After the storm [Finished]

23- Christmas (Part 2)

The next morning, we woke up with the scent of apple pie invading our nostrils. If I felt that Ryan's mother was a bit harsh with me by the way she talked the night before, that morning she was as sweet as the pie she served us for breakfast.

"Are you leaving after breakfast?", asked his father sipping his coffee.

"I'm having lunch with some friends, so we'll leave around four", explained Marcus, his mouth full of pie.

"And you two? Will you have lunch with us?", asked his mother. I turned to Ryan because I didn't know what we were doing.

"Yeah, we'll be out though. Tell me if you need me to buy something for lunch". She nodded.

"Where are we going?" I asked when we were climbing the stairs to his room.

"I thought we could take a walk or something".

"Sure". I nodded and we stepped into the bedroom.

The neighborhood was really quiet; we passed by just one house with kids playing outside. Ryan told me that there were living mostly old people, so that's why there weren't too many children playing around.

While walking around, Ryan mentioned that the places remained the same as he remembered last year, and last year was the same as the previous one. It seemed that the place where he grew up was the same as in those old days.

"It feels weird", he added. "It's like if time has not touched these streets, just the people have changed". His gaze was lost somewhere. I kept walking by his side in silence; I knew he was thinking about something.

"Ryan?" I listened from behind. We turned around and there was a short guy with blonde hair and a ton of freckles on his face. "Oh, God. It's really you!"

"Josh!", exclaimed Ryan. They greeted each other like two old friends that haven't seen each other in years. They exchanged some words before Josh's eyes landed on me.

"You're busy, sorry". The last part was because of me.

"Don't worry, we were just walking around. She's my girlfriend, Alex". He introduced me.

"Hi, Josh, a pleasure. Sorry for being this impolite, I haven't seen Ryan in years".

"Don't worry". I smiled at him; he looked like a sweet guy.

"Did you come to spend Christmas with your parents?"

"Yeah, my brother's here too. What about you? I come every year and I hadn't seen you around".

"Ah, my parents usually go to California. This year I had to come because my dad is not feeling well".

"Did something happen to him?"

"No, he's just getting old". He giggled. "You know my parents are quite older than yours". Ryan nodded in silence.

"Are you doing well?" He asked after a short and a bit uncomfortable silence.

"Yeah, pretty well. It's not difficult to run the gallery".

"Oh, right! Alex, Josh runs an art gallery in Los Angeles".

"Really?" I asked, excited.

"Alex is an illustrator, and she also has really good pieces".

"Really?", Josh exclaimed this time. "Are you planning on doing something? I can help you".

"Ah... yeah, I don't know if it's worth the hassle though".

"You're not the one to decide. Send some pictures of your work, I'll show them to my boss". He quickly took his wallet out and handed me a business card. It read "Josh Pavot" in bold.

"I will, thank you".

"How long are you staying for? We should go drink something".

"Maybe another time, we're leaving after lunch".

"Oh, next time it is. I should go now before this melts". At that moment, I realized he was holding some bags.

"Go, greet your parents for me".

"Call more often, jerk". They exchanged a few words and we saw Josh off.

"What are you smiling for?"

"Me?", I asked.

"Who else?"

"Nothing..."

"Tell me, did I do something funny?" I shook my head.

"Let's go home. I should help your mother with lunch". I took his hand and pulled him back home.