Glory Be

Chapter Twenty-Three

Isaiah led Sydney down the hallway and outside of the church. The two boys stepped out onto the concrete steps. Casted in a light blue tone, from the shadow of the church's walls. Isaiah looked at Sydney who had a shocked look about him. A bead of sweat shined on his forehead, underneath his stray bangs.

The boys flickered between each other for a moment, their mouths opening and closing before they sputtered out an overlapping dialogue.

"Are you okay?"

"You saved me."

"What?" Isaiah found himself giggling, "Did I?"

"You took me away from that horrific conversation, so yeah I'd say so," Sydney snorted, "Did you mean to? Or did you actually have something important to tell me?"

"No, um, not really," Isaiah admitted with a light-heart, "Are you okay though?"

"I'm okay now," Sydney sighed, his eyes not leaving Isaiah's.

"I'm glad," Isaiah said.

"Don't you have to get back to work though? I don't want to get you in trouble or anything," Sydney's lip pouted ever so slightly.

"I think it's fine for a little while," Isaiah said, "I'll just... Say I'm tending to a friend who needed some help. My Father tends to be receptive to that sort of thing. Come on, let's sit down for a moment."

"That's a smart plan," Sydney eyed Isaiah as they sat down next to each other. Their legs resting a top the freshly trimmed grass, "But really listen, I have a feeling your dad doesn't like me very much. So, I don't know if we should push it."

"Oh," Isaiah tried not to grimace, knowing he already heard it from the mouth of his Father. Sydney was a potential distraction; a bad influence, but how was he supposed to ignore that look he gave him from across the room. Even denying the talk of the article earlier that day had bothered him ever since, "Why do you think that?"

Sydney stayed silent for a few moments. He looked as if he was deep in thought. His lips moving against each other, and eyes that wouldn't stay put.

"Well...." Sydney mumbled.

"What is it?" Isaiah asked a bit nervously, and Sydney sucked in a deep breath.

"Okay, the truth is, your dad came and talked to my dad today. See, that's when he invited us to the dinner and stuff. Great food by the way," Sydney took a breath, "But he went on this wholeee thing about being worried about you, and asking my dad to remove certain materials from the shelves, but my dad said no, and your dad was like 'you need to get Sydney to stop influencing my son to do bad things' and my dad was like 'he would never do that'—I wouldn't by the way. When have I done that? And then,"

"Wait," Isaiah sputtered.

"And then, he asked if I'd push you in the right direction. Like huh? I'm not going to do that either," Sydney finished with a huff, "You can do what you want Isaiah, it's not up to me or anyone."

"What?" Isaiah repeated, his mouth falling fully open. The downfall of information had his hands gripping the concrete steps in worry, "My Father came to the shop? He said all that?"

"Yeah, well, I wasn't there, but," Sydney awkwardly grimaced, "Shit. I really shouldn't have said all that."

Isaiah rubbed his forehead in worry. His Father went and demanded all that from Mr. Kowal and Sydney? Isaiah's face ran red, and he shook his chin slightly. A nervous twitch caused his fingers to begin tapping repeatedly as confusing thoughts brewed in his mind.

"Isaiah are you okay? I um, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said all that about your dad," Sydney hushed.

"No, I apologize, my Father should've brought those issues up to me first," Isaiah shook his head, his eyes towards the ground, "I don't know why he said those things about you to your Father. I hope you can forgive him... And me."