I walked home alone. The silence was a pretty clear reminder that I was alone.
I clicked open the metal gate at the front of my house and sauntered up the path. The paving stones were damp and I had to step carefully to avoid slipping, although the ground, my feet and where I placed them were not the main things on my mind.
Dad greeted my with a warm smile as I got home, and my little sister Emmy came tumbling down the stairs not long after. She mumbled 'you're late' as she skipped over to the table and wiggled onto her chair. Dad was just serving up some pasta for her tea and he was wearing his Father's Day present - a blue spotty apron saying 'worlds best food maker'.
"How was your day, son?" Dad asked as he plonked the bowl down onto the table. "Any exams?"
"No, my next exam is Friday." I dropped my bag and kicked off my shoes. "No one's called the phone have they?"
"What the home phone? No, no, not for days. Unless you count the cold calls we get; I've started picking up the phone in an Italian accent just to frustrate them. It's really quite funny." He chuckled to himself. "Who are you expecting a call from?"
"Oh, no one." I stared blankly out he window.
"Is it a girlfriend?" Emmy giggled, spilling pasta on the table. "Do you love her?"
"No Em, it is not a girlfriend, it's just a friend...friend. A study partner."
"Wouldn't he or she call you on your mobile? Or text you, texting is what you tend to do nowadays." Dad said uncertainly.
"I guess he would." I didn't mention Chase to Dad, although I'd mention him before being the 'most popular boy in school'. If I'd said I'd had a long chat with him Dad would be so excitable, which is not what I need right now. As funny as he can be.
***
The clock read 00:37am. I'd been lying on my bed for the last hours, staring vacantly at various versions of textbooks, papers and revision notes, but with no affect as I felt no more educated than I did yesterday. My eyes were just lazily flickering from word to word. Every movement felt simple but difficult, like a fire trying to catch light to one log to another.
I must've fallen asleep somewhere along the line as I woke up sprawled over my bed, books all over the floor and still wearing yesterday's sweater. The clock now read 11:09 am, which was fine because Dad let me sleep in on Saturdays, especially during exams. I hurriedly pulled on some joggers and headed downstairs, knowing that the faint aroma of toast and bacon was from an English breakfast that was sat on the table, waiting just for me.
"Adam, someone did leave a message for you!" He sounded ecstatic. "At a frankly ridiculous time of the night, mind you, but he left an answerphone message so you should call him back." He smiled. Dad always loved it when I made friends and had a social life (hence 'excitable'), he used to tell me stories of how alone he was in school and that his loneliness fuelled his depression. He didn't want me to be like that. I didn't want to be like that.
I bumbled around for a bit, brushed my teeth and read some of my book before calling Chase back. I decided I was making such big deal of talking to him and I was getting too worried about Chase, which is ridiculous as he's probably patched things up by now. So after an hour or so, I approached the answer machine and clicked play.
"Hey Adam, its Chase. Sorry for calling so late, I've...uh..." There was some static at the other end of line, "been up doing revision." He rustled some paper for effect. Nice touch.
"I was just wondering if we could meet tomorrow? I need some help with Calculus.
I don't know if you have a fancy caller ID so you can see my number, but if you don't here: 09212 789054. Text me if you're free. Bye."
The message beeped and the machine starting spitting out static and numbers. I turned it off and pulled my phone out of my back pocket, then punched Chase's number in.
Hi Chase, Adam here. I got your message last night, sorry I didn't pick up sooner. Where do you want to meet?
A message pinged back almost instantly.
Can u meet @ the park on Gray Close?
-
Yeah what time
-
Soon. 1ish okay?
I glanced at my watch. 12:35. The park was at least 15 minutes away by foot, 5 if I biked. Given I was still in yesterday's clothes I figured I should probably bike and give myself time to change.
1 is fine. I'll take my bike
-
Okay c u then.
Yeah, I thought. See you then.
