Breaking From the Past

Chapter 4: Dinner Party

Conrad's breath is a white mist escaping from his mouth, he leans his head back watching the snow fall, the small flakes falling softly onto his nose then melting when it lands. "Looks like little stars." He says quietly. Closing his eyes tight, then opening them wide again. Positioning his head forward, he tightens his grip around my shoulder as we begin to walk again and he speaks, "The attack earlier, was because I noticed the snow starting to fall and my anxiety started to build more and more until it got so bad that I couldn't breathe anymore." He is calm while he explains. I can feel his muscles tense up though, meaning he is a little hesitant in explaining. "The world went black and all I could think about was the fact that you had always enjoyed watching the snow and playing in it, while I feared every flake that dropped to the ground." I can hear his voice starting to waver, I stop and move in front of him to give him a hard hug. I wrap my short arms around his small waist, joining my hands together at his back. I can feel my arms tugging his shirt as I hold onto him.

I whisper in his ear, "You have a big heart," I point my index finger at his chest. "You have a smart brain," I tap my bony digit on his temple. "Your body may be broken, but you will always have me to put you back together." I smile against his warm clothed chest. I used to say this to him all the time when we were kids because he would come to my house all sad and gloomy. In an effort to make him feel better, I would hug him and whisper to him just like I had moments before.

I can feel warm tears drip onto my sweater as he leans his head on my shoulder, his voice is raspy, "You are a monster, Rina." He hugs me back tighter than I am holding him. We end the embrace and continue walking along the path to exit the school grounds. We continue to keep our hands connected while we walk like we are a loving couple that can never be seperated. We make it to the end of the campus, Conrad walks right and I go left, to go home for the day, the long and painful day that is finally over.

The next few days are passed by with laughter, embarrassment , and even anger at one point. Even my friend Asha, joined in in the conversations, even though she had no idea what was going on. Friday, today, could not have come soon enough. I've been wanting to ask if Connie is able to come over tomorrow night for dinner, but can never find the right moment to intertwine the question with the rest of the conversation.

In a few moments the bell telling us to go home, will ring and I have yet to ask him if he is able to come.

If I don't ask him now I will never know, I thought to myself.

I turn toward the door, seeing a shadow pop up in the corner of my eye. It is a tall figure in the doorway, a guy, from the way he is leaning on the side of the door frame, using his shoulder as leverage, I could tell.

Why is he just standing there though? I wonder, but I just shrug it off, turn back around and continue with my previous thought process.

I see Conrad coming toward me, his jacket and belongings already on his person. He is bounding toward me, the white walls showing off his slim bodice as he briskly walks, he has his usual big smile across his face. I'm so busy smiling back and watching him come closer, that I totally forget about my question. I think quickly, figuring out what the question is, desperately moving through busy mind to find the question. I rememeber.

"I was just-" We speak simultaneously cutting each other off. We start laughing then Conrad starts, "I was just wanting to tell you that my mom and I are coming over tomorrow around 5 pm. I've been wanting to tell you for the past couple days I just couldn't find a good moment to slip it in, you know." He scratches his head in nervousness. "I kind of want to see how my old house is doing, not that I care or anything." His expression became angry. "It can rot in depths of earth for all I care." After he finished, his expression softened again.

I nod, "I understand. Oh, I'll call my mom after class and let her know you guys are coming." The bell rang only a few seconds after I stop speaking. Everyone, besides Conrad and I, dash out the room in a stampede. You are never able to forget it's friday when the whole room heads for the door at once, they are like animals finally escaping their prisons.

Unconsciously, I grab Conrad's white uniform shirt before he walked out the door, my hand just moved, I can feel my face start to heat up. Conrad turns around to face me, his expression shifts from surprise to questioning, but I let go of his shirt before he can do anything. I smile and mention that we should get going. He agrees and we make our way, slowly to our lockers. Passing a couple people here and there as we walk the few feet to our locker.

My locker is completely covered with decorations, red and purple ribbons curled and taped onto my pink wrapped locker door. Two words are spelled out on the paper in blue card stock, they read 'Good Luck.' Hanging from the 'L' is a straight black ribbon, I chuckle thinking about how long this would've taken my zealous friend to complete.

"She really knows how to surprise me." I whisper under my breath as I close my eyes and shake my head.

"What's the matter?" Conrad asks, seeing me shake my head. I tell him it is nothing and he shrugs it off, gathering his things from his locker. I do the same. We slam our lockers shut and make sure the lock is securely locked.

After he's finished putting himself together, Conrad came over to me and starts talking about this weekend, somehow we get onto the topic of how we used to play house together. He mentioned the memory of how I would be his wife and cook us dinner made out of play doh. "I even remember we used to call each other 'honey' like we were married." He laughs, while my face gets warmer, my cheeks becoming a more visible pink, but I can't help, but smile at this because those were the days he would truly become happy.

We end our short conversation, walking through the building to exit and go home. The school gates come into sight, saying our goodbyes we go our separate ways for the day until tomorrow night.

* * *

"Mom do you have everything ready?" I call from the living room, which is settled across from the kitchen where my mother is cooking. It is about 4:45 p.m. Saturday, close to the time Conrad said he will be coming over.

A voice calls from the noisy kitchen, "Yes dear. I just need to put everything on the table." Pots and pans are clinking together as she put them in the sink to be washed.

I continue what I'm doing, which happens to be cleaning the living room so it will be at least a bit presentable, you know. My mom is beginning to set the table after she finishes up the rest of the dishes, which I placed in the sink earlier, from the coffee table in the living room. I pick up one of the square pillows that match the black and white paisley design of the couch and find about $20 in bills, inside the cushion, so I shove it all ungracefully into my right pocket forming a ball, then finish my straightening up.

A knock on the door startles me, but I go over, turn the small knob, pulling open the door and seeing my friend in the doorway standing next to his mom. His mom's once dark brown hair that went about halfway down her back, is now shoulder length and gray. Her eye's have wrinkles around them and the once young looking complexion is now full of deep set lines running up and down her face. As the two walk in, I notice Conrad's mom has a limp in her gait, I want to ask what happened, but figured that might be rude so I move that thought right out of my mind.

And thus commenced our dinner.

A/N: Hello! I am so sorry it took so long for the update. I have everything saved on google docs, and I wasn't able to get on for a while.

I am going to be writing everything on the actual site now so I can (hopefully) update quicker. Thank you for reading and enjoy the chapter, don't forget to vote and leave a comment!! I will update as soon as I can. :)

-Stars