Zachari Adams: Between A Rock And A Hard Place

Chapter 4 - False Start

Sunday 22 January
Time: 10h45

I had just finished up all my catch up work so that I wouldn't be behind in class. I was so tired and normally I just wanted to sleep in but I didn't wanna make laziness a norm for me.

My recovery has been going smoothly and when I could I visited Doc just incase something went wrong but luckily, I was all good.

Tomorrow I could finally go back to school and I never actually thought that I'd miss that hellhole, but I did.
I don't know what it was but for the first time, I had a positive view on this school year even though I've had a rocky start.

Mom had gone to church again and I was alone in the house again but I didn't want to be because I've been trapped the whole week with Mom nursing me like crazy, I was starting to feel insane.

So I decided to walk over to Bruno's. I figured I could help him out and catch up with him and Antonio. It really had been a while.

So I went and took a shower and got my necessities done with. I wore blue jeans with a plain white shirt and black Chuck Taylors and with that I was ready to head out. I went downstairs, got my phone and locked the house and took a stroll to Bruno's.

Today was so quiet and peaceful, I'd forgotten how relaxing it was to take a walk in this neighborhood. Even though I did have difficulty breathing because of my ribs, I still took time to appreciate it. It didn't take me long to get to the cafe and before I knew it I was already in the parking lot. It was empty.

I walked into the cafe and the only thing that filled the silence was the sound of the bell when I opened the door. The chairs were stacked on top of the tables and all the furniture was pushed to the side.

"Sorry. We're closed." I hear Antonio say from the back of the kitchen. That's new. Bruno never closes on Sundays.

"Since when did you close on Sundays?" I say back to him.

"Oh Zach it's you." He says coming out from the back with a bucket and a mop. "Hot chocolate?" He says as he places them down.

"Always Antonio, always." I say with a smile. He smiles back.

I took one of the bar stools and placed down so I could sit. 

"Papa and I are having a father-son day today, we're just cleaning up. He'll be here soon, he just needed to do something first." He said sliding the hot chocolate over to me. I looked down at the hot cup. What in the hell?!

"So it's like that?" I say raising my eyebrow.

"What?" Antonio said with a look of confusion.

"You really gonna be stingy and not put the marshmallows on top?" I said in all seriousness.

"Oh." He said when he realised his crime. "Here you go compa." He said with a chuckle.

"That's more like it."

"You wanna head to the gym tonight?"

"Please why would I wanna see you pass out from running." I said laughing.

"It was one time Zach."

"And yet you still look like you have chicken feet." I'm barely able to say as I'm laughing my ass off.

"Oh so it's like that!" He says with a nod. "I could beat you in a race easy. You run like you have toilet paper stuck in your butt."

"That's better than your unstable noodle-like legs." I say taking a sip of my hot chocolate. It tastes good.