Never Gonna Be Alone

Chapter 34--- The Thunder

The bar was quiet dark for it being daytime outside, and not a lot of people. Chuck came inside, and took a seat in the back, away from the very few people that were there. He looked at his watch. They never really agreed on the time, but he made it clear that they needed to talk. So, Chuck hoped that he got the message across to Andrew that it meant right away.

Soon enough, about 20 minutes, Andrew slid across from him. "You said you wanted to talk?"

Chuck sighed. "Yes. Laten told me some interesting things about you."

Andrew leaned back. "So you've told me."

"Have you been a little too friendly with Laten?" Chuck asked.

Andrew shrugged. "Depends on what you mean. I'm trying to get him to trust me because I need him to open up, so I can help him." He explained.

"Does that mean always getting close to him every time he tries to put space between him and you? Does that mean that that is what you were trying to do when you leered over him when you got told to get out of his room, or was it when you touched his knee, and rubbed?"

Andrew sighed. "You make it sound like I molested him."

"Or were thinking about it."

Andrew rolled his eyes, and sat up. "Chuck, Laten is a very troubled kid who went through a lot of trauma. He probably took my...touches the wrong way."

Chuck raised an eyebrow. "If I were him, I would have ran too."

Andrew chuckled. "Like I said, he's a troubled kid. Perhaps he over reacted."

Chuck sighed. Maybe he had a point, but he knew his son. Laten didn't really over react to stuff. If he did, then something was going on, and the way Laten told him, he was nervous too. "I know my kid a lot more then you do. For one thing, Laten hardly over reacts to something, and if he did, then it's gotta be a big thing. Another thing is that when he told me, he sounded really nervous, and he's not really nervous about stuff. Again it has to be something big." He explained.

Andrew shrugged. "Okay, maybe I over did it. He's a kid, Chuck. "

Chuck closed his eyes. Why was this so difficult? "Why the knee?"

Andrew shrugged.

"Not an answer, as you tell other people."

Andrew sat back again. "I admired that it may have been a bit much. I wanted him to get used to it."

"Get used to you touching him? Why would he need to get used to it?"

Andrew shrugged, and signaled a waiter. "Cause I would be doing it more often to gain his trust."

Chuck shook his head. "Most people would ask permission. You just went for it, from what he told me."

The waiter came at their booth. "Hi, what can I get for you two?"

"Could I have a beer, and a glass of ice?" Andrew asked.

"Sure, and you, Sir?" He asked Chuck.

Chuck sighed. "Just a water, thanks."

"Okay." The waiter left.

Once they were alone again, Andrew responded. "I'm not most people, Chuck. I have approaches that might be different from everybody else."

"Alright, why the leer then?" Chuck asked.

"I honestly don't know. I may have tried too hard, I apologize."

"Then explane this. Why does Laten really not like you? Why does he have really strong feelings that he should be far away from you as possible? he gets really strong feelings, like his mother as you know, and you do know just what kind of feelings Faith had, and you also know how true the feeling were." That should get him.

There was silence between them. "This is ridicules. You do realize that this is total ridicules? You're questioning me about a kid's feelings."

"Feelings that Faith had, and you know what type they were. They were true feelings. You've experienced when she had them, and when something went wrong right after she had the feelings." This was so hard to enplane. It was almost like a gift that Faith had. He would always trust them. He just wished that he had on that morning when she called in.

'Damnit.' Andrew thought. "I got nothing for that. What are you going to do?"

Chuck smirked. "I don't think I want you near me or my kid again."

The waiter came back, and gave them their drinks. "There you go. Total is six dollars."

Andrew paid the waiter and thanked him before shewing him away. "Chuck, we've been really good friends. Don't let a kid get in between our friendship. Please."

Chuck narrowed his eyes. "It's not just a kid. It's my kid. I trust my kid." Then he got up and left the table, and walked out of the bar, never looking back. When he got back into his car, he found himself on the brink edge of crying. His own words had struck him hard.

'I trust my kid.' In Chuck's perspective, if he had really trusted Laten, he would have stopped Andrew a long time ago. Why hadn't he? "What am I going to do, Faith? Tell me what I should do." He sighed and called up Ryan.

'BEEP...BEEP...BEEP-'

Ryan answered. "Hey, Lo-Chuck. How'd it go?" Ryan sighed inwardly. He can't believe he almost called Chuck 'Love'. He just hoped that Chuck didn't notice.

Unfortunately, Chuck did notice the slip, but he didn't acknowledge it. "It went okay. We talked and his excuses weren't really that strong, but in the end I told him that I trusted my kid, and I told him that I didn't want him near me, or my kid again."

Ryan smiled on the other end. He was happy to hear that. "Great job, Chuck. I'm glad to hear it."

Chuck didn't trust his voice, so he just hung up the phone and tried to get his breathing under control. He backed up from the driveway, and started to drive home.

Ryan was a little confused as to why Chuck hung up. He just hoped that Chuck would acknowledge that this was a good thing, rather then turn it into something negative. Ryan put his cell phone on the night stand, and rolled over, sighing. He was so happy that Andrew was no longer in the picture.