Pretending

Chapter 5

I open my eyes.

I look over at my phone.

Today is April 14.

Frankin's birthday.

I slowly get up and get dressed in a grey sweater and jeans, crying while putting on my converse.

I grab my keys, phone, and wallet and walk downstairs to the front door

Since it's Saturday my whole family is home, mom is sitting on the kitchen table drinking coffee and dad is watching the news. They look at me as I come downstairs, I look down, then at both of them, I nod and walk out the door.

They understand. They don't say much every year on April 14, none of us do really.

I drive to the graveyard and park, getting out slowly.

I walk up to Frankin's grave and look at the words.

Frankin Anderson

April 14 ,1999 ---- September 3, 2017

Beloved son, brother, and friend

He will forever be missed

I sit down by his grave looking down.

"Hey, Frank," I say smiling with tears rolling down my face. "You're 20 now."

Silence.

I cry harder.

"I miss you, you know, a lot," I say biting my lip, trying to stop my tears.

I sigh getting up. I face his grave again. "I love you bro, a lot. I miss you every day. Goodbye."

I walk away crying, trying to hold back my tears, but fail.

I drive home and go upstairs, I lay on my bed and look up at the ceiling, tears wetting my hair.

I hear my "All the single ladies" ringtone and grab my phone and check the caller ID, I sit on the edge of my bed and try to sound as calm as possible.

"Hey, Antonio! What's up?" I say sounding peppier than usual.

"What's going on?" Antonio says sounding persistent.

"What? Oh, nothing, yeah I'm fine, how are you?"I ask.

"Oh you know, just getting in my car." He says, sounding out of breath.

"Oh, where are you going?" I question.

"Somewhere, hey I gotta go, gotta pay attention to the road, ok bye." He says, firing up his car.

"Ok! Have fun! Bye!" I say hanging up. I sigh.

After a few minutes, I hear a knock at the door and someone opening it I hear people talking, I powder up my face and head downstairs to see Antonio, in a blue tee-shirt and jeans, talking to my parents, laughing.

He looks up at me. "Hey."

"Hi," I say confused.

"Nice meeting you Mr. and Mrs. Anderson," Antonio says smiling at my parents.

"You too Antonio. " My parents both say and walk into the kitchen.

I motion for him to follow me upstairs to my room. Once we are in my room he sits down on my bed, I face him.

"What are you doing here?" I say hands on hips.

"Well," He says smirking. "I know something is up because a: You didn't insult me, and b: you sounded way too peppy."

I look down. "I'm fine."

"No, you're not." He says standing up and walking up to me.

I look down as a tear escapes my eyes.

No. I'm not going to cry, especially not in front of him.

I keep looking down so he won't see me cry, he takes his finger and lifts my chin so I could look at him.

"Tell me." He says with caring eyes.

I finally brake down and tell him everything, from the accident to the similarities, and his birthday today.

We are sitting on my bed, me crying into his chest and him rubbing my back, speaking comforting words.

"I-I'm sor-sorry," I say through sobs.

This is the first time I cried this hard in front of someone.

It's been two years of hiding all my pain.

It felt good to cry without caring if someone will see me.

"Shh, it's ok." He says soothing me.

He hugged me for I don't know how long, saying comforting things and wiping my tears.

That day we had an unspoken promise.

That no matter our differences, we would always understand each other.

And no matter our denying it, we are friends.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~The next Monday~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Hey," Antonio says walking up to me at school by my locker. Smirking like usual

"Sup," I say grabbing my notebooks and shutting my locker.

"Soooo," He starts.

I look at him confused, "Just spit it out."

"Instead of working at my house you wanna go to the beach?" He says grinning.

"Um, why?" I ask confused.

"Different atmosphere?" He asks almost like a question.

I roll my eyes and smile. "Fine, but I'm throwing you in the ocean."

He turns scared, then back to his usual smirk. "Not if I throw you first."

We walk away talking about tomorrow, you know, just two normal friends working on the Science Fair project.

But I had no idea that he thought differently than I did.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'm excited for the beach sceneeeee are you guys??? Cause I am! *insert evil laugh*

Cheyenne <3