Forever and Always, In my heart

Chapter 29:

Ch. 29

“Are you sure you don’t want to talk to him?” David asked.

I continued to stare out the window of the truck, at my father who was standing on my front porch still. He looked a little hopeful that I would come up and talk to him, but he was so wrong. I wasn’t about to go talk to him. Not right now. I looked back at David and nodded. “Yeah, I’m sure. Let’s just go to your house.”

“Positive?” He asked again. We had been sitting there for at least fifteen minutes, David not listening to me every time I told him to drive to his house. It was starting to just down right aggravate me. I didn’t want to talk to the man, and I wanted to just be listened to and get the heck out of there.

I groaned and leaned back against the seat, “Yes!” I said exasperated. “Yes, David, I’m positive I want to go. Now, please, just drive before I come over there and drive myself.”

He turned back to his normal spot in his seat and put the truck in gear. “Right. We’re going.”

“Thank you.” I sighed and watched as the road came into view. I’ve never been happier to see the house trailing behind us than this moment right here. Okay, that’s probably a lie, but it was up there.

It was quiet for a few minutes before David decided to break it. He cleared his throat first, almost as if he was afraid to say what he wanted. “So – and don’t get mad at me for asking – but why didn’t you want to stay and talk to your dad?”

I shrugged, “He’s never tried to contact me before so I just don’t want to find out why now. After my mom got full custody of me, and we moved here, I’ve never heard from him. What are a few more days?”

“Fair enough.” He said and was quiet for the rest of the ride to his house.

That was one thing I loved about our relationship. We could have these silences, but they weren’t like those awkward silence moments. These were just perfectly fine, knowing the other person was there if we needed or wanted to talk. I smiled when I saw the tree line to his driveway. He pulled in and drove down to his house. When we pulled up, Hunter was sitting on the front porch step, clearly waiting for us to get there. He looked bored out of his mind, but once he heard the truck tires, his head popped up and he had a huge grin on his face.

David turned the truck off and I opened my door, hopping out. “Hey Peyton!” Hunter ran over to me and wrapped me in a hug.

“Hey kid.” I said and hugged him back. I was thankful that it wasn’t as painful now to get hugged. It was still sore, but not like it was before.

“Careful…” David warned but I just smiled at him and waved him off. It wasn’t like I was breakable now. I just couldn’t exert myself too much. I’m pretty sure hugging was fine…at least now it was. Those hugs for the first few weeks to a month or so were brutal. Any type of squeeze was painful; any jolt of some sort. Ouch.

Hunter looked up at me. “So you’re staying for a few nights?”

I nodded and smiled back at him. He had a contagious smile. When you saw him smile, it made you want to smile. “Yep. Tonight and tomorrow night.”

“Cool!” He grinned and ran over to David. “We can play games, right!?” Hunter was bouncing up and down as if he couldn’t make himself calm down.

David chuckled, “I don’t know. You’ll have to ask our guest.”

“Peyton!?” He gave me an eager look.

I pretended I had to think about it for a minute, and had to keep from laughing when I saw his face, he was waiting so patiently. I motioned him over to me with one finger and he carefully walked over, probably trying to see what I would do. When he was within arm’s reach, I reached out and tickled him. “Of course we can play games. As long as you have Super Mario or Super Smash Bros.”

Hunter’s eyes widened. “You like those!?”

“Mhmm.” I ruffled his hair, standing up straight again. “Those are two of my favorites.”

“What’s your absolute favorite game?” He asked. “I might have it too!”

David butted in before I could answer. “Hunter, can we at least finish this inside?” I glanced over to see David was holding my bag. I didn’t even realize he had grabbed it.

I laughed softly and turned Hunter around, pushing him gently towards the house. “Hmmm… My all-time favorite game?” I asked him. “Man, that’s a tough question. I like about three different ones the same.” I told him while we walked.

Hunter looked up at me. “Really?”

“Yep. Have you ever heard of the game Ghost and Ghouls?” I asked him. Honestly, I would be surprised if he did know what it was.

He thought about it. “No. I don’t think so.”

“Oh, well I’ll just have to show it to you. It’s really fun!”

“Is it scary?” He looked a little frightened. “I mean, not that I can’t handle scary. I just wanted to know.” He was trying to act like such a big guy, but I could tell in his eyes, he didn’t do scary stuff.

“Nah it’s not too scary.” I said. “But if you get scared, we don’t have to play it. Anyway, my other favorites are Sonic the Hedgehog, and Crash Team Racing. What are yours?”

His eyes lit up. “I love the racing games! I’m so going to kick your butt in racing. My favorite game is Mario!"

“I thought your favorite game was Lego Batman?” David asked. He had returned from putting my backpack in his room, and joined us back downstairs, obviously catching on to our conversation.

Hunter gave him a betrayed look. “No, David. That game is for little boys. I’m a big boy now.”

David held his hands up in surrender. “Sorry. I didn’t know that.”

I tried to stifle my laugh, but it ended up coming through. These two boys together were priceless. It almost made me envious to have a sibling you actually liked. I had two siblings, or half siblings, and I hardly ever talk to them. Half the time I don’t even know if they are at home or not. Yeah, I’m sure that David and Hunter don’t always get along, but for the most part they seem to. “What do you want to play first?” Hunter asked, bringing me out of my thoughts.

“I…” I started to answer but David interrupted again.

“Why don’t we wait until a little later? We still have time. She just got here, let her relax a little.”

“But David…” Hunter whined.

He gave Hunter a look. “Did I just hear a whine come out of you?”

“Nooo….” Hunter crossed his arms and leaned back against the couch, pouting.

I looked at David and started to protest, but he just shook his head at me. I didn’t argue. I was the guest so I was going to do whatever David wanted to. Okay, so that didn’t even sound logical at all, but whatever.