The Secrets We Carry

Chapter Twenty- Two | I'll Fill You In

Adam

It's been two months since we made the decision to leave after graduation.
Everything has been going as planned.
James has been staying at Angela's, avoiding his home like the plague. He ended up having to get another job when his boss told him he couldn't give him more than the two shifts, he was already getting, a week. He got a job in the back of the diner thanks to Ellen and Jack, which he is truly enjoying. He works there only a few nights a week but it's enough.

My dad has been so busy with work that I only had a couple of run ins with him in the last two months. One of them was pretty bad and I missed some school but the thought that it would all be over soon made it that much easier to endure. The difficult part was calming Angela down. She's new to the whole situation and seeing me freshly beaten didn't go over well. She keeps insisting that we stay at her place as often as possible. I've managed a couple of nights here and there but it's hard to do more than that when we don't want to raise any suspicion.

The absolute hardest thing I had to do in the last couple of months was tell Josh our plan. I was nervous and didn't know how he would react to the news of us leaving.
He didn't take it well at first but he quickly realized it was for the best. He's been helping us out anyway he can and most evenings we've all been hanging out at Angela's house.

Josh has even mentioned possibly coming with us. He would wait a few weeks and meet us once we're settled. He was also taking a year off since that was my plan all along, wait for Liv to finish school before I went to college. The only problem was I didn't want my dad knowing where we were which meant Josh's dad couldn't know.
He assured me it wouldn't be an issue and that his mom would never tell.
I believed him and I knew she wouldn't.
Everything was falling into place and my best friend was going to be joining us. Life couldn't be better.

Angela, Liv and Ashley were always finding new recipes to bake and cook up. Us guys didn't mind being the guinea pigs to all the wonderful sweets and savory dishes they were creating.
Angela had a ton of board games too that we would all play together. Her house was starting to feel like more of a home than our own homes. Not just a safe place but also a place that was always filled with laughter and even love.

Angela and I started getting closer.
We would hang out just the two of us on the porch swing or on the flat part of the roof outside her bedroom window. Just talking for hours.
We had our first kiss on the roof about two weeks ago. Her lips tasted like the chocolate we had been eating before hand.

It all happened so naturally. We had been talking leaning against each other.
The wind blew a strand of her hair into her face when she had turned to look at me. I remember raising my hand to move it out of her face. My hand lingering just behind her ear were I placed her hair. Slowly we leaned into each other and our lips met.
It was tender and slow at first, feeling the warmth of our bodies pressed against each other and the velvety softness of our lips.
She parted her lips slightly inviting me in and our tongues explored one another. It became more passionate and I felt the warmth turn into a raging fire.

As I said, everything was falling into place perfectly.

I feel a nudge to my ribs and my mind is back with me in third period. Both Josh and James were staring at me with stupid grins on their faces.

"What's with the dumb grins guys?" I ask them.

"Pretty sure we could ask you the same thing." Josh says laughing. I feel my cheeks heating up and try to hide it behind my own laugh.

We were working on a group assignment the teacher gave out a few days ago. We had one more day and then tomorrow we were presenting.

A knock at the door had everyone's attention as Mr. Sheppard walked over to it. It was one of the office volunteers. They spoke in hushed voices before Mr. Sheppard turned and walked over to our group.