check I wasn’t puking my guts out from drinking so much. Both are high possibilities.
“Another party, sir?” He sounds frustrated as he crosses his arms and faces me straight on.
This is a stance I’ve become very familiar with over the last few years.
