Destroy Me Gently:Ex-Enemy Becomes My Lover!
Chapter 16: Last Straw

Chapter 16: Last Straw

Chapter SIXTEEN

**Oliver West**

The kitchen was a complete mess, which pretty much summed up my entire life right now.

I stood at the stove wanting to make spaghetti for lunch, but Pumpkin was at the counter making sandwiches instead.

"Why can’t we just have spaghetti?" I asked, watching her spread peanut butter on bread like she was painting a masterpiece.

"Because sandwiches are faster and I’m hungry now," she replied, not even looking up. "Plus, you always burn the pasta anyway."

"I do not burn pasta!"

"Remember last Tuesday? The smoke alarm went off three times when you somehow burned toast? Toast, Oliver!" She said in a tone so similar to Mom’s that it spreads a shudder through me.

And she was adding way too much jelly to her sandwich, Mom would just blame me later for allowing her to waste it.

I gazed at her swallowing the lump in my throat.

"That was an accident, the bread wasn’t quality enough" I turned on the other stove to start heating up the sauce that remained from the last time "I can make spaghetti just fine. Your sandwich looks gross, you just wasted good ingredients,"

"Your face looks gross," she shot back without missing a beat.

"That doesn’t even make sense, Pumpkin."

"Your existence doesn’t make sense, but here we are," she replied, making the jelly bottle make that weird farting sound when she squeezed it.

We both stopped and looked at each other.

"That was the bottle!" she said quickly.

"Sure it was, What’s that smell?" I sniffed the air, laughing when she took a huge bite while glaring daggers at me.

"Even if I farted, it will smell like fragrance," She spoke with her mouth full.

This felt normal. Pumpkin being annoying, me pretending to be the mature older brother. It was the only normal thing left in my life.

But I really needed to call William. My stomach felt sick just thinking about it. I had to explain why I pushed him away. I had to make him understand.

"Hey, Pumpkin," I said, trying to sound casual. "Can I use your phone for a minute?"

She looked at me like I’d asked for her kidney. "Why? Where’s yours?"

"It’s... charging upstairs," I lied. "Dead battery."

"Since when do you let your phone die? You love that thing more than food." She squinted at me suspiciously. "What’s going on?"

"Nothing! I just need to make one phone call."

"Uh-huh and you can’t wait five minutes to go get it because...?" She stopped chewing and her attention was fully focused on me.

Why the hell is she interrogating me?

You little cockroach!

"Because I’m cooking and being responsible by not leaving the stove?" I plastered an overly smile on my face but she only rolled her eyes.

"You mean because you’re lazy and don’t want to walk upstairs,"

Fine. I would agree to anything she said at this moment.

"Exactly. So phone, please?"

"What do I get?" She held her phone against her chest.

I sighed, it was time to bring out my triumph card. "I won’t tell Mom about the makeup collection under your bed. She warned you against those fake eyelashes, didn’t she?" I clicked my tongue and she jumped down from the stool, her expression flustered.

I crossed my arms smirking.

"How did you—never mind. Fine, but be quick. I need to text Alanna about Mrs. Henderson’s new haircut. It looks like a poodle exploded."

She was about to hand me her phone when the front door banged open.

Mom walked in looking really mad and really tired. Her hair was messy and her work clothes were wrinkled. She had that scary look that meant someone was in big trouble.

"Welcome home Mommy," Pumpkin greeted, rushing to hug Mom. Yeah, what a model daughter!

"Hi, sweetheart," Mom smiled at her, dropping her bag on the counter. Then she looked up to see me, her smile completely vanished.

My heart lurched to my throat wondering what I’d done wrong this time, nothing came to mind.

"Oliver West," she said in this super calm voice that was worse than yelling. "I’ve been calling you for an hour."

Not my full name again.

My heart started beating really fast. "Oh... um..."

"Your phone goes straight to voicemail. It says it’s turned off." She glared at me really hard. "Want to tell me why your phone is off when you’re usually stuck to it like glue?"

My blood went cold, I tried to smile but it completely faltered. "Um... it’s upstairs?"

"That’s weird, thinking about it now, I haven’t seen you with it for some time now. Usually I have to threaten to throw it away just to get you to look up at dinner."

Pumpkin’s eyes got huge. She looked back and forth between me and Mom like she was watching reality TV.

"I can explain. . ."

"I’m waiting," Mom said, crossing her arms, sternly.

No words could come out of my mouth. I couldn’t just tell her that Kieran broke it so bad that the phone repairer said it was hopeless.

"He just asked to borrow my phone because his is charging upstairs. I think that’s a lie mommy," Claire smirked at me.

This traitor.

If I don’t teach her a lesson later. . .

"I... I lost it," I whispered, looking at the floor.

The kitchen got so quiet I could hear my own heartbeat.

"YOU LOST IT?!" Mom’s voice was so loud it hurt my ears. "Oliver, I just bought that phone three months ago! Do you think money grows on trees? Do you think I’m rich?"

"Mom, I’m really sorry–"

"Sorry? Oh, you’re sorry! Well that fixes everything!" She threw her hands up. "Sorry doesn’t buy new phones! I’m working extra hours just to pay bills, and you lose your phone like it’s nothing!"

I swallowed hard, not knowing what else to say, but this seemed to make her even madder.

"You know what?" Mom said, getting that scary calm voice. "You can stay without a phone. Or... you can sell that manga collection of yours. All those books you spend money on instead of being careful with phones!"

My heart broke into pieces. My manga collection was the only thing that made me happy anymore. Those books helped me through the worst days, the loneliest nights.

Kieran

Even though I was at home, he was still creating trouble for me.

Why did I even hug him? The memory made my face burn with shame. I’d hugged him like some desperate kid begging for love from someone who hated me.

And then he’d called me that word. Faggot. Like being gay was something disgusting.

Did the idea of me being gay really make him sick? Was I that gross to him?

How he looked at me with such hate. How he grabbed my hair when he told me to stay away from William.

Now I couldn’t even call William to say sorry, I couldn’t tell him I only pushed him away to protect him.

I was completely alone.

The smell of burning hit me before Mom’s scream.

"OLIVER! THE SAUCE!"

I looked down. The sauce was smoking like crazy. I dived towards the stove to turn it off.

"ARE YOU SERIOUS RIGHT NOW?" Mom threw her hands up. "First the phone, now this! Why don’t you just burn down the whole house? Go ahead, Oliver! Burn the curtains! Burn the furniture! Burn everything!"

"Mom, I can make more. . .!"

Please, just stop shouting at me.

If only she knew what I’d been through today.

Of course, her argument was endless.

"With what? We don’t have endless sauce! This isn’t a restaurant!"

Pumpkin was giggling now. "Should I call the fire department?"

"This isn’t funny!" I snapped.

"Your life is like a disaster movie," Pumpkin said happily. "Except instead of monsters, it’s just you being really bad at life."

That was it. I couldn’t take it anymore.

I sat down on the kitchen floor and then just lay down on the cold tiles. The burnt smell was everywhere, just like how everything in my life was ruined.

I was done. I was ready to give up on everything.

No phone. No way to call William. No escape from Kieran. And now, no lunch.

I stared at the ceiling and wondered if this was rock bottom, or if my life could get even worse.

"Oliver, get off the floor," Mom said, but she sounded less angry now.

"This is my life now. Living on the floor and burning food, everybody hates me" I mumbled to the ceiling.

"You sound like a sad cooking show," Pumpkin said. "Today on ’Kitchen Disasters with Oliver,’ watch our host burn sauce and give up on life."

Goodness, sometimes I really hate her!