With Me | Chris Sturniolo

18

He looked at me like he was making a big decision in his head. "No, you're not"

That's it. Prepare the awkward death certificate because Chris just stopped my heart.

"It's hard for me to open up to people"

Trust me, I know. I reach out and place my hand on the back of his neck, my arm resting on his back as I rubbed it in a circle motion.

"You know, you can talk to me if you need to"

He sighed and looked into the distance. "You remember what I told you about my Dad?"

"Your real Dad?" The guy who walked out on his son and pregnant wife who had cancer because she refused to abort the soon to be born twins and he refused to deal with the bills?

He nodded. "Yeah, I remember"

"When he left, my Mom was desperate. There's only so much a single mom with a young kid and two newborns can do. You know, with her cancer coming back and being able to afford medical bills"

I sat in silence, captured by Chris and his words.

"I know that she married my stepdad for support more than anything else. He was awful, and so was his son"

"Do you blame her?"

"No" he looked at me, and the back to the distance. "She did what she had to for her kids. She knew she was dying and when she did, we would've went into the system. I would've been separated from my brothers and that would have been worse"

My crush on Chris increased. He loved his brothers so much that he chose an abusive guardian over never seeing them again.

"Did he- was he-" abusive? I can't ask him that. "Was he mean to the twins?"

"Never. I'd kill him before I'd let him near them"

I nodded and stroked his neck, feeling him calm down.

"He's in jail now, right?"

He nodded. "And in a perfect world, he'll rot in there"

"Why is he in there?"

"The dumbass was arrested for trying to sell drugs to a police officer"

"I wasn't expecting that" I said, raising my eyebrows. "How long did he get for that?"

Chris shook his head. "He got the charge reduced to possession, so he's only serving three years with the possibility of parole in two"

"How long has he been in there?"

Chris stood in front of me again, placing his hands at either side of me. My hand was still on the back on his neck.

Seeing as he doesn't have an objection with me touching him, and how I really don't want to stop, I decide to bring my other arm around his neck.

"You remember the first day we met?"

"How could I not?"

"You ran into me in the hallway-"

"Hey, I think we established that you ran into me" I cut him off

"Never mind that. The point is I was being a big asshole to you, when I should've just been a small asshole"

"How does this-"

"That morning, I found out he met with the parole board, and there's a good chance he's being let out on good behaviour"

Of course it wasn't an excuse for Chris to be a jerk, but I understood now. He couldn't express his anger at the source, so he jumped at the first thing that pissed him off.