The Neighbor ☞ s.w.

two

✧Ivana Natalia Hawkins✧

"So, tell me about yourself." Sammy said to me as we walked over to a booth with our ice creams.

"Well, there's not that much to tell. I live with my dad and the house-keeper, Georgia. I have, well... I had, a younger sister. She was four at the time but now she's around eight years old. When she was four, and I was thirteen, my mom had a fight with my dad and stormed out of the house taking my younger sister along with her. And since that day we haven't heard from them or seen them. I still always have the slightest bit of hope when I think about them coming back. I sometimes space out focusing on the front door. I look at the door and just hope that they'll walk in through it one day and we'll all be happy and together again. But, they never walk in. I keep hoping they will but they don't, and they probably won't walk in ever again." I explain to him.

Why am I being so open with someone who barged in my house last night? I mean, I barely even know the guy.

"I can't promise you that they'll come back because I don't want you to blame me for the fact that they don't come back. However, I really do hope that they return and you all live together again. Most of my family members don't like me and my parents are the only ones who will put up with me, but they still don't like me and the choices I've made/I'm going to make." Sammy spoke and then licked his ice cream.

"Well, what choices have you made? And what choices are you going to make? There has to be a reason why they don't approve of them." I replied with a shrug.

"There are reasons. They don't like that I smoke weed with three of my other friends and they don't like the people I surround myself with. They don't like me not focusing on school and just wanting to go to parties. They don't like that I want to own a food truck and be a food truck vendor and then eventually open a restaurant. There's many choices I make that they don't like but they're going to have to deal with that. Because whether I succeed or fail in my future, that's my business. It's not their problem. They shouldn't care more about my future than I do." Sammy said to me, anger lacing throughout his tone of voice.

"I thought you said you graduated?" I asked him with a raised eyebrow.

"I lied." He said with a slight huff.

"Well, they're your parents, Sammy. Every parent is supposed to care and worry about their kid's future. If they don't worry about your future, they don't care about you. So, it's good that they worry that much. That's how they show how much they care about you and love you. And to be honest, if my teenage kid was smoking weed and failing school, I would be worried and stressed too. No parent wants their kid to go the wrong path in life." I expressed.

"I don't need them to worry. I don't want them to care. I do not need their sympathy. And I definitely don't need yours either." He muttered and then proceeded to stand up, walk over to the trash, and throw away his cup and spoon.

I sighed and shook my head. Sammy was being stubborn and there's nothing I can do to fix it. He has to want to change his behavior, I can't do it for him. He needs to take in people's advice and understand why his parents are so worried.

I picked my purse up and slung it over my shoulder. I stood up and threw away my cup and spoon as well.

I looked around the ice cream shop for Sammy and I couldn't find him.

I walked out of the shop and was relieved to see Sammy leaning against a brick wall. He had his phone in one hand and a lit blunt in the other. He didn't see me yet, he just proceeded to scroll through his phone and bring the blunt to his mouth. I watched as the smoke escaped his mouth, seconds later having to deal with the awful skunk-type smell.