LUCAS

Chapter four : Using Oh shit handles

An hour later Lucas came back "well that was fast" I expected him to out longer but I'm glad he's back "I would have been here sooner but I had to pick up a few things" I eye the bag in his hand almost bursting at the seam of everything he managed to stuff in it "what did you bring, half of your room in that big ass bag" I say smiling as he sets the bag down at the door and cuddles up next to me on the couch.

"So, mister Black tell me about yourself" his face looked like he didn't actually know what to tell me "Start with the basics like favorite color, food and so on" he smiles "soo basically the boring things... I like the color black; I love bacon, my favorite movie is probably Top Gun I grew up in England and I have a dog named Rusty. Your turn, do you live here alone?"

"yeah" I look down at my hands I don't want to talk about my family "why?" he asked confused "where's your family" I cross my arms holding myself "My family was never really part of my life and when they were it wasn't long, all I really had was my mom then after her it was Alice and after Alice it's Carlos" I hug myself to just get any form of comfort "what do you mean by after?" a knot forms in my stomach.

"My mother cared enough to save me I tried keeping tabs on her but she just disappeared I don't really know where is. Alice was my dance instructor she looked out for me after everything with my mother but she died of a heart attack a couple of years ago. Things went south for me in a bad way so I came here got a job at the diner and never looked back"

Confusion clouded his face "but they said you've been working there since you were twelve. Why? I mean Alice took care of you and so did your mom so why work at the diner?" I sigh, not looking at him feeling his eyes burn a hole in my head.

"My mother always worked when I was born and at the time my father wasn't in the picture and when he was, he made things hard, until one day my school teacher started to notice the neglect, she called child services.

Social services did an investigation and not long after that I got sent away for a while. That's in when I met Alice, if it wasn't for her, I don't know where I would be right now.

The place I was sent to was a hell hole made to seem like it was a children's care centre when they really had no care in the world for children other than easy money. They will tell you to get a job they didn't care what the job was all they want is their money.

Most kids did what they could others just took the punishment I worked at the diner and my best friend at the time Eve use to get dressed up and go to church and when they did collections she would pretend to throw in money in the basket and then actually take a hand full of money stuffing it in her pockets she was incredibly fast so they never caught on event the old ladies at church thought she was so cute they would give her a couple of bucks here and there for candy. The care takers were demanding not caring where or how you got the money as long as you pay them and if you don't, they punish you" the memories of the darkrooms and the beatings flooded my mind reminding me of some of the scars I have. I didn't know I was crying until Lucas wiped my tears away.

"Alice was the only reason I stayed there as long as I did, she always said I had a natural talent for dance so she mentored me, when she was my age, she was a professional dancer but had to retire after breaking her hip in a car accident. After her death, I came here got this house from Carlos's mother and I have been here ever since" I explain my voice breaking trying to hold back tears he pulls me towards him wrapping me in his warm embrace placing a soft kiss against my temple "I'm so sorry you lost her I can see she meant a lot to you" he whispers.

It's the first time I told anyone other than Carlos about my past, nobody would want someone as broken as me so I never told anyone. the worst part is there is more to that story, but I can't tell him he wouldn't understand. "I'm sorry Lucas that was a lot of unneeded information I completely over shared" I laugh through the tears trying to break the tension he smiles "it's okay it's my turn to over share just so where even"