Apologizing to the Bad Boy

Chapter Eighteen

James POV

"Daad," my seven year-old self whined out.

I heard my dad chuckle, "Almost there, kiddo."

We were tracking along the seashore, the ocean playing it's usually tune; the water gently touching my feet and the sad quickly sinking my toes. And the seashells and rocks were quickly disappearing from my view.

Suddenly he stopped underneath the pier and I halted to a stop, almost hitting his much taller chest. Glancing up, I wondered why this old pier thing my father decided to stop under.

He then turned to me with a bright smile on his face, "This is my favorite spot on this whole beach."

I titled my little head, "Why?"

He smiled bigger and looked above the pier, "I love just sitting under here and listening to people above me walk." He side smiled at me, "Plus the sands cold here."

I nodded, agreeing.

My father and I sat underneath the pier just gazing out into the ocean and listening to the shatter of people's feet and the squawking of seagulls. The seagulls squawked and squawked before suddenly taking flight and heading south, away from my father and me.

"Do you know what I believe," he asked which I rapidly nodded my head. He put his arm around me and drew me close, "I think every time the seagulls fly away abruptly means some angel on Earth went back to heaven."

I stared up at my dad, perplexed by his sudden comment. I was about to tell him that was a load of horse crap but he looked really peaceful staring after the birds so I kept my mouth shut.

And I'm glad I did because now, I believe that too.

**********

Alice and I didn't become friend because we were neighbors, while that could very well happen, that wasn't the first reason we started to talk.

Our families, aka our parents were the closest of friends. And although our mothers are good friends and have been, the first way our families knew each other was through our fathers.

They were roommates in college and ended up becoming really close. And after that moment, they became best friends and decided to be for the rest of their lives.

When they got married, our families ended up spending a lot of time together, so not becoming friends with Alice seemed impossible. Plus the fact our mothers also instantly liked each other made the families behave somewhat like relatives.

My father was always a good man, never did anything wrong. Maybe a bit stubborn at points but all in all, he was a good dad and I never dealt with problems with him.

I never found out if he knew if I had become part of a gang but he seemed oblivious to it all so I guess we never spoke about it.

So when the random day in April came where Alice's father showed up on our doorstop begging my father to help him, he did. They both left and decided to talk and golf- a tradition they did whenever they needed each other.

But no one was prepared for that simple event to turn deathly.

They were driving home from golfing the entire day, Alice's father driving while my dad sat shotgun, probably talking about their game; when suddenly another car came out of nowhere and rammed into their car. Our car then skidded until it slammed into the side of the road while the other one skidded and ended up slamming into a street light, the driver of this car meeting his death.