Second Chance

Chapter 3

We pull into the panda express and park our cars. We walk in and order our food. We get a booth in the back corner. "So you're a reporter." He says, and I nodded. "I have loved writing since I was little, so it just kind of fit, I guess." He smiled as he took a bite of his chicken. "so what made you get into construction? Surely there were better options to support you and Isabella. What about your parents?"

He froze for a second. "I'm sorry, that was personal. You don't have to tell me." He took another bite of food and gave me a soft smile. "My parents helped in the beginning, but when I was 20 and the construction company started to take off, they cut me off and only want to visit Isabella every couple of weeks. I get it. They can't support me for forever, but what if the construction thing failed?" He shook his head, "well my parents didn't even know if I was in the house half to time so I guess helping you as much as they did was better than nothing right?"

He looked at me, confused, before nodding. "What do you mean by your parents not knowing you were there half the time?" Did Ben not tell him? "Ben knew about my parents. I figured he would have told the team, since I was nothing to him. I figured embarrassing me would have been easy for him." He frowned, and I could tell he felt guilty. "he was a dick in highschool and trying to embarrass me more than he already did would be pretty easy for him. I'm not saying this trying to make you feel uncomfortable. I'm saying this because, looking back, he probably told you guys a lot of things that I didn't want people to know."

He stopped eating and stared at me like he knew exactly what I was talking about. I shrugged because it was all in the past. "My parents were awful. They used to be okay. We would go to the beach or amusement parks. But after my little sister died, they forgot I was there half the time. My mom was shooting up or passed out, my dad was drunk or banging someone that was not my mom or on the rare occasion he would actually go to work. Ben used to feed me since they never did."

His jaw dropped, and shock was written all over my face. "I had no idea, Ben told no one." I shrugged. "I'm surprised you guys didn't know. But yeah, that was my life then, but now they don't know where I am or that I am a reporter. That makes really good money." I smiled a little. "I mean, it's great. Everything that had affected me then was gone. I mean, you're here, but you're not the same person. So I don't count you as part of my past anymore." He gave me a soft smile, "so I have a question, do you prefer movies or tv series?"

"TV series. What about you?" I nodded as I chewed my food. "Same" "Why?" He asked, and I rolled my eyes as if it was obvious. "Well, if we are gonna do this whole friends' things, you're gonna get used to movie marathon nights." "Movie marathon nights?" I nodded as I took my last bite of food. "it's where I have a bunch of friends over. We make popcorn sometimes we drink, other times we don't. We binge watch a tv series together. We just finished one and we need something new. So not only are you gonna come, but you also are gonna pick something."

He nodded, "how many people are gonna be there?" "Depends. Sometimes it's me and 5 other people and other times it's just me and they are watching it at their houses." He nodded, "alright then, just lemme know the time because I know the place." I smiled as I packed up my trash and looked at the time. "I got to get home and let Mico out. Lunch was nice. We should do it again." He nodded and cleaned up. "hey would you mind doing me a favor and checking in on Isabella? I left her with a new babysitter, but I think she prefers you more. You don't have to, but would you?"

I gave him a soft smile. "Sure," He got up, and we walked out together. "When you left, I thought I was never gonna see you again." He whispered, and I looked down, "no offence, but that was sort of the plan." He let out a long sigh as we came to a stop in front of our cars. "None taken, but I will say that Ben was right about you being some good ass pussy." My jaw dropped, and I saw a playful smirk appear on his face. I punched him in his shoulder and he stumbled a little. "Dick" he laughed and his head leaned backwords, it was a heart laugh that made my chest fill with warmth. I liked his laugh.