I really didn't think my mom would even notice me gone at all. I looked over at my mom, dropping my bag down. She looked furious as she stepped closing, a looming sense of doom and despair around her. My heart was poundings I shrunk back into myself, wanting nothing more than to just run out the door and into Frank's arms instead. I wanted to be with him where I felt safe and happy.

"Where the fuck were you?" She asked.

"I-I—" I squeaked. "I was just—I was—I didn't—I wasn't—Jamia's! I-I was at Jamia's!"

"You're still talking to that pathetic fat ass?" She asked.

I bit my lip as I looked at her.

"Or were you with the fag next door?" She asked.

I whimpered, looking in the direction of Frank's house.

"Please tell me that you aren't a fucking fag," she said. "Not only did I raise an ungrateful, selfish, pathetic son, he's also a fag."

Yeah right, like you actually raised me.

Now if only I had the confidence to say that out loud.

"You're Fucking disgusting," she spat.

She pushed me back against the wall and I whimpered. A sharp slap landed on my cheek and I cried out softly as I cowered against the wall. My stomach dropped as fear washed over me.

"P-please," I whimpered.

"You're such a Fucking Baby," she complained. "I thought I finally grew out of all your whining and crying but when the accident happened you were all obnoxious again."

"M-my dad and baby brother died," I whispered. "I needed you, you were my mom and I was a kid."

"You're pathetic," she said. "You're father was right, I should have aborted you."

"Dad would never say that," I denied.

"Donald isn't your father," she said. "It was some truck driver and we did it while high on ecstasy."

I shook my head, turning around as I ran out of the house. I looked towards Frank but shook my head. He already hated me because of the whole tattoo thing, I couldn't go to him. I walked down on the street and sat on the curb before calling Jamia.

"C-can you pick me up?" I whimpered.

"Of course, what's wrong?" She asked.

"Everything," I mumbled before hanging up.

She picked me up, driving me back to her house. I flopped down onto her bed as I buried my face into her pillow.

"What's wrong?" She asked. "Do you want some food? Are you hungry?"

I shook my head, letting out a sob.

"Gee, what happened?" Jamia asked, laying down beside me as she wrapped an arm around me.

"I-I thought it was supposed to be happy," I whimpered. "Everything is ruined again. Frank hates me now because I broke his heart and I-I just found out that my dad isn't even my dad."

"What are you talking about?" She asked.

"Frank, w-we went up to his family's cabin and he got a tattoo of my name on his body," I said. "And I kind of told him that I didn't like it."

"Why would you do that?" Jamia asked. "He tattooed your name onto his own body. It's completely permanent and you just dissed it."

"I know, I already feel bad enough," I said. "I was just fucking stupid. I think it just freaked me out a bit because he didn't talk to me about it first, it was just supposed to be a surprise for me and it kinda wigged me out."

"I'm sure he understands," Jamia said. "Maybe it isn't too bad, maybe once you get used to it then it won't seem so shocking."

I nodded softly, resting her head on my shoulder.

"Now, what about your dad?" Jamia asked.

"Apparently my dad isn't even my real dad," I mumbled. "My dad is actually apparently some trucker guy who got high with my mom and he ended up knocking her up and when she got pregnant he wanted her to abort me."

"How do you know she's even telling the truth?" She asked.

"Why would she ever feel the need to lie?" I asked.

Jamia shrugged, holding me tight.

"I feel like it's been forever since I've seen you," I mumbled.

"Me too," she agreed. "And now there's just a week still off of school. Finally just a week off school for peace."

"What have you been up to?" I asked. "I haven't talked to you in forever. I bet your life is going a lot better than mine."

"Well, I think I kinda met someone," she said.

I looked over at her in shock.

"You met someone?" I asked.

"Yeah, he's in college," she said. "He's nineteen, almost twenty, and he's so cute and sweet. He's majoring in engineering and he's super smart."

"How are the girls?" I asked.

