That Summer

Chapter 14

After breakfast, I was happy to relax in the backyard so I could avoid Kai and their dad who were terribly hungover. Hiro's mom was being clingy but Hiro convinced her to go shopping for groceries and possibly more clothes for me to wear. She was so excited by the idea, she ran out of the house and disappeared for most of the day. So, it was just Hiro and me sitting in his backyard staring the river flowing by. Ever since I knew more about him and thought about the fact that I had to leave him soon, it was harder for me to talk to him. I didn't want to distance myself from him at this point but I didn't want our friendship to grow any deeper.

"The river is relaxing to look at," Hiro said out of the blue and started the conversation for once.

"It really is. In my hometown, there's a canal that flows through all the neighboring cities. It's really nice to take walks on the trail that accompanies it. Looking at the river reminds me of that." I went along with him and started talking about myself.

"It's nice to hear you talk about yourself." Hiro smiled at me.

"What? No, I think I talk about myself too much. Sometimes, I think I'm annoying my friends because of that." It felt weird to hear someone say that.

"You're not annoying. You are really nice to me and always want to listen to what I have to say. When I think about it, I don't really know much about you because I have been talking about myself too much. If anything, you are really considerate and helpful." Hiro admitted.

"Thanks for the flattering words." I smiled.

"I mean it. You have been such a good friend to me. I would like to do the same." Hiro grabbed my hand.

"Having you talking to me is more than enough." I slowly released my hand from his grasp and acted as if nothing happened.

"But, wouldn't you be unhappy if you couldn't be honest with yourself?" Hiro didn't seem to mind that I let go of his hand.

"What are you talking about?" I couldn't look at him.

"If you don't tell people about yourself then they won't listen." Hiro seemed to hit the bullseye.

"It doesn't really bother me. It's not like it's everyone's job to listen to my problems." I tried to brush it off.

"Won't you be unhappy with that?" Hiro tried to meet my eyes.

"People tend to care more about themselves so when the subject isn't about themselves, they don't actually care." I stood up to look over the fence at the water.

"That's a dull view of people." I felt like I heard that before.

"It's better to just listen to others. That's how I make so many friends. People like it when someone listens to them." I felt his body next to mine.

"Then, who will listen to you?" He leaned over the fence.

"It doesn't matter." No one had ever confronted me like that.

"I want to show you something." He took my hand and we headed back into the house.

We walked upstairs and through a long hallway. We stopped in front of the door and Hiro slowly opened it. It was a spacious room with blue and black furniture and bedding. There were books piling up towards the ceiling and the bookcases were filled to its capacity. Despite all the books, the room was clean and methodically cluttered. There were old research papers carefully placed on the desk and I could only assume that this was Hiro's room. As I continued to look around the room, I noticed something on the nightstand next to the bed. My eyes widened and I went over to touch it but Hiro grabbed it before I could get to it.