Down My Path

Chapter 3

               Walking outside and seeing Adam parked and waiting for me made me feel warm inside. It was certainly a feeling that scared me. Not because I hadn't felt it before but because I had felt it before and because of how that ended. "You actually came to pick me up", I smiled at him as he smiled at me. "Of course. Couldn't let you walk to school" he laughed. He drove us to school and then promised to take me home again after school. "I'll give you gas money as soon as I get money, I promise", I said feeling a bit guilty. "Don't."

               For the rest of the day, my mind kept wandering back to Adam. Yet, my stomach churned at the thought of liking him. I kept trying to tell myself that I didn't like him but, that only seemed to make it worse. After school at Melinda's locker, I helped her organize it since it kept turning into a pig sty. "Melinda, dear God, this is from what seems like a month ago. Really? A moldy sandwich? Come on." I kept cleaning it out and finding interesting things. "Hey, what's this?" Her eyes opened wide. "Are you speeding?" I lowered my voice. Her face turned red. "They help me." She fixed her gaze towards the floor. "Melinda, no. You need to stop." I hugged her. "I'll help you, ok? And I won't tell our group either but, you definitely should tell someone that can help you." As soon as we were done cleaning,  I walked her out to her car and saw that Adam was waiting for me patiently. He greeted me with a smile. "You seem like you're a good friend" Adam said. He drove me home and like the day before, we sat and talked.

                "So are you never going to do theatre again?", he looked at me with interest. "I already said, no" I looked out the window. "Sorry, I didn't mean to pull anything from your past. It's just you shouldn't have to rely on that jerk that broke up with you to succeed. In fact you should do it to show him you can succeed without him." There was silence. "I just don't like seeing you so torn and sad because of him", he sounded caring. "Why do you care about me? We just met." I looked at him. "Because you seem like a person who lost his smile unfairly. I used to see you smiling all the time. You would turn into the hallway and you would bring this light into it. No matter if people were having conversations with their own group or if they looked down, when they saw you they smiled at you because you were smiling radiantly. Diego, like I said, don't hold onto the past because it's killing your light." I looked at my hands. I was speechless and didn't know what to say. He took my hand and squeezed it. "You're amazing."

                 I decided it was time for me to go up into my apartment. I stepped out of the car and this time Adam walked me to the gate. Before I opened the door to go inside, he held me. He held me tight in his arms that, once again, made me feel safe. I didn't want him to let go. Luckily enough, he held me for what seemed like forever and I enjoyed every second. He let me go and looked into my eyes and smiled. He started walking back to his car. "Thank you, Adam, he turned to look at me, thank you for everything." He smiled and kept walking to his car. I watched him drive off and with that I walked inside and then to my apartment.

                "Where were you?" I turn around surprised. "I was downstairs talking to a friend" I try to walk past my dad but he stands in front of me. "What did I tell you to do this morning" his tone was dark and demanding. I looked up at him and realized he hadn't been drinking. "I don't remember, I'm sorry." I knew by his face that he was aching to get a drop of alcohol in his system. His sharp gaze grabbed my attention back to his threatening face. "No of course you don't remember. Whenever I tell you something it goes in one ear and out the other because you're so stupid to realize that my shit is more important than your conversations with your friends. You're just like your mother, always trying to do whatever you fucking feel like doing. I'm the man of this house and as long as you live under my damn roof, you will do exactly what I say and when I say it. Tomorrow you're going to get home by 3:30 and if you're not here by then you can pack your shit up and leave." I looked down at my feet. I didn't want him to see me tearing up and I certainly didn't want to look at his face. I wanted him to just stop talking and leave me be. "Go do your chores." I dropped my things in my room and began to do all my chores. By the time I was done, my mom came home. "Did you or your dad make dinner?" Seriously? I just cleaned the whole entire apartment and didn't do any of my homework and she still wanted me to cook dinner. "No", I snapped. I went straight to my room and tried to get homework started but I couldn't focus.

                  "What's wrong?", my mom put her hands on my shoulders and squeezed. She always did that as a form of comfort. It was a sign that she knew something was troubling me. "Dad pissed me off today. That's all." I continued to write my essay. "What did he say now?", my mom sat down next to me and I could tell now that she was worried. "He threatened to kick me out tomorrow if I don't get home at a certain time." I looked at her and tried so hard not to cry. "It's ok. If you leave  I'll go with you. Your dad didn't drink today and he was just frustrated for that reason", my mom said. We talked more about dad and how what we could do to fix problems that could be avoided. When my mom left my room, I finished all my homework and I got ready for bed.

                  The warm blankets wrapped around me reminded me of Adam's arms. I closed my eyes and immediately pictured his crystal like brown eyes in front of me. As corny as I felt for feeling this way, I imagined his arms tight around me making me feel safe. At that moment, I realized one thing which was that I had one of the strongest feelings I had ever had for a guy in a while and the feeling I felt was one that I could trust. After thinking about Adam for a few minutes, I fell asleep and didn't wake up at all that night.