NINETEEN

Chapter 3 - They Bond

Back Then

Life had never been perfect. Even at thirteen we had our crosses to bear. After the incident at Birdie's I didn't see Yoshi for weeks until that day. I was on my way to the bus stop after school when he came riding past me on his bike. He stopped right in front of me and asked loudly if I'd stolen anything lately. I glared at him and he laughed and asked me if was hungry. I shrugged pretending to be unsure, but truthfully my stomach had been empty since yesterday morning. I'd used the last of my lunch money earlier in the week and asking for more really wasn't an option.

"What's that mean?" he mimicked my shrug and I laughed a little.

"Yeah, I'm kinda hungry." I understated.

"Hop on. I'ma feed you." He nodded to the handle bars. I jerked my head back and frowned at him.

"I'm not hopping on no handle bars with you. I don't even know you." He must have been crazy.

He smiled and nodded as if he understood my reservations.

"I'm Yoshi." He extended his hand for me to shake it. I looked down at his hand and back up at him.

"Sawyer" I gave him my hand to shake.

"Okay so hop on, Sawyer, I'ma feed you." He nodded toward the handle bars again.

"I still don't know you, dude." I shook my head and smiled.

"So get to know me." He looked me dead in my eyes and calmed my caution.

My stomach growled loudly and he smirked. I rolled my eyes because I knew that even against my better judgement I was going with him. I stomped to toward bike and hopped on the handle bars.

"We better not being going far." I said adjusting myself to sit more comfortably. I knew my bus wouldn't be here for another hour, but I didn't want to miss it.

"We're not." He answered, waiting for me to sit still. When I was done he took off slowly as I prayed to God I wasn't riding to my death.

Yoshi took me to his house. It was a small two bedroom brick home with a small, fairly unkept yard, but back then it seemed like a lot to me. What I called home was a one bedroom apartment that I sometimes shared with my mom. Only sometimes because my mom was hardly home so most of the time I was alone. It was cool to me that Yoshi had his own room, because I slept on an air mattress in the living room.

He parked his bike outside and then retrieved his keys from his pocket to open the door. The ride to the house was quiet, but strangely not as uncomfortable as I thought it would be. He had this energy about him that made him feel familiar so I wasn't nervous at all when we stepped into the house.

He went straight to the kitchen and I sat a the table watching him. The kitchen was pretty clean with only a few dishes in the sink and some mail sitting on the table. I folded my legs up in the chair sitting Indian style as Yoshi washed his hands at the sink.

"You like grilled cheese?" He asked looking at me.

I nodded. I would honestly eat a stick of butter if that's all he had, I was just that hungry.

"Cool." He nodded as he got out what he needed.

"You have a nice house." I said quietly.

He looked up at me with his brows pulled together.

"This house?" He asked

"Yeah." I said with a laugh. He seemed genuinely shocked by what I was saying.