The Boy Who Couldn't Sit Still

1.4

> this is dedicated to the two people I know are actually reading this! Thank you! Here's your super long chapter <

"I'm Flynn by the way," Flynn speaks up, "I'm sorry if I make this even more awkward then what it is already."

"I wanted him here," I defend him.

"No, it's fine," Reed assures us.

"So," I start, "you wanted to meet me?"

"I didn't mean to barge into your life like that," he begins, "I just wanted to know where he was. I didn't know about you."

"I didn't know about you until a couple weeks ago," I admit feeling a bit of security in this mess. "You've met my mom?"

It's not that I trust Reed yet; it's more like I feel okay about talking about this now since he admitted her didn't know. He must of been so confused when I lashed out on him. I kind of feel bad now but I don't know how to react about it.

"Yes," he nods, "I haven't actually talked to my- our dad, I guess, since I found out. I-I called your mom first."

"Does your mom know about mine?" I ask.

"I'm not sure," he admits. I watch him fiddle with his sleeves looking down at the utensils in front of him, "I didn't tell her I know. I don't know how she can stay with him if she does."

"I know why my mom stayed," I mumble feeling guilty that I made my mom go through that. "Ow!" I exclaim as Flynn kicks my calf.

I glare at him and rub my leg. I know I shouldn't of said it but he didn't have to kick me. Reed looks between us suddenly lost. Fortunately, the waiter comes cutting the tension. We stop the awkwardness to order food. Ah food is always on my side nowadays.

"Do you want to maybe talk about something else?" Reed asks once the waiter leaves.

"Sure. I'm not really comfortable talking about our dad anyways," I confess sheepishly.

"How old are you?" He asks.

"I turn 18 in May," I tell him. "My Mom told me you were 15."

"Yeah," he nods, "my birthday is in July."

"Are you taking driving lessons?" Flynn asks.

"No. My mom wants me to pay for it myself and I don't know a place that could hire me yet," he answers.

"My old job hires at 14," Flynn tells him, "do you live close to here? It's the grocery store right in the middle of town."

"I live twenty minutes away in the next town over," Reed explains.

The conversation goes silent and the awkwardness spreads over all of us. I start tapping my fingers again and Flynn casually reaches his hand over to stop me. I smile nervously at him and he gives me a wink as if he knows what to do. I hope he doesn't say something stupid.

"Okay, you guys suck at small talk," Flynn exclaims making me chuckle out of tension. "Lily likes to read a lot. Do you read or is that just a nerd trait?"

"Hey," I exclaim slapping his shoulder.

"No, I don't read," Reed admits.

"I only read a lot because I don't have friends. I never used to read in middle school. I would be out of the house as much as I could back then," I state and Flynn laughs.

"Sometimes, I forget she's a loser," Flynn tells Reed.

Reed let's out a little laugh. I roll my eyes at Flynn. I'm actually pretty grateful that he said that. Everything was so serious before that. This would be so much worse without Flynn here.