"Shit," Skylar can't help but mumble under his breath. His dad is never home in the middle of the day, and he also never has two days off in a row. Something had to have made him come back. What, though? Skylar has no idea, all he knows is that it causes a sinking feeling in his gut. He has a bad feeling about this.

"What?" Ashton asks. Skylar can't help the fear that's visible on both his face and in his voice. Seriously, there is no way this is good.

"My dad," Skylar says absentmindedly, grabbing his bag and not even waiting for a response. He doesn't even thank Ashton for the ride, mostly because he doesn't deserve it. The guy basically threatened him into it, so whatever.

Skylar walks towards the door hastily, not wanting to draw this out any further than he needs to. He opens the door and enters the house with basically no hesitation, and as soon as he enters the building, is met with none other than the sight of Vince. The man is standing in the middle of the living room, and Danica is seated on the couch behind him.

There's only one thing that is immediately catching Skylar's attention, however, and it's the familiar shoebox in his father's hands.

This may be worse than Skylar thought.

"How long?" Is all Vince says, and his voice is eerily calm. It still has a punch to it, still sets Skylar on edge. He almost prefers it when his father is yelling at him. This is way worse, because it implies that he has already gone through every stage of anger. It means he's reached a conclusion, a peace.

It means he's already made up his mind.

"W-What, uh..." Skylar doesn't even know what to say. Should he just confess right now? He really doesn't want to, though. For some reason, he still doesn't want to face the fact that his father knows. He knows. He fucking— someone knows. "What to you mean?"

"How long have you been addicted to cytozine, Skylar?" He asks, and his voice sounds far more angry this time. Oh, Skylar is so fucked. How did it never cross his mind that someone could find his supply? Skylar feels really stupid for it now, but that seriously never crossed his mind. He hardly even tried to hide the box of his biggest secret.

"Uh, um, that... uh, that actually belongs to a friend—"

"Do not lie to me."

Oh, Skylar is in some deep shit. Seriously, he is not seeing a way out of this. Sure, Vince gave him two things that would mean immediate eviction: a hospital visit or a failed class. However, that by no means was specified to be the only things. No, there is definitely far more that Vince would kick him out for. Being addicted to such a serious drug could very well be enough.

"Since I was fifteen." Skylar finally admits, and Vince narrows his eyes on him. He watches the guy's gaze flick over Skylar's shoulder, towards the window that has a perfect view of the driveway. His eyebrows furrow slightly, and he looks back at his son.

"Where's your car?"

Oh, and Skylar didn't think it could get worse. He somehow forgot about his car theft for a minute there. He's beginning to lose more and more hope by the second.

"It got stolen."

"Stolen," Vince repeats plainly. Skylar begins to realize that he needs to choose his words carefully if he wants any hope of escaping this situation without being homeless.

"Yeah, uh, I had no idea. I mean, I was just... in the store. Yeah, and when I left it was gone. No idea who took it."

Unfortunately, Vince can see right through him. Skylar has gotten in a lot of trouble over the years. His mother used to say that he was not a 'beginner level child', and it only took a few years for him to grow old enough to realize what that actually meant. He knows he hasn't always been the easiest to deal with, but lately he really has been trying.

He's starting to think that he may have been too late. Some... well, some people really can't change, no matter how hard they try. It's just not enough. Skylar, generally, has never been enough.

"I just told you not to lie to me." Vince says lowly. Skylar gulps. Seriously, how on earth is he about to get out of this? Surely there's a way, right?

"What? That's what happened, I swear." Skylar lies again, likely just digging himself a deeper hole since Vince can obviously see through it. The man narrows his eyes, and Skylar starts to avoid eye contact.

"I will give you ten minutes to pack your things."

The adrenaline rush that shoots through Skylar's body is enough to have his entire body tensing. He immediately shoots his gaze to meet with his father's, and this guy is dead fucking serious. Skylar has never seen such a stern expression on the man's face in his life.

Skylar begins reaching, begins dialing back to his backup plans. His last resorts, any last ditch desperate attempt to convince his father not to throw him to the wolves, no matter how much Skylar may deserve it.

"What? But- no, hang on, you said you'd only kick me out if I went to the hospital or failed a class, right? I haven't done either, so—"

"You're covered in bandages and bruises. I find it hard to believe you've stayed out of trouble." Vince interrupts him, clearly not in the mood for Skylar's excuses. "Either way, I will not house an addict m. Especially one who sells his car to buy drugs."

Okay, hang on, that's a fucking stretch. Okay, not really, since the two were kind of correlated, but still. That was not Skylar's choice! Still, he knows there's next to no chance of convincing this man otherwise. It was clear from the moment Skylar walked in the door. Vince made his mind up far before Skylar ever arrived back home.

Pretty soon, he won't even be able to call it that anymore. He won't be able to call anywhere home anymore.

"Okay, wait, you have no proof—"

"Five minutes."

Alright, damn, he's really at his limit, huh? Skylar shuts his mouth and gives his father one last look, before walking to the stairs without another word. He can't help the bitter feeling in his stomach, but he also can't find it within himself to be all that upset.

Jessie was always far closer with Vince than Skylar ever was. Still, Skylar lived with him since their mother is a truck driver. She's never home, and honestly, she and Vince agree on most punishments anyway. Despite the fact Skylar has always been closer with her, that's not really saying much. There's no way she'd let him move in with her, and he's not sure he'd even want to. He'd have to leave all his friends, and she'd never be home.

