We'll Always Have Oak Park

Chapter 3

Once Avan and I had both ordered we sat down at a small table by the window with our coffee. 

"So how have you been? I mean I haven't seen you in forever" he began so casually. 

"I've been good" I lied, because no one actually wants to hear about your miserable life. They're always just being polite.

"And you? How's your mom doing, I know she took your dads death really hard?" Once the words came out I knew I shouldn't have brought up his dad's death so soon. 

Losing his dad was hard on Avan and his mom Christian. Avan started shutting people out and Christian just was never herself again. Everyone in the town tried to help, but Christian believed that without John there was no life left to live. And Avan, he was too young to understand, and started acting out. It started out small. Talking back to the teachers at school, not turning in school work. The small things led to bigger things like getting into fights and once even getting suspended. Another year passed, and the town just gave up on trying to save the Harris family. Nobody tried to get Christina to talk about what happened and how to learn how to move on. And even worse, none tried to help Avan through his feelings and found him more as a nuisance than as a young kid confused and lost after losing his dad. So eventually when the school didn’t want to put up with Avan anymore and kicked him out, Christina decided to move them to a new town for a fresh start.

        Avan's eyes went black, just like they did the day he found out his dad wasn't coming home. Avan's always tried to be strong for everyone else, but sometimes I think it ends up hurting him more than he will ever admit. As he looked down at his coffee he says "I'm ok. Mom is better than she was before we left. I know she still hasn't completely gotten over his death. And honestly I don't think she ever will"

"I'm sorry to hear that" apologizing for more than just his mom’s heart ache , but also for the fact that i even brought it up. 

~

After we finished our coffee Avan and I walked back to my car. It had gotten late and the summer sun started to fade into the horizon. The temperature by now had dropped and there was a slight breeze that left a chill in the air. 

“Well thanks for the coffee. I had a nice time.” I said looking at my feet unsure of what to say remembering the touch of his hand and wanting to feel it again.

“You’re welcome, and I had a nice time to. Here I’ll give you my phone number and maybe we can do it again sometime after community service”

“Yeah that sounds great”, I said as we handed me a slip of paper with his number written on it.

As I drove home in my car I thought about how the day had started and how it ended with me wanting to feel Avan’s touch again. When I walking into the house I was immediately greeted by the smell of cigarette smoke and a pass out mother on the couch. I took my shoes off at the door and walked over to the living room and shut the T.V. off that was playing an episode of The Big Bang Theory. I then walked into the kitchen and got a glass of water and headed up stairs to do my homework.

        In the safety of my room I took out the piece of paper that Avan gave me and saved his phone number in my phone. Looking at the clock I saw that it was already 6:30 and figured I should probably start doing my homework. Some people would say that I have good grades and I probably would say that too but I’m so hard on myself that to me a 96% is just as bad as a 76%. I have this huge paper due on Thursday on how plant and animal cells work and I don’t even understand it enough to actually write a paper on it. I mean my teacher doesn’t actually teach us anything, she has us start taking notes and then says that we’re going to finish them the next day, but then we never do and then a couple days later once she’s already moved on to another section she decides to give us a test on something we haven’t even finished taking notes on.

By 10 o’clock I had finished all of my homework and taken a shower and was so tired that I could sleep for a week. As laid in bed listening to music I decided to text Avan and within a minute he texted back.

‘Natalie?’

‘Yeah’

‘Oh hey what’s up?’

‘Nothing much just wanted to talk to you’

‘Oh haha cool. By the way sorry about holding your hand today’

‘No it’s okay, it’s not like it meant anything’

‘Uh yeah…’

‘Or did it mean something…?’

‘I kinda hope it did’

‘Can I tell you something?’

‘Yeah of course’

‘I hope it did too.’ as I typed the words I knew this would be the start of something I never saw coming.