Story Of Us (ON HOLD)

Chapter 5

It felt like an hour by the time Alex finally picked me up. He got out the car and walked over to open the door. He smiled. I smiled. I got in the car. He got in the car.

"Hey. Sorry, something came up with my girlfriend."

"It's ok," I looked over to see him and said "You're going to have to make it up to me tho," I said it as teasingly as I could. We both laughed and it made it less weird. "So what restaurant are you taking me to?"

"It's called Charles' Diner. They have the tastiest chocolate chip pancakes. Oh and amazing French toast."

"Mmm. They are both my favorite. My mom used to give the maid a random day off and she'd wake up and make my dad and me French toast, pancakes and chocolate milk shakes. She hated coffee, so she wouldn't allow it in the house," We both laughed.

"My mom doesn't cook. Somehow she's always able to burn water," we laughed again."Kendal does the cooking. Logan and I plan to surprise him by giving him enough money to go to Chef school."

"I didn't know Kendal needed money. My dad paid child support so he should have enough money."

"Either Dad stopped paying or Mom stopped giving it to us. But ever since we told him we're all planning on working... We haven't seen child support checks." Something told me that he (like me) blamed Pauli. "But dad kinda saved us the time of having to come up with some great gift."

"Wait. You don't blame dad for the lack of money, do you?"

"Well, in a way yeah. It's nothing complicated. we tell him that we're going to start working and then we don't see any child support money. And he did have that trip with your mom." I was starting to get pissed off.

"Yeah, a trip that I helped pay. It was a surprise for mom and he didn't have enough money because he gave the majority to your family." I answered angrily.

"Look, I don't blame dad. I know mom kept the money. But, dad is dead. My mom's not. So I can't just blame my mom because I feel like I'd also lose her." I don't see how that justifies blaming dad.

"What do you mean?"

"Mom has never really cared about Logan and Kendal. But she's always been really caring and affectionate about me. Logan and Kendal say it's because I'm the youngest. If I came up to my mom and blamed her that Kendal can't go to cooking school because he doesn't have enough money, she'd push me away." He kept his eyes and the road but had a serious look. "Kendal always says that he doesn't have a mom and that his dad didn't even care about him. Logan would always agree with him. I see exactly why they say that. Mom always asks me how my day was or what's new, stuff like that. The only time she remembers that Kendal and Logan exist is when she needs something. My whole life mom has always been there. If she had pushed me away too, it'd be easier to blame her." He looked over at me and shrugged.

"Alex. I still don't think you should blame dad. He's dead. Dad can't just defend himself. Maybe, Dad didn't send the checks. But did you ever think it was because he was proud that you guys decided to be independent. I'm not lying when I say that during dinner one night, dad had this look in his face. That look was complete and utter happiness. I may not have asked him why he was so happy, but my mom did. He said to her that he was just proud of his sons. Obviously I didn't know why, and I didn't ask you guys because I thought it was something private." He tried to hide his smile as I told him this. "He was, and still is, proud of the 3 of you. For a dad being proud of a son has more meaning than being proud of a daughter."

"Thanks. You're a great little sister," he looked at me and we both laughed.

After 5 minutes of joking around, we finally arrived at the diner. We ordered the chocolate chip pancakes and he shared 2 of his French toast with me.

"Wow! This. Is. Amazing!" Alex said with a mouth full of chocolate chip pancake.

"I totally agree. But don't talk with your mouth full. You could choke on your awesome pancakes," I finished and grabbed my napkin to clean my mouth to make sure I didn't have anything. "Where are we going after this?"

"I'm gonna take you to this really cool spot at the park that I found. Its not that big a spot because it's surrounded by trees but it's cool," He finished up his glass of milk and asked the waitress for the check.

When he paid we got back in the car. He drove past 5 blocks from the diner. He parked the car outside a dollar store. We walked for while trying to find a path. When he saw me struggling he took my hand and lead me through.

"Come on," he turned left past and tree and then I saw it. It was a small field. Small like a room. It was covered by small pink flowers. "What do you think?"

"It's beautiful. Small but beautiful." He took my hand again and pulled me to sit on a small patch of grass. We sat very close to each other so we wouldn't squish the flowers.

"I come here when I need some space,"

"I see why," I paused for a second trying to think of what to say next. "How many other girls have you brought here?" WHAT!? Why did I just ask that!?!

"None," he chuckled. "My girlfriend doesn't really like parks. She says they're filled with animal crap. She's no where near being an animal person."

"Is she like a clean freak?"

"Nah. She just hates animals because she's never been good with them."

"What about you?"

"What about me?"

"Do you like animals?"

"I'm not crazy about animals, but I don't have anything against them." He turned to look at me."I just never had a pet, so I couldn't really say if I love animals,"

"We should get back, I forgot I have to e-mail my god mom the address."

"She's visiting?"

"No. She's going to send me some of my things. Like furniture, blankets, bed sheets, posters. You know stuff like that."

"Alright," he got up and stretched his arms for me to grab. "I guess, I'll drop you off at home." He said pulling me up on my feet.

We walked to where he parked the car. We got in and he drove me back to the house. When we arrived at the house, their was an unfamiliar car. "Who's car is that?" I asked turning to Alex, who had a pretty serious face.

"Kenzie, do you mind if I take you to a store or library or somewhere else?"

"No, I guess." He was pretty serious and quiet for the rest of the ride.

"Do you have money?" He said coming to a stop in front of a mall.

"Yeah. Don't worry," I got out and he didn't hesitate to drive away. Great. Just great.