Finding The Father

Chapter Six "Bad Luck and Heart To Hearts"

"Dylan?" Owen watched me sob, my hand covering my mouth.

I was overwhelmed and tired. I just wanted to take a nice long shower, wash all the airport off me, and sleep. But now we were basically homeless. There was no way we could make our reservation for our hotel in time and even if we did, we couldn't pay for it.

"Is she crying?" Owen questioned, looking between Nick and Abby.

Abby shot him a look to shut up before she knelt down beside me.

"Dylan, honey?" I looked up into her eyes. "Everything is going to be fine."

I shake my head. "No it's not. We're fucking stranded in Reno with no way to get anywhere. I'm tired and hungry and I just want to go home."

Abby looks up at Owen for help, but he shrugs.

"I have a couple bucks in my back pocket, we can get something from a vending machine while we figure out what to do?" Abby tells me and I nod.

Even though I'm severely carving a pizza right now, I suppose Cheetos will do.

"Owen come with me," Abby said as she stood up and pulled out a few one dollar bills from her back pocket. "Nick, stay with her for me? Please?"

He nodded. "Of course."

She smiles a thank you to him before her and Owen begin walking away.

I tried to hold back a sob as Nick stood there, silence hanging between us. I was so embarrassed. We dragged him on this trip just to get his stuff stolen. On top of that, I was crying like a fucking baby. I felt like a kid who lost her mom in a store.

He walked over and slid down the wall until he was sitting next to me on the floor.

"I'm sorry your stuff got stolen. This trip was a bad idea from the beginning." I tell him, wiping the tears from my eyes.

"Don't apologize for something you had no control over." He assured me. "But I never begged you as a crier."

I laugh. "I'm not, I swear. I don't know what's gotten into me lately."

He smiles. "It's okay not to be okay. Sometimes our tough front needs to come down every once in awhile."

I smile at him. He always seemed to know what to say, and I was thankful for that. My friends are anything but comforting in situations like this.

"This is the most eventful vacation I've been on so far. So what if I lost my phone and half my wardrobe? It's an adventure. We should enjoy it."

"Enjoy being homeless? We're literally eating vending machine snacks for lunch." I lay my head back against the wall.

"So? You have to make the most of what you got. Life throws you curve balls, but the way you deal with them defines a good one."

Life throws you curve balls, but the way you deal with them defines a good one.

"Where'd you hear that one? Pinterest?" I tease, turning my head to look at him.

He smiles and chuckles. "No, it's my life motto. My mom used to say it all the time when I was younger."

"Your mom sounds wise."

His smile changed. It wasn't happy like it was a second ago, it was sadder.

"She was."

Was.

I didn't ask about it, even though I was itching to. I knew what it was like when people asked 'what happened to your mom'. It's never a nice feeling when you talk about it.