Achieving Unbroken

-Chapter 40-

Achieving Unbroken
Chapter Forty

-

"There's never air to breathe, there's never in between's;
These nightmares always hang on past the dream"
Impossible Year | Panic! At The Disco

-

Jason
[Saturday, April 23rd, 2017 - 6:53 PM]

"JayJay, can you go tell Joey that dinner is ready?" Mama requests. Without giving her a vocal answer, I nod, slipping off of a barstool and starting towards the staircase. When Joey came home today, he went into his room and hasn't come out to my knowledge. I doubt he'll want to come down for dinner if he's that down in the dumps.

"Joe?" I tap on his door with my knuckle. "Dinner's ready."

"Not hungry," he grunts on the other side of the door.

"You sure, man? I don't think Mom's are gonna be having that."

"I don't fucking care, dude. I'm not hungry. I don't wanna come sit and have a 'family' dinner." I can hear the air quotes around the word 'family'. Deciding it would be best to not push any further and write it off as puberty, I sigh an "okay" and retreat from the doorway.

When I get back downstairs, my moms frown at my lack of company.

"Where's your brother?" Mom asks, already seated with the girls while Loraine puts down the last trays of food. I shrug, going to take my seat at the dining room table.

"He didn't wanna come. He's not hungry."

"Are you kidding me?" Mama snaps, still standing at the table. "That boy's attitude is like no other, hand to God." Wiping her hands on her leggings, she storms off and up the stairs; presumably to attempt to get Joey to come eat dinner. Mom focuses on getting the twins their food and I serve myself.

A minute later, Mama's footsteps are shuffling down the stairs, and only her footsteps.

"If he's gonna be like this, I don't want him at this table anyway." She states, taking her seat and dishing her food. I hear her and Mom mumbling about it to each other, but nothing that I can comprehend.

I can only hope that Joey will get out of this slump soon.

-

Hours later, I'm in bed, waking up slowly because of a familiar vibrating coming from my nightstand. Vision blurry and head throbbing with pain from the striking light emitting from my phone screen, I reach out and check the contact name. But, not before looking and seeing that it's 12:02 AM.

The person calling is my lab partner in chemistry. His name is Brett, and while we had different interests (he enjoyed anime and foreign pop music, things I do not indulge in), he was a cool guy and we made some even cooler projects together.

My only curiosity is why he's calling so late. It could be a misdial, right?

I don't answer soon enough, and the call stops. Determining that he didn't mean to call me, I rest my phone back on the bedside table. Seconds later, my phone starts vibrating again, and once again, it's Brett. I answer this time.