Different

Chapter 5 Walk in the Park

Chapter 5

Walk in the Park

As the sun seeps through the curtain less window in the guest bedro- I mean my room, I slowly come out my dreams. As I stretch and roll over partially leaning off the bed to get a look at the clock on the nightstand. When I do, I see a person sitting on the floor at leaning against my bed frame. It freaked me out so badly I jumped, but since I was already leaning off my bed I just fell onto the floor. You never really realize how high a bed truly is until you fall off of it. “AL! Fiiiinally you’re up!” The mysterious person in my room, I now realize is no other than Nate. “Nate why are you sitting on my floor?” I ask as I slowly recuperating from my fall. “Waiting for you to wake up,” he said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. I finally look over at my clock, “Nate it’s like 8:00 o’clock in the morning.” “Please Al, can you please come play with me? No one else is home.” Nate knew I couldn’t say no to him, but what caught my attention is the last part of his plea. “Where is everyone Nate?” “Back to school shopping with mom,” he shrugged and walked out of the room. I chuckled at him, he’s so adorable. I follow him out of my room and into the kitchen where I pretend not to see him grab an oreo out of the jar. I see a note on the island in the kitchen and it reads:

                 Allison,   

I took the kids to go back to school shopping. Nate refused to leave without you and I figured you needed your sleep. I’ll be back home later this evening. If you know of anything you would like for me to pick up text me.

