Falling For Insanity

The Worst Has Yet To Come

Chapter Eight:
Eric's POV

"How the hell have you been affording to live?" Blake asks me with an annoyed growl, running a frustrated hand through his hair.

Faiths house was just right in front of us, her waiting for our arrival while we waited on Rosie's. Blake insisted we waited to walk in until she got here, saying she hated walking into places alone if she didn't have to. That information didn't surprise me. She seemed like a dependent person. Rather that be dependent on Blake, Faith, or whoever.

I had told Blake the news about me not actually going to college recently but we hadn't had a chance to talk any further about it. He obviously wasn't taking it as well as I thought he was. The Blake I know would laugh, call me crazy, and brush it off.

I hadn't seen much of Blake since being home. If he wasn't busy with Rosie, he was busy with practice or something with school. This wasn't typical of him, Blake always made time to chill with me when I came around. At this point, I'm convinced he's been avoiding me. And I'm smart enough to know there's only one reason for this...

Rosie Mae.

"How do you think?" I asked, flicking the long strip of ashes coming from my cigarette onto the asphalt beneath our feet.

Blake wasn't oblivious to my past. He knows a lot of where I've been and what I've done. And not just because he's my brother...other reasons that I'm sure he's hiding very well and adamantly from Rosie.  She clearly had not a shred of knowledge of Blake's past or she wouldn't have been so shocked when she met me that night.

It was a good thought, me having a little leverage over Blake this time instead of him having it over me.

I figure this is why he's been avoiding me. He doesn't want Rosie to know his big ol' secret. He must be nervous I might tell her something he doesn't want her to hear. To be fair, if I were him, I wouldn't want her to know either. Though sooner or later, the poor girl will find that out, only to have her life come crashing down harder on her than it already is. What a heavy weight to bare, the poor girl. What heavy weights she bares...that poor girl.

"I didn't know you were still into that shit." Blake tells me, glancing up and down the road for signs of Rosie who is running very late. "We all thought you had your shit together in college now."

I hope she didn't decide to find a new gown for tonight.

"And everyone will continue to think that." I tell him, not leaving any room for an argument. "You need to take a step down from that high horse of yours, Blake. We both know you have no room to judge." I advise him, letting a puff of smoke leave my lungs. It was getting colder by the minute. If it wasn't for me needing this cigarette before going this bullshit party, I would've left Blake to wait on Rosie Mae a long time ago.

He eyed me from the side, pausing and studying my face, as if making sure I was hinting at what he thought I was hinting at. Blake let a small scoff leave his lips as he looked away. "That shit was a long time ago. I'm tired of you hanging it over my head."

I laugh, letting my cigarette fall to my feet. "A long time ago? What? Just two years ago?" When it came to Blake's past, nothing changes that quickly. Or at all. It can't. Once it's done, it's forever. "Be fucking real..." I begin. "You got with your little girlfriend and you act like you have completely forgotten who the fuck you are. I have not forgotten and neither have you, Blake. Keep pretending. It will get you no where."

I take Blake's silence as deeming me correct. Though the wheels in his head were turning. There was one thing he can't run from...that is me. He knows that as well.