"Well, they haven't been very great, they stopped bothering me for a little bit when it got a lot worse again," she said quietly.

"Why didn't you tell me?" I asked.

"Just because you were going through a lot yourself and I didn't want to burden you with any of my dumb shit," she said.

"Your shit isn't dumb," I said.

Jamia chuckled softly and kissed my cheek.

"I love you," I mumbled, snuggling up close to her. "Can I stay the night here? I'm too scared to go home. My mom is pissed because I went away with Frank for a week and her being drunk and high really doesn't help my situation at all. She was sober this time, I don't know whether she's scarier when she's sober or when she's wasted."

"Of course you're staying here," she said. "You can stay here whenever you want."

I nodded, pulling the blanket up to my chin.

"So, what was the tattoo?" Jamia asked as she crawled underneath the blanket with me.

"It's a tattoo of a heart on his hand with an arrow going through it and my name over it," I said.

"That's really adorable," she said. "I can't wait until I get to see it. We should all hang out again, all three of us. We haven't really done that since you two started dating other than that time on Halloween. The three of us should go out to the movies and then get some ice cream. Or maybe some coffee so it's warm."

I nodded my head, wrapping my arms around her so I could snuggle up close to her. I closed my eyes, slowly falling asleep in her arms.

When I woke up it was close to midnight and I looked up at Jamia as she sat on her phone. I held her hand, resting my head in her shoulder.

"You feeling better now," she asked, setting her phone down to run her fingers through my hair.

I just shrugged, sniffling quietly.

"You wanna invite Frank over," she asked.

"No, Frank is mad at me," I said. "With the tattoo thing and all, it's just been kind of weird between us. D-do you think Frank would break up with me because I didn't like the tattoo?"

"No, he got that tattoo because he loves you," Jamia said. "And you love him too and soon this whole tattoo thing is just going to go away. I'm sure the tattoo is beautiful and soon you'll grow to love it too."

I nodded, closing my eyes.

"I thought I could actually be happy for once," I mumbled. "I-I was so stupid."

"No, you aren't stupid, you're definitely not stupid just for wanting to be happy," she said. "One day you are going to be happy. You're going to be really, truly happy with Frank. You two are gonna get a little house and get married and adopt some cute kids and grow old together."

I shook my head. That's never going to happen because Frank is going to fall in love with someone else and leave me as a broken mess.

"Gerard, Frank loves you more than anything else in the world," Jamia said. "He would stand by you no matter what. And I wasn't supposed to tell you but he isn't mad at you about the whole tattoo thing, he's throwing a surprise date for you."

"Surprise date?" I asked.

"Yes, he was asking me about what your favorite dinner was and some of your favorite snacks to eat while watching movies," she said. "He's really sweet, Gerard. Have you told him about any of this shit with your mom yet?"

I shook my head. "I just ran straight to your house. I-I really didn't even think Frank would want to see me. I thought that he was still upset at me for the tattoo thing."

"He isn't," Jamia said. "He's still a little upset that you don't like the tattoo but he understands that it probably scared you a little bit because he didn't talk to you about it beforehand. But he's fine, really, he loves his tattoo and he says that that's the only thing that matters because he loves you so much."

"When did he tell you all of this?" I asked.

"While you were asleep he texted me," she said. "When you ran to my house he saw you out his window and he wanted to make sure you were okay. He wanted to follow you but he decided not to because he thought you were upset with him for getting the tattoo and he didn't want to upset you more by being too clingy and following you or anything. He wasn't sure whether or not to give you space so he texted me to make sure you were with me and he asked how you were doing."

"Did you tell him about my mom and what happened?" I asked.

"No, I figured that it was your place to tell, not mine," she said.

"Thank you," I said.

She smiled and nodded, running her fingers through my hair.

"You think you wanna go call him now?" Jamia asked. "I know that he would really like to see you and hear from you, he's worried about you."

"I'll talk to him tomorrow, he's probably asleep by now," I said.

Jamia nodded and I snuggled up close to her as I fell asleep.