3: just us

10.5K 256 235
                                    

i crushed the garlic with the side of my knife, careful not to cut into my fragile skin

Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.

i crushed the garlic with the side of my knife, careful not to cut into my fragile skin. cooking is something i've always found tastefully entertaining. my mother taught me everything i need to know about it in order to cook well.

dinner wouldn't take long but i decided i would go over and get tate when i was finished cooking. "can you set the table please?" i ask as i untie my apron. "i'm gonna go get tate." my father grabs the delicate white porcelain plates from the wooden cabinets as i slip on my stained white shoes.

out i walked into the pale moon light with fear in my heart. it was beautiful here when the clouds didn't cover the sky like they always do. i pushed open the iron gates and climbed the steps until i was once again met with those large chestnut doors. i knocked thrice and awaited an answer. "hello miss valkit." mrs. langdon answered the door with a knife in her hand which was almost unsettling. "do you need something?"

"your son. we were gonna hang out."

"tate," she shouted through the house until the blond boy came rushing down the stairs. "have fun, my boy." tate looked irritated as he closed the door on his mother.

"are you okay?" i inquired once tate began to head over to my house. "tate, stop!" i demand as i grabbed his arm. "what's wrong?" he gazed into the brick below us and didn't say a word. "i'm here for you. believe me." even with my encouragement he still wouldn't tell me anything. our friendship is only a day old, what should i expect? i opened my front door and invited him into my home.

"nice place." he muttered before slipping his shoes off. i slid mine off too and grabbed some napkins from the counter.

"you must be tate," my father says as he stands to shake the boy's hand. tate raises his hand but looks slightly frightened. "i'm father theo."

"nice to meet you father." i could tell that calling him father was difficult for tate because of his past with his own father, but he fought through it.

we all sat at the oak wood table and passed around the glass bowl of pasta until we were blessed with a satisfactory serving. father said his own grace before eating. "this is good, adele," tate bubbled as he continued to eat the noodles that were sprinkled with garlic and oil.

"oh thank you. i was afraid you wouldn't like it." tate smirked to me as he took another mouthful of the food i made.

"so, tate. you're going to westfield high as well?" my father questioned as he wiped his mouth with the fresh white napkin. tate nodded and spun his fork until it was decorated with noodles.

"yeah, and before you ask, i don't like it." my father sat confused. he didn't understand why someone wouldn't like such a good school.

"why's that?" my father pushed.

"i don't know. it's just horrible. i hate it. the people... everything. it's a filthy world we live in and most of the... shit comes from that place." we sat in silence after my father tried to calculate why someone would hate a school with such passion. "but since adele will be there now... i'm sure i'll like it a lot better." my cheeks warmed over with a light pink when i saw my father's disgusted reaction.

"yeah i suppose." we ate in total silence for the rest of the dinner. i felt utterly embarrassed for the way this dinner went. tate was supposed to come over and we were all supposed to talk about our life and find some common interest but it didn't happen.

tate helped me clean up and even scrubbed a few dishes before i offered to walk him home. he refused at first but i wouldn't say no to walking him home since he only lived a minute away at most.

"thank you for having me over. i don't think i could've handled another night with larry." he spit the man's name out of his mouth as if it were something vile.

"well thank you for coming. even though those last moments were awkward.. it was still nice." we reached his front porch. "um..."

"i'll be here tomorrow all day if you wanna hang out. i get bored easily." his mother opened the door with a cigarette in between her frail fingers. smoke blew in my face from his mother's cigarette that had only been burning for a couple seconds. tate rolled his brown eyes and turned toward his mother. "i'll see you around?"

"sure." he went inside without another word, but i was left with a glare from his mother. "goodnight mrs. langdon." i waved her a sweet goodbye and made my way back home.

the next morning i awoke to my father leaving and my mother pouring herself a bowl of cereal. "hey honey," my mother smiled as she placed a spoon into her bowl. "you slept in today."

"i guess it's just stress." i sat at the table across from her with tired eyes. "how was your trip in oregon?" she shrugged and scratched the side of her face, her long nails creating red marks because of her pallid complexion.

"it was alright. nana says hi and that she misses you." my mom went to oregon to visit family before we moved. she wanted to check in on them since she doesn't see them very often. my mother and i talked off and on about her trip and about how she loved our house while she ate her bowl of cereal.

"i think i'm going to go see my friend. i can go to the store if you need anything." she shook her head as i stood to go to my room and change. "okay."

i changed from my pajamas into some light colored jeans and tucked a floral shirt into them. "bye." i say as i close the door behind me. the bag on my shoulders made it hard for me to roll my tank with me, but i would have to struggle. before i could knock, mrs. langdon answered the door. "hello mrs. langdon. i've brought something for my father."

"tate is in his room, adeline." she moved over and allowed me to walk in. i wheeled my tank up the stairs as gently as i could until i saw closed room door.

my knuckles beat against the wood until he shouted, "go away mom." i laughed silently to myself from his words but decided to knock once again.

"it's me, adele." he rushes to the door, opens it, pulls me inside, and shuts the door behind me as if he were worried something would take me away from him. "what's up?"

"nothing. nothing. sorry, i thought you were my mom at first." he chuckled and ran his hand through his messy blond hair. "uh sit. i'll play some music." he slid in a cd into his music player and grinned. i smiled to him once i heard the guitar rift in the very beginning. "you said you liked nirvana."

"i did." tate sat beside me but soon fell backward onto his back. his eyes fell onto the ceiling and just watched it as he listened to his music. "so how old are you?"

"i'm 17." i laid onto my back and stared at his ceiling like he did. in the library he told me we were around the same age but i didn't have a solid number until now.

my eyes wandered his room and silently inspected it. there was something about his room that has such a depressing feeling but i admired it. everything about my home life is so lively nobody gets my desire to be sad every once in a while.

"i like your room." the boy turned his head to look at me, his brown eyes gazing at me while i kept my concentration on the white ceiling above us. "i like everything about you."

"you don't know me." he sighed and played with the hem of my shirt sleeve. "but you're the first person to ever say something like that... and mean it." and for once i could just fully appreciate his company even if we were just lying and listening to his cd of nirvana.

CEMETERY GATES - tate langdonWhere stories live. Discover now