Running from You

9

"And one two three and one two three and..."
"Hello!"
Me and Lucas look up from the cheerleaders, and smile at Landon.
"Hi" I say. "What's up?"
"Not much" he says, and he sits down next to me. He brushes some hair out of his face, and also looks at the cheerleaders. When Alex looks up, he waves at her. She glances at the cheerleaders, rolls her eyes, and walks towards us.
"I give up!" she says, throwing her hands in the air. "Can I sit here?"
"Sure!" Landon says. Alex sits down next to him, and smiles at us.
"Hey guys, you're from Jay's team, right?" she asks. Lucas nods, and smiles at her.
"I'm Lucas and that's Dean" he says, putting an arm around my shoulders. I make a short, disapproving noise, but I don't really mind. I just let his arm rest there, while I inspect Alex closely.

She's a very pretty girl. Her red curls frame her face, and she has a lively look in her eyes. Her eyebrows go up when she hears Lucas's name.
"Lucas?" she asks. "Like..."
"Like the Lucas that obsessed over Jay. Yeah" I say. Lucas murmurs something incoherent and pulls his arm back. For a second, I feel strangely insulted when he does, but I decide to just brush it off.
"We'll, it's... Good to meet you. I think".
She squints her eyes a little bit in distaste.
"You've been getting over her pretty well, haven't you?" I then ask Lucas, feeling a need to defend him.
"I guess so" he says. "I recently said another sentence to her".
"Yay!" Landon says, clapping his hands. "I'm proud of you!"
"Me too" I say, patting his shoulder. He smiles brightly.

Alex just stares at us, very confused.
"Okay..." she says, a bit hesitant. "I'm going to see how the girls are doing".
"Bye! Good luck!" Landon says, and Alex smiles at us, before turning around and leaving.
"She's pretty" Lucas says. I look up at him, frowning.
"Lucas, no" I say. "You've just gotten past the whole Jay ordeal".
"Besides" Landon says. "Alex likes Jay".
"What?" Lucas asks. "Not again!"

He drops his head in his hands.
"I'm just attracted to lesbians" he complains.
"She's bi, actually" Landon says, but Lucas makes a dismissive gesture.
"Do you want to talk about it?" I ask, patting him on the back.
"No" he says. "I want a hug".
Slightly resistant, I put my arms around his shoulders, and pat him on the back.
"Aww" Landon says. "That's sweet".
Almost immediately, I pull my arms back, and I snap my head over at him.
"Why?" I ask, suddenly feeling insecure about it. Lucas and I are close, yes, but nobody has ever commented on it. It never been a thing. But now I suddenly feel like it is.
"I just think you two have a really nice friendship" he explains, and he smiles. "I don't hug Willow very much, I think it makes Logan insecure".

After school, Lucas doesn't go home with me for once. He says his parents told him they needed to talk to him in private. That's fine by me, I wanted to spend some time with my mom anyway. She didn't have to work today, so she's home early. I wave goodbye to Lucas at my bus stop and walk to my house, through the enormous amount of rain that has suddenly decided to fall out of the sky. When I open the front door, I hear my mom talking to someone. Frowning slightly, I walk further inside. Then I see she's on the phone.

"No, Rob, I can't..."
She looks up when she sees me.
"Oh hey sweetie" she says. "You're home early".
"Yeah" I say. "Continue calling, I'll be back in a sec".
She nods shortly.
"Sorry, I'm back. My son just came back home and I thought I'd acknowledge his existence" she says to the phone. I raise an eyebrow at her, but she just smiles at me like nothings wrong. Weird.

I go upstairs to put down my bag, and sit down on my bed. I look at the picture of me and my mom standing on my desk, and let out a sigh. I guess Lucas will have to do his own homework today. I wonder what his parents wanted to talk about, but it's probably just about moving to a smaller house. I know Lucas won't mind very much, though he'll be heartbroken if he loses his TV. Something tells me that him moving to a smaller house means he will, in fact, lose that TV.
I get up, and walk to the bathroom to take a quick shower. I'm soaking wet, and I smell like a mix of dirt and sweat because of it. When I'm done, I get dressed, and walk out of the bathroom. Mom's still calling the same person. I can hear her voice. There's a strange sense of curiosity coming up in me, and I slowly walk towards the stairs, and stand there for a moment.

"Rob, you can't. It'll be too much too fast".
Even more interested, I sit down.
"No, you can't talk to him! Listen, you made a conscious decision, now you have to suffer the consequences".
Is she talking about me? It can't be what I think it is, right?
"No. Besides, he's taking a shower".
That's definitely me. Well, I'm done now, but for all she knows I'm still getting dressed instead of listening to her personal conversation. But it's a conversation about me, so I have full right to listen.
"No, please. Just go".
I feel guilty anyway, so I decide to very sneakily get up. Of course, I fail, and I almost fall down the stairs.

My mom gasps upon seeing me, and quietly says: "Oh, no... Dean..."
There's a noise coming from the phone.
"Yes I called him Dean, there's no way I was ever going to call him Elvis" she snaps at the person on the phone. Then she looks back up at me, a weird look in her eyes.
"Mom, who are you talking to?" I quietly ask, and I notice my voice is trembling a bit. There's more talking from the phone, and then tears appear in my mom's eyes. I've never seen her cry in my life, so I feel very uncomfortable.
"Okay" she then says, giving in to the person on the phone. "Okay, here he is".

As I slowly walk down the stairs, she reaches the phone out towards me. I take it, still not entirely sure what's happening, even though I already have a hunch of what's going on. I bring the phone to my ear.
"Uhm, hello?" I say, and my voice is still trembling.
"Hello Dean" a man says, and I sit down on one of the steps. "I've waited to hear your voice for so long".
"Oh" I say, trying to calm down, but failing miserably. "That's... Cool. I think".
"I realise this is probably very strange for you, but please hear me out".
My mom has tears rolling down her face now, as she realises that I know who this man is already. She turns around and walks out of the room, slamming the door shut behind her. I don't say anything.

"Dean?"

"Excuse me for asking, but are you... My... Dad?" I stutter, trying to stay polite.

"Yes, I am".

"Oh... Okay" I say. We're both quiet. I suddenly start to feel panic. This man has been a mystery for all my life, and now I'm suddenly talking to him. So, as I can hear him take in a breath to say something, I stutter: "Well, bye then".
And I hang up.

I slowly get up, hoping my legs will carry me for at least five more minutes, and walk into the living room. My mom is sitting on the couch, her head in her hands. She looks up, and states at me while I bring the phone back to the phone stand. The soft clicking sound it makes when I put it back is the only sound in the room for a minute. Then I look up at my mom.
"I hung up on him" I say.
"I realised" she answers.
We're quiet again.
"I'm going upstairs" I say. "And just uhm... Stare at a wall for a while".
"Okay" my mom says, her voice sounding like she could break down crying again at any moment.
Then I go upstairs and I stare at my wall for a while.

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