Trent's father had been moved to a different wing of the building. He had a small bedroom to himself, and I could tell it was decorated with some things from home. There was a picture of him and Trent on the nightstand, and one of his wife with Trent. Pictures like that weren't up in the house too much, so I wondered where those pictures came from. Mr. Rodriguez was in plain clothes, just jeans a t-shirt. It was odd seeing him like this, the couple of times I had seen him prior he was in a suit or a hospital gown. He seemed more relaxed and happier than when we visited the day of his heart attack. He smiled at the both of us as we walked into his room, and the smile never faltered when he looked down at our intertwined hands.
"Hey Dad," Trent said as we sat down.
"Hey son, how are you?" His father asked.
"I'm doing pretty well. How are you?"
"Great actually," he smiled. "Grayson, how are you?" He asked turning to look at me. I froze up, replaying that night in my head. All I could see was him lunging at me, trying to attack me for who I was, for loving his son.
"Grayson, it's okay," Trent said as he squeezed my hand, pulling me out of my flashback.
"I know you're probably pretty afraid of me. I'm sorry for what I did."
"I-It's okay Mr. Rodriguez," was all I could stutter out.
"Please, call me Victor," he said.
"O-okay," I stuttered.
"We definitely got off on the worst foot, I just wanted to say I'm so sorry for how I acted towards you. I'm not that person anymore though, and I really hope I can get to know the man that my son has quite literally risked everything for." I smiled at that. His father seemed sincere, like a whole new person. The demons were still there, but like me, he was learning to just take each new day as it comes and cope with the situation at hand in a positive way. He really was a much different person that the bitter, angry, abusive drunk I met a few weeks ago. Even in such a short time span you could see that this program was making a difference for him.
"It's o-okay."
"How has the program been?" Trent asked.
"Good, it's been a lot of therapy, a lot of examining why I started drinking in the first place, what I can do to avoid drinking, how I can make amends to the people in my life that I hurt."
"And how can you do that?"
"By being better going forward. I can't change what I did in the past. But I can make better choices for the future. I'll start by saying that I really appreciate that you both came to see me."
"Of course I came, Dad," Trent said. He looked on the verge of tears and I reached out for his hand. "I know I've said and done a lot of hurtful things recently, but I... I do love you. And all I've ever wanted was for you to be a good dad."
"I will be going forward," he said, and then pulled an envelope out of his bedside table. "Happy eighteenth birthday, Trent."
"What is this?" He asked, confusion evident on his face.
"Open it," was all his father said. Trent opened the envelope, pulling out a brightly colored card. When he opened it, a slip of paper fell out onto the floor. Trent picked it up and looked at it and his eyes bugged out.
"Dad, this is..." he gasped.
"That's your first semester's tuition, plus a little extra so you can take Grayson on some nice dates."
"But Dad, I don't even know if I got in yet... I probably didn't..." He took out the envelope from Rutgers and held it in his hand. "I just got this in the mail when I stopped home, I haven't even opened it yet."
"Well, what were you waiting for?"
"I wanted to open it with you and Gray... I guess I should open it now?" We both nodded and Trent ripped the envelope, unfolding the letter inside. "I... I got it!" He shouted. "I got into Rutgers!"
"I knew you would," I whispered in Trent's ear as he pulled me into his arms and spun me around the room.
"Did you know?" Trent asked his dad.
"My friend in admissions may have called me to let me know. I'm really proud of you son."
"Thanks Dad, I wouldn't have gotten here without your help though."
"You weren't doing as poorly in your classes as you let everyone think Trent."
"What are you saying I got in on merit alone?"
"Well, it was a little help from me, but your GPA really wasn't bad. I'm proud of you." The tears that were welling behind Trent's eyes fell. I'm pretty sure this was the first time his father had ever seen him cry.
"Sorry, I'm sorry," Trent cried, straightening up and wiping his tears.
"It's okay, you can cry."
"You've just... you've never said you were proud of me before."
"Not to your face, no. And I'm sorry for that. My father never showed any kind of emotion toward me and so I didn't know how to express it to you. That's something I'm working on."
"You're doing pretty good so far," he said, wiping more tears away. We were interrupted by a knock on the door. It was Ryan, chart in hand.
"Hey guys! I'm so glad to see you're visiting your father, Trent."
"Hi Ryan," Trent said.
"Are you okay? You look like you were crying."
"I got into college."
"Oh my god that's great! I'm so proud of you!" Ryan exclaimed, pulling him into a hug."
"Thank you," Trent hugged him back and then wiped at his eyes some more. "God when did I get so emotional?" He laughed.
"It's okay, you should be emotional this is huge! And Victor I hate to break up this beautiful moment, but you have group therapy."
"Alright," he sighed as he got up. I instinctively took a step back, praying that Victor wouldn't notice. "Bye Trent," Victor said as went to hug his son. Even Trent took an instinctual step back, but then hesitantly stepped into his father's embrace. I smiled watching the two share their moment. "Bye Grayson," he waved at me before following Ryan out of his room. Trent and I followed suit and we went our separate ways.
"Well that was productive," I said when we got into Trent's truck.
"That went... so well I could cry again," Trent said.
"I'm so glad. Like, really glad. You deserve to have a good relationship with your father."
"That's going to take some time for sure, but it's starting to mend."
"You look really happy," I said.
"I am happy. I'm always happy with you," he said as he took my hand in his.
"You know what I mean! This is like extra happy. Like how happy I was when Adam got sentenced. This is like, everything's falling into place for you kind of happy."
"Yeah," he said thoughtfully as a small smile grew on his face. "I guess it is."
"I'm so proud of you, and so happy for you."
"Thank you, I couldn't have done any of this without you, Grayson."
"Happy to help," I beamed up at him.
"I love you, so much."
"I love you too," I said and brought his hand to my lips, placing a gentle kiss to it before setting our intertwined hands down on the center console. I smiled to myself as Trent drove down the highway, the windows down and wind blowing through my hair. I thought about this past year, the person I was when it started, the shy, scared kid who was beaten up every day. I thought about who Trent was too, the rebel who got into trouble and didn't care for anything or anyone. What were the odds that the universe would bring us together? It was like we were perfect for each other, we made each other better people. I was more outgoing and comfortable in myself because of Trent. I think I made Trent more comfortable in himself too. He was more calm, more caring and kind, it was like he was a whole new person. We both were.
A/N: The next chapter is going to be the last! I can't believe it's coming to an end. This is the first book that I've ever managed to finish. I first started writing this story when I was in high school, and I gave up on it halfway through. I picked it up during quarantine and decide to rewrite it, writing for the first time in years. I forgot how much I used to love writing and this reignited my passion for it! So thank you so much to anyone who has read even 1 chapter and supported this story along the way!