Shoot For The Stars (Wesley Stromberg)

Chapter Twenty-Eight: Pinky promise

Scout~

“I’m going to miss you kiddo!” Matty teases and rubs my hair.

I push him away playfully and shoot him a smile. I don’t mean it though. I am not happy. I do not want to happy.

“I’m going to miss you more.” I state adamantly.

Matty chuckles and scans the massive LAX parking lot for mom and her boyfriend.

I feel a twang of pain eat away at my heart. He’s so eager to go but all I want is for him to stay and never leave.

“They’ll be here in a minute.” I assure him and punch his arm gently. He gets his arm around my neck and puts me in a headlock. “HELP. LET. ME. GO. STOP. HELSSHHHPPP!”

His grip is tight but he loosens it when he realizes that I’m weaker than the guys he trained with.

“Sorry. Habit.” He mumbles apologetically.

Matty knows I don’t want him to leave. He knew from the start, from the day he told me. He always knew.

“Hey guys!” Mom yells, lugging Matty’s bag along with her, followed by Kyle (her current boyfriend) and their kid Billy. He’s only a baby.

Matty runs to take the bag from her and gives her a peck on the cheek.

“I love you mom and I’m going to miss you so much. I’ll phone you when I can and write always.” He sniffles. I can tell he’s close to tears but won’t acknowledge that. “Come here.”

He pulls her into him and hugs her tightly. She’s sobbing already.

It’s not often I see mom cry. She didn’t cry when dad left. She didn’t cry when I nearly died as a kid. But she was crying now.

“I love you Matthew, stay safe.” She manages to spit out between the steady flows of tears.

He nods and holds her at arm’s length. His face slowly inches towards her ear.

I know he’s whispering something to her about me. He always does.

“Ok. I will.” She mumbles almost reluctantly.

Matty takes a step back and looks at Kyle. I can tell that he doesn’t want to waste a goodbye on Kyle. He won’t be here long. Matty and I always knew that.

Regardless, Matty wraps his arms around Kyle lightly and smiles as best he can.

“Bye Kyle. See you soon.” He lies.

Next he turns to the stroller and looks down at baby Billy. As if he knows what is going on, tears fill his little eyes. I’ll admit, at first I hated the kid. He was just a reminder about how I was never good enough. Mom had far too much time to look after me. She had to fill that gap. She blamed me for Matty leaving. Said my behavior was too much for him.

It was all bullshit.

But I’ll say it, I feel bad for the kid. He’s cute as hell and he can’t help his parents, no one can.

Matty picks him up gently and cradles him tight. He presses his lips to the baby’s forehead and leaves a little peck.

“Bye buddy.” He whispers. I know Matty feels the same about Billy and mom and Kyle.

They always fight. When Matty was still at home, he used to take me into his bed and let me sleep there for the night so if they fought, he could comfort me.