Before the break

Chapter 8

The second he got to his house, he tried opening the door when he remembered.

"Just great! I forgot my key; there goes my sneaking in to make dinner," he said as he rang the doorbell.

"Great, you made it. How was the trip? Hope the plane wasn't too bumpy?" his dad said after opening the door. "What happened? I was really worried."

"I'm sorry," he said as he stepped in, "there was traffic, and I spent a lot of time in the market."

"Yeah, no kidding."

"I'll start cooking immediately."

He made chicken enchiladas and sauce. After dinner, he did the dishes, went to bed, and tried to sleep, but couldn't. He couldn't get the girl he saw out of his head. The way she smiled, he wasn't sure why he felt how he felt. But the best part was when her mum came to pick her up, she seemed really happy.

Could that have been his life if his mum never left, his dad was trying, but things were still really weird, they only bonded over video games, if they weren't talking about video games, they were playing it, outside that was nothing, it was weird, off.

"I want that, I want her life," he said to himself.

He wanted to be happy, as happy as she was. He wanted to know how it felt to be that happy, to live your life without something bad happening, to have a mum. He had to talk to her, no, he needed to talk to her. He kept playing the whole thing in his head over and over again till he fell asleep.

The next morning, he got dressed, rushed his breakfast while ignoring his dad's questions, and bolted for the door when he remembered that just because she was there yesterday does not guarantee her being there today. Disappointed, he went back inside.

"Are you ready to answer me?"

"No."

"Start talking."

"I told you, I just wanted to go for a walk, is it wrong for a guy to go for a walk? I've been living in this neighborhood for about 2 weeks now and I don't know anywhere. I wanted to explore."

"Oh really now, all of a sudden? And this early?"

"I just want to make friends, okay? I would agree I was a bit early, but that's because of my excitement."

"Really?" his dad said in shock.

After his mother left, he was always having difficulty making friends in school. It was always an issue for him, but things became worse after she left. Hearing that made his father happy.

"That sounds good, I'm going to ask you to go later though; kids your age like to come out late,"

"Thanks dad,"

He heard right, his dad did support him, his dad had really changed, if only his mum were around. His urge to meet the girl he saw grew. He had burning questions, but his dad was right; he had to wait. It would give him enough time to think of how to talk to her. He can't just start asking questions out of nowhere; he needed a buildup, which he had more than enough time to work on.