                              Xoxo

                                 Jodi       

I didn’t feel left out of their little shopping spree because I have recently craved being alone as much as possible. Plus there was no way I could let her buy me anything, I felt as if I was putting her out enough as is. The fact Nate demanded to stay did make me smile. I love that kid. “What’s first Nate?” I ask knowing he already has several things planned for me to do with him. I’m expecting the usual:  swimming, basketball, baseball, Wii, movie, or Nerf war. “Can we go for a walk?’ I  was shocked, Nate normally didn’t stick to one thing for too long so, going on strolls weren’t one of our normal activities. “If you’re sure that’s what you want” he nods, “then I guess we could take Mick Jagger with us.” (Yes my aunt and uncle named they’re English Setter after the Rolling Stones singer.) In a few minutes we were set for our ‘adventure’ as Nate called it. I put on a pair of Nike shorts, a sports bra, and a cut out tshirt from my overnight bag because I’m still procrastinating my unpacking. As we start on our walk I make sure to grab my phone, just in case. Nate talks my ear off the whole time. Not that I mind, he’s one of very few people I’d actually listen to from beginning to end no matter how long. He was telling me about all his friends, but one named Harry in particular. He told me about the kids who pick on him at school. I was instantly irate, I wanted knock some since into these kids. I love Nate, but the fact he is special needs is pretty obvious. Bullying in general is terrible but, to a special needs child just makes me sick. Nate must have sensed my anger because he stopped mid-step and gave me hug. This came as shock because Nate never hugged on his own free will. Never. And then he told me about this Harry that stuck up for him whenever bullies messed with him. My heart instantly lurched for this ‘Harry’. Words cannot describe how grateful I am for him and his actions. It’s nice to know the whole world isn’t all evil. As we continued to walk, we reached the park at the middle of the neighborhood. A little girl called over for Nate from the playground. She looked around 10 and had bright blue eyes with her very light blonde hair in a ponytail. Nate looked at me and I gave him a slight nod with a smile. He ran off to play with his little friend while I sat on a bench with Jagger. (A/N Jagger or Jags is short for Mick Jagger) I took out my phone to see it was only 9 o’clock now. It wasn’t too hot yet and the playground equipment wasn’t metal so Nate was safe from the Texas heat for awhile. I see Nate playing with the girl and few other kids all varying in ages through the scramble of running children at the park. I started to reply to a few condolences on my phone that I have gained over the past few weeks. “Who ya texting?” I jump and see no other Mr. Tree sitting looking over my shoulder to my phone. I immediately lock my phone as what’s-his-name sits next to me in his sweaty sleeve less tshirt and basketball shorts. To be honest I wasn't paying attention when he told me his name because I was checking him out. What can I say, he was shirtless at the time and it is definitely worth looking. He can’t know that though. He just put outs out this ‘I’m sexy and I know it’ vibe, and I refuse to add to it. Plus it would be entertaining to see his reaction when he thinks he didn’t make a big enough impression on me for me to remember his name. Mason I thought that's his name. “Don’t know what it is about this neighborhood, but you trees just seem to keep popping out of nowhere,” I tell him. “Oh sweet cheeks, I can pop into a whole lot of other places you weren’t expecting me,” He winks at me. I fake gag. “So Mr. Tree, what do I owe this pleasure?” He raises his eyebrows at the nickname, but replies, “I didn’t want people to get the wrong impression of you.” My eyebrows scrunch in confusion. “ ya know, sitting on a park bench watching little children play when you just moved in looks kind of creepy, like your some kinda perv” he explains. I want to ask how he knows I just moved in but my sassy mouth is already talking, “And how do you know one of these kids isn’t mine?” I ask half smiling. He leans in and whispers, “Sweet cheeks you can’t have a kid without getting fucked.”  I roll my eyes and scoot away little, creating more space. “No I thought a bird dropped a baby off on my doorstep” He notices my backing away and again scoots closer smirking. “Gorgeous, me and you both know you’re a virgin,” he says as if he has known me my entire life. It shocks me and for a second I’m not sure how to reply, but I recover with, “ya know, Max, I liked you better as tree.” His reaction was unexpected; he starts full out laughing. He then scoots incredibly close to me and I’ve run out of bench to move away. “Kitten I have plenty of ways to make you remember my name,” he whispers gently tugging on my earlobe. I should really be thinking about how creepy this is, but it’s just so…hot. My phone rings of another condolence text breaking out me out of my haze. I look down and instantly lock it. I want to keep my real reasons for moving here to only family.  Mason scoots away until we’re almost an arm distance apart. I know this because he placed his arm against the back of the bench. I watch the muscles in his arm move as he did so. Then follow his arm all the way to his shoulder, his neck, and then his face. “You know you never answered my question,” he says glancing at me out of the corner of his eye as he watches the kids run around the park. I glance over to Nate as he still plays with his friends. “Maybe your question wasn’t worth answering,” I reply sassily not even remembering the question he’s talking about. “Do you always have a comeback for everything?” he asks sounding slightly annoyed. “Wouldn’t you like to know,” I smirk. His only reply is a long loud huff of an exhale. My phone keeps dinging from people seeing I replied and thinking I actually want to have a conversation. Which I don’t, I was just bored. I turn the sound off and then turn back to Mason. “Fine,” I roll my eyes, “what is this question you so desperately desire my answer too?” He looks amused and I mimic him. “Who were you texting?” My amusement immediately drops as I look back at my phone then to him. I go to the first thing that pops into my head, “my mom.” Ouch. I forgot. I was actually happy today, even with Mason’s sexual comments. I still can’t believe she’s gone. Both of them. Here one minute, then not the next. “You’re lying” My head snapped up. “I, uh…um I-”  “Is it your boyfriend?” His question throws me off. Like a lot. “wha- no, no I don’t have a boyfriend.” “Good.” He gets up and walks away. Wait what? I stare at him as he walks. He’s got a cute butt too, I notice. When he’s out of view I turn back to Nate and his friends. What does “Good” even mean? Why did he just leave like that? Does that mean he wants me to be single? For him? No, no Allison you can’t do this to yourself. Love is war. Love doesn’t last. Eventually it will leave you alone and broken. No I can’t survive if I break again. So it’s declared; no crushing on guys, no dating guys, and absolutely no love.

A/N Pretty long chapter tonight..well I started typing when it was still night. What do y’all think of Mason? If you found any part of this chapter amusing you should comment which part(: Vote comment tell people to read!

~Lou