Confessions Of A Teenage Party Animal (Editing.)

19 - solutions and problems

Lana's POV

I liked it here, I wish I could stay.

I glanced into my car one more time to make sure Camille was still sleeping, and then, taking my arm off the position it was leaning in, I was going to take a walk.

The forest in which we had parked wasn't in New York anymore, but the city stretched so far it looked like it did, I walked slowly letting the night air seep in through me, the feeling of having the whole world sleeping while you did something other than what you were intended to do feels so good.

I walked for what felt like three hours but was most likely fifteen minutes until I noticed a boy who looked around my age, actually a bit younger, around fourteen or thirteen. He sat on a rock, looking up at the sky. His face was downcast, though."Hey." I called out, and his head snapped to stare at me, "Isn't it kinda late for kids to be out alone." He stared at me for a bit and then sighed, "Sorry, I'll leave." I stared at him, puzzled, "It's fine; I don't actually care too much, but why are you here alone?"  The boy's eyes widened,

"I did something bad." The words held guilt like he'd committed some heinous crime, "What?" He looked like he was going to run away; at that moment, I saw a younger me, the one too scared to do anything but hide, "I'm sure I'll understand; I've been through shit." I laughed, and he smiled slightly, making space on the rock, signaling me to sit.

I sat down, leaving breathing space, "I'm Lana, by the way." He looked at me as I introduced myself, "That's a girl's name," I'd heard that a lot; it wasn't like being a boy named Brooke because that was acceptable; that was cool; Lana wasn't.  Lana sounded too girly to be cool.

"I know." he nodded, and I waited for him to tell me his name. He turned his head to look at me as if realizing I was waiting for him, "Oh, I'm Cato." I didn't know what to make of the name, so I just nodded my head. The moon was full, and the stars were quite clear.

"I killed someone." I didn't expect that, and like a stupid naturally, I asked, "How old are you?" I didn't want to sound insensitive, but I had just failed, Cato didn't look at me but sighed, "I'm 14." I didn't believe him, he didn't act fourteen he acted more like a working adult who hated their minimum wage office job, he had dark brown hair that didn't look too well kept, it wasn't long but it wasn't short either, his face had moles everywhere and his eyes had eyebags that didn't help with the office worker look.

He did not look fourteen.

"So what happened?" Cato started looking at his shoes instead of the night sky, "I don't think I should say." I wanted to keep pushing, but I didn't seemingly have the right to, "Are you from around here?" He nodded, still staring at his shoes like they were the most fascinating piece of clothing he'd ever seen, a weird kid. "You should go home." He looked like he was about to speak but I cut him off, "Look, I can't tell you what to do but I'll try, I've learned a lot this past few months and probably the most important thing I've learned is to face your problems, because if not you'll end of dragging down people with you." Lana now knew this. He was going to go back home and face his problems.

Cato didn't look offended. He didn't look anything but pensive. "I should go home. Everyone kept telling me I shouldn't blame myself, but it's hard when it's all my fault." That was the most the strange boy had spoken in the past ten minutes, and it resonated with me too much to be healthy.

"Thank you, Lana." I nodded and watched as the Cato got up from the rock and walked slowly down the path.

✮⋆

"Did you have an epiphany?" Camille asked. I didn't want to call it that, but I guess it was the sudden realization that I had been acting out of fear, stupidity, and immaturity. And now, I have decided to face my problems.

Camille fixed me with a burning gaze. "You're being surprisingly rational. What's going on?" I wanted to say that I had always been this way, but he was right, I was being smart.

"Nothing. Just had a change of heart," I shrugged and replied as I steered the wheel. Cam didn't buy it, and I couldn't blame him, considering the nightmare week I had put everyone through before I decided that I, for some reason, needed to go to New York.

Now that I had taken that step, I was no longer willing to back down from someone who lacked the basic decency to acknowledge their mistakes, especially in the situation we were in. I was ready to confront my problems and find solutions