Run

Chapter Ten

I rub my finger gently over the paper and hum to my music. I haven't felt this normal since I was a kid, I'm so lost in thought I don't even notice the door open.

I see Alex's shoes and a whole bunch of bags that look ready to fall, I dart up dropping my stuff and take some of the bags from his hands.

"Looks like a full night," I see as I peak in the bags and the smells of all the different spices float out, "Hopefully we can find a few good movies."

He darts up from the bent over position he was in to put the bags down, "Aha! I've got that covered," he pulls out a bunch of rental movies, "There was some really cheap BlockBuster knock off down the block, they had a pretty good selection. Less than fifty cents a movie for the weekend."

"You're kidding! What all did you get?" I put the bags I had down and start pulling stuff out.

He shrugs, "A little of everything; action, comedy, some cartoons... How was your alone time?"

I straighten out and cross my arms, "It was good, calming, you know? I'm actually really proud of what I did."

He smiles and hesitantly makes his way to the bed, I jump out for my pad but he beats me to it by a second.

He looks at the page in front of him in awe, "This your mom?"

I nod, "I couldn't help think about how different our lives will be once she actually graduates and all. When we can really start living."

I step next to him and look down at the drawing of my mom and I, together just smiling. Truly happy, no signs of exhaustion on our faces, no forced smiles. A smile true enough to show our family dimple.

"I've only ever seen you smile like that once; freshman year, it was a school art show and Mrs. Breks had given you the center space and honored your work as one of her most gifted students."

I'm taken aback, "You remember that? After all this time, were you there?"

"Yeah I was, plus the school paper did a thing on the show and I know I seem like the guy who couldn't care less about school or anything but I actually read every paper. You could ask me football scores for crying out loud," he puts the pad down and pulls off his damp jacket, trying to hide his smile of embarrassment.

"Who was prom queen last year?" I try not to laugh as I fall into his rabbit hole.

"Stephanie Freds, with her obnoxious date Nate Ruthers," He rolls his eyes, "Thank god they graduated or I would have killed him. The guy was the poster child for stereotypical jock."

He pulls out more food and sits on the bed, "You know, that night when Mrs. Breks talked about me I felt ready to cry," I shift my weight before sitting next to him, "I was so scared up there in front of everyone. My mom begged me to get a copy of the paper so she could frame the article and picture. It's in her room on her desk."

"That's really sweet," he stands up and goes over to the bags, "I did get you something else," he digs into the bag and pulls out a plastic case.

I take it from his hand and see it's a phone, an awful one. It's small but bulky, a flip phone. I open it and watch the manual fall out with the phone in front of me.

"It's not much, it's a burner. No one can trace our location on it, prepaid; it only has so many minutes, no texting. Once you use up the minutes we can get you another. I wanted you to have a way to call your mom when you wanted."

I jump up and hug him, "Thank you Alex... You have no idea how badly I needed this."

He holds me close to him and I feel like neither of us want to let go, yet he pulls away, not taking his hands off my shoulders, "I think I'm going to step outside and take a few minutes to pick which movie we watch first. Why don't you test that thing out?"