"Y/n how the hell you gone take the last slice of bacon!" Quincy yelled.

"Ok, firstly I'm right here," I gestured between us. " You don't have to yell," I took a bite of the bacon. "And secondly daddy always gets the final piece." I winked as I finished off the bacon.

"Daddy always gets the final piece," he mocked me. "Shut the fuck up." I rolled my eyes. "So when are we leaving for the party?"

"It starts at 8 but we'll get there at 8:30 because we're special." I popped my nonexistent collar.

He laughed. "Headass, but I feel you," Quincy got up and put his plate in the sink. "Let's get serious for a second," he turned to look at me. "Are you still going to visit your mom and brother?"

Dammit, I hated going home and seeing the new bruises my mom had on her. But then again I missed them and nothing... nobody was going to stop me from seeing them.

"Yeah I have to," I looked down at my plate. "It's been a month."

Quincy came over and sat next to me. "You're probably the strongest person I know Y/n," he rubbed my back. "Just remember that I'm always here and I love you okay?"

I nodded and hugged him. "Yeah, I love you too."

He pulled away and smiled. "No homo though."

I laughed shaking my head and standing up. "Of course you go and ruin the moment."

"I just wanted to make sure you didn't get the wrong idea." He said.

I started towards the stairs. "Yeah yeah, I'm gonna go get ready to head out."

"Uh uh come back here and clean up your mess!" Quincy yelled.

"Huh? Can't hear you I'm already upstairs!" I yelled.

"Hoe." He grumbled.

-

I pulled up to my mom's house and killed the engine.

This house has been owned by about 5 generations of my mom's side of the family so it was pretty run down. The grass was dead and the brown tiles that were once white were falling off. I sighed getting out of the car hearing a dog barking in the distance.

I slowly walked up to the door and knocked. It was thrown open and a small pair of arms were instantly wrapped around my waist.

"Y/n! I missed you," my little brother Travis exclaimed. "It's so boring when you're not here!" He looked up at me and held a big smile that's missing a couple of teeth.

Travis is 8 years old and he is my world. He's one of the only reasons I still smile every day.

"Hey snaggletooth I missed you too," I smiled and ruffled his hair. "Where's mom?"

He let me go and grabbed my hand pulling me into the house."She's in the kitchen we were doing my homework."

We walked into the kitchen and I saw my mom sitting at the table with a small smile on her face.

She had a bruise on her jaw and a busted lip.

That shits gets to me every time. But I know better than to bring it up, especially in front of Travis.

She walked over to me and held my cheeks. "I feel like I haven't seen you in forever."

I chuckled and pulled her into a hug. "It hasn't been that long."

She pulled away and smiled up at me. "A week is a long time, let alone a month."

"Yeah I know," I sighed as we went and sat at the table. "It won't be like this forever mom, I'm working hard and one day I'll have enough money to get you and Travis out of here."

She shook her head. "That's my line baby," she rubbed my hand. "Don't keep stressing over us." I just shook my head. "No, Y/n listen to me. You worry about yourself, I'm your mother and it's my job to take care of you not the other way around."

I sighed and nodded. Time to change the subject.

I looked at Travis. "How's school going?"

"Um," he paused looking between us. "It's great I have so many friends and the teachers are really nice," he smiled. "And there's this one girl I'm I friends with. I give her flowers every day and in return, she gives me a hug which makes me feel nice," his eye lit up as he talked about her.

I chuckled. "Ohhh shi- snap," I glanced at my mom who glared playfully at me. "Um, what's her name?"

"It's Yasabelle but I call her Belle."

My mom leaned towards me. "She's his girlfriend."

Travis blushed and looked down at his homework.

I smiled. "Look at my brother pulling all the girls."

He laughed. "No, I'm only pulling one girl I don't need a lot."

I nodded. "Keep that mentality when you get older."

"Yeah because your sister here used to flirt with every girl." My mom cut in.

"I was a cute little kid you can't blame me." I shrugged.

"Yeah so cute, too bad none of those girls ever wanted to date you."

My eyes widened. "Wooow."

"Hey Y/n, can I spend the night at your house today?" Travis rushed out.

"Um not tonight I have stuff to do and you have school tomorrow," I said as he sighed. "But, maybe next weekend okay?"

He sighed. "That video lied to me."

"What do you mean?"

He shrugged. "A video said that if you want something just rush it out while the person is talking."

Hmmm, I might have to use that.

I glanced at my mom. "Maybe it did work, how about we go get some ice cream?"

His head snapped up. "Really? All three of us?" I nodded.

He hopped up. "The video told the truth, it said guilt trip the person into saying yes," he cheered and ran towards the back. "Mommy get dressed, we're going for ice cream!"

"Wow, my brother is a little genius."

My mom chuckled. "You know he was just looking for an excuse to stop doing his homework."

"Of course I knew, that's why I suggested ice cream." I shrugged.

She slapped my shoulder. "If his homework isn't finished your getting in trouble."

"But mommm."

-

We pulled back up to the house around 5 and my mom looked at me smiling. "We had fun today Y/nn."

Travis poked his head into the front nodding frantically. "Yeah, it was awesome."

I chuckled and wiped ice cream off his cheek. "I'm glad you had fun."

"Come on let's go back in so you can help me finish my homework." He unbuckled his seatbelt but my mom stopped him.

"Y/n has to go maybe another time Trav." She softly said.

I looked at my mom and frowned. "I can stay a little longer ma."

She shook her head. "Your dad's home and I don't want him seeing you." I looked up and saw a black car parked in the driveway. She then pulled me in for a hug.

"I'm a big girl mom I can handle-."

She cut me off and pulled away. "I'm doing a great job at protecting my son so let me do a great job at protecting you," she unbuckled her seatbelt. "Go home we'll be fine, I love you."

I sighed and nodded, I knew better than to argue with her. "I love you too ma," I turned to look at Travis. "I'll see you soon ok bud?"

He nodded slowly. "I love you sissy." He wrapped his arms around my neck.

"I love you more."

With that, they got out of the car and walked back into the house. I shook my head pulling out of the driveway and started home.

-

"Quincy, have you seen my watch?" I asked walking into his room.

It was around 7:45 and we were almost done getting ready for the party.

"Hmm? What watch?" He asked looking up from his phone.

"The only watch I have dummy." He shrugged and put his phone down.

"I haven't seen it," he stood up and walked towards the mirror. "You look good."

"Thanks, you don't look too bad yourself," I said sitting on his bed.

"Huh? I was talking to my reflection," he laughed. "You look like shit."

I flipped him off and rolled my eyes. "You're so sweet to me."

"Yeah I know," he looked at me through the mirror. "You excited?" I shook my head. "Why not?" He asked.

"I don't know I'm just not really expecting much." I shrugged.

"Stop being so emo," he shook his head and turned to me. "Your gonna go to that party, get someone to fall in love with your work, and maybe even find you a model to bring home," he paused and laughed. "Nah I'm joking you couldn't get with a model even if you were cute."

"Asshole," I stood. "But, your right I have to be confident tonight."

"Exactly," he looked down at his watch. "It's 8 let's rollout." He walked out of his room and down the stairs.

This is my chance to finally make a name for myself, I'd be damned if I messed it up because I was to shy to communicate with people.

I walked downstairs where Quincy was waiting. "Your car or mine?"

"Yours." He nodded and grabbed his keys off the hook.

We walked to the door and I paused. "Quincy is that my fucking watch!?"