He's unsure if she actually even has a permanent place of residence, anyway. Skylar is truly on his own.

Skylar packs some necessities and clothes and such, but it's not like he can actually fit all that much in his bag. He uses up the full five minutes before his dad is calling up to him that his time is up.

Skylar walks back down the stairs, and finds his father standing a few feet from the door. Skylar doesn't even acknowledge him, grabbing his box of drugs without a word and opening the door to exit. His father speaks one last time before he can do so, however.

"I do wish you the best, Son."

Skylar's too stressed and irritated about all the assumptions to actually reply to that civilly, though. He just flips the man off over his shoulder and exits the house for the very last time.

So, not only did Skylar's car get stolen today, but he also lost his house. This must be one of the most unluckiest days of unluckiest days. He just begins walking down the sidewalk of the suburban neighborhood, resisting the urge to take some pills and see where it fucking takes him.

Skylar realizes he's still holding the shoebox, so he empties the contents into a pocket on his bag, before discarding the box in one of the neighbor's trash cans.

Skylar has no idea where to fucking go, so he just walks. He walks and walks and walks until finally reaching a bus stop. He gets on the next one, not even paying attention to where it's going, and goes towards the back before taking his seat. He pretty much stays there the rest of the day, until all of the passengers have changed out several times over and he's the only one left.

Skylar is forced to leave at the last stop, which he can't even be mad about. He's in downtown Bayton now, about an hour from his house. Bayton is a large city.

Skylar sets his bag on the bench of the bus stop he's dropped off at, then lays on his side to prepare for sleep. It's going on midnight, and he's pretty tired, but it'll have to do. He's slept in stranger places, and it's only until he can figure something else out. Whenever that may be.

Unfortunately, before Skylar can get all that close to falling asleep, his phone is buzzing.

Skylar sighs, sitting up and leaning against the glass that covers the back of the bench. He finds Jessie's name flashing on the screen, and doesn't hesitate before answering. He could really use his brother right now.

"Hello?"

"Skylar?" Jessie actually sounds worried, which isn't really a first, but it's definitely rare. That guy hardly ever loses his unbothered, easygoing attitude.

"Yeah, what's up?"

"Were you just not gonna tell me or something? How have you already been thrown out—I've barely been gone a week."

Oh shit, he has a point there. It's actually kind of embarrassing, especially since Skylar didn't even realize before. Still, Jessie is right. Skylar lasted about 8 days without Jessie there to vouch for him, to warn and protect him from Vince's wrath. He truly is a hopeless case.

Well, at least he was able to keep his cytozine.

Actually... wait.

How does Jessie even know? Did Vince tell him? Did Vince tell him everything?

"Uh, yeah, it's a long story. What did dad tell you?" Skylar asks, feeling nervous about anyone else knowing about his drug problem. He really does not need Jessie to be even more worried than he already is. Also, he just doesn't want Jessie to know that about him. This guy's opinion matters quite a bit to Skylar, and the last thing he wants is to jeopardize that.

"He just said he hit his limit and you were out. He also told me not to help you, that you need to learn a lesson, but this is ridiculous." Jessie almost sounds like he's ranting as he talks, and it feels good to have someone seemingly on Skylar's side. Also, it doesn't appear as though Vince told him about the drugs. At least Skylar has that.

"Where are you now?" Jessie finally finishes after a mini rant. Skylar sighs, and this conversation is really wearing him down. He does not want to talk about what a failure he is, or the fact that his best option is to sleep at a bus stop rather than bother anyone he knows with his problems.

"One of the bus stops. I think on Kennedy Street. Why?" Skylar replies reluctantly, unsure why he's feeling so hesitant, but not denying it to himself. He doesn't understand why Jessie needs this information, anyway. What, is he gonna come get Skylar and bring him to college or something? Skylar has a school year to finish.

Wait. Shit. He didn't even think about that. How on earth is Skylar to succeed in school while also not having a house? He hardly even has a job, since he's been so unreliable. He won't even be able to pay for a cafeteria lunch.

"Okay, just stay there. I'm gonna call Ash."

"What?!" Skylar says way too loud, alarm flooding his body. No way. No way this is happening, he can't believe his day is actually somehow getting worse. He doesn't want Ashton to see him like this! Actually, wait, that's not it. He doesn't want to see Ashton to begin with!

"I'll call you back in a minute, but I need to tell Ash where you are so he can come get you—"

"No way. No fucking way, I'd rather die out here, I do not need help from that fucking guy."

"I know you two have a... complicated relationship," Jessie replies, and that's putting it lightly. Even Skylar can't make sense of whatever he and Ashton have going on, and he's a part of it! "But he's the only person I trust to take care of you."

"Take care of me?!" Skylar hisses, wondering if he should make a fucking break for it. He's so tired, though. "Absolutely not, I can take care of myself."

Jessie knows Skylar well, and is fully aware that drawing out this conversation will only give Skylar more of an opportunity to figure a way out of this.

"Anyway, call you back, bye." Jessie hangs up quickly, and Skylar drops the phone to his lap, scowling.

He briefly contemplates throwing himself into traffic, but there is no traffic. He instead decides to wait for his phone to light up with a call. When it does, it's Jessie telling him that Ashton is on his way and Skylar will be living with him for the foreseeable future.

Skylar sighs, but can't find it in himself to be angry with his brother. Clearly the guy just wants to help, and as much as it kills him to admit, Skylar does kind of need it. So, begrudgingly, he agrees.

It's mostly just to ease Jessie's mind if anything, but Skylar waits.