Page 131 of Honeysuckle
“I’m not in pain, Mom,” I said through my teeth, even though it felt like I was in pain at that very moment, but not for the sick reasons she was trying to blame.
“You’re sick, Franklin. Just let us help you,” she said, moving forward again.
I opened my mouth to argue when a commotion came from the end of the hall and Cael appeared out of nowhere, flushed and out of breath. He jogged down the hall, stopping in front of me and looking over at my mother before putting himself between us with his back to her.
“Excuse me,” she hissed, backing away from him.
“Mrs. Tucker, you’re looking especially judgmental today!” He scowled at her. She stared at him like she was trying to kill him dead with her glare, but it only riled him up more. “Make sure when you speak to the Dean about my suspension, you tell him I called you a homophobic crone with bad breath and witch hands,” Cael snapped at her before he turned back to me as she started to argue with his back, completely unbothered by her anger. “...You don’t answer your phone anymore?” He said quickly, poking me in the chest.
“Why what…” I pulled it from my pocket to find a ton of missed messages from Silas.
“Josh’s mom is dead,” Cael said quietly. “We’ve been trying to get a hold of you!”
His mom was dead… my chest tightened around my chest at the news. It wasn’t like she was a good person, but that was his only family… I shook my head.Silas had said they were going over there this morning, but…how had I missed so much?
“How did you even know I was here?” I asked, confused about all the wrong pieces of information, as he grabbed my arm to drag me away.
“I have your location, big boy, now let’s move,” Cael urged.
“We’re not finished with this conversation, Franklin!” My mother said to me as Cael pushed on my arm to get me moving down the hall. “You are a part of this family and you have to start acting like it!”
“Mrs. Tucker, never a pleasure.” Cael turned back to my mother, who was still ranting at him. She recoiled at his movement, and Cael laughed. “Gets me everytime that she’s afraid of gay cooties.” His laughter died into a baffled chuckle as she continued to turn red with anger. “Fuck sakes, please open a fucking book… maybe learn something about modern society?” Cael shook his head as she glared at me over his shoulder.
“I'll be speaking to the Dean about this!” She snapped at him.
“Yeah, I know, remember what I said,” Cael smirked, backing up into me and pushing me to fall in line with his steps. "Homophobic crone…” he said slowly, pressing his hands together with each syllable.
“Cael,” I grumbled, and he tripped over his own long legs, turning back around and restarting his jog at my warning.
“Come on,” he shouted as he rounded the corner.
We made it to the Jeep without any more issues, my heart pounding in my chest as I climbed in and Cael followed suit. We drove out of Harbor and down the highway to Lorette, speeding the entire way until we reached the turn off. Arlo’s fastback was parked in front of a cop car, and Silas was standing on the front lawn alone, speaking to the police when we arrived.
He stopped me before I could go inside, his hand planted firmly on my chest.
“Listen, he’s…” Silas cleared his throat, “he’s not sad.”
“What do you mean he’s not sad?” Cael asked, as he stood over my shoulder.
“We found her, she had been gone a few days. The ambulance came and got her body, took her to the morgue for an autopsy. But Josh… he’s already cleaning the apartment… he’s spoken to the landlord.” Silas explained to us.
“Did Mark say anything?” I asked.
“He was sympathetic, apologized a bunch for not checking in on her. Josh didn’t seem angry with him, just dissociated.” Silas said.
“Him and Mark are close, he's the only person Josh has left." I knew that sounded silly because he obviously had me, had us but Mark was all Josh had left of his childhood. Shitty or not, Mark was his highlight. "Can you make sure anything he needs gets taken care of?” I asked Silas, and he nodded. “Josh hasn’t flipped out at all?”
“He’s eerily calm, and it’s making me nervous,” Silas said. "There’s nothing, no anger, no sadness. He’s just floating around up there cleaning and ignoring me.”
I looked up at the building, turning to the two of them. “Let me go alone.”
Cael surged forward, but Silas caught him.
“I know what he’s going through.” Cael fought against Silas.
“No, you don’t,” he corrected him. "The woman you lost would have moved heaven and earth for you, and she regularly did exactly that. Josh’s mother was not that, she was cruel, abusive and sick. You have no idea what’s going on in his head.” Silas pushed him back.
“I can help.” Cael surged forward again and again, but he was shut down. I was wasting time listening to the fight and started to move around them.
