Manic

Chapter 14.

I got home well past my curfew, but it didn't matter. My mom was asleep, and even if I had gotten in trouble, I would do it again. As I lay in bed, listening to my Alexa as she plays throwback One Direction songs on shuffle, I close my eyes and smile.

"Tonight was good," Saraphina whispers in my mind.

I smile again. It was more than good. It feels unreal. Like the events that had happened not even thirty minutes ago could not have been real. They could not have happened to me. I'm not the guy that gets a guy like Rivers. I'm so completely and utterly average, and he's completely and utterly the opposite of that.

We danced in the park and for those few precious moments it was as if we were the only two people on the planet. No words were exchanged, just the silence of the night between the dance and when he pulled me into his arms and rested his head on my shoulder.

My smile does not leave my lips as I remember the words he whispered in my ear, "God, you're something else, Elijah."

I roll onto my side and sleep takes ahold of me. But all through the night his face is in my mind, and his words in my thoughts. Every second of tonight was perfect. I wish I could have held onto the perfection a little longer. But alas, there comes a new day. And with that, a new set of trouble.

Morning came with a sound I hadn't heard in a very long time. Laughter from my mother.

Which would lead you to presume this was a good thing.

It wasn't.

I walk out of my room to see a man that I have never seen before.

"Elijah, this is Sam." My mother smiles as she goes over introductions. I nod, and look at her with a quizzical glance, "He's a friend from work." She explains, but from the way she looked at him, I could tell he was a little more than simply just a friend.

"Hey buddy, nice to finally meet you." Sam says and smiles at me. Again, I nod. I'm not very good in social situations. Especially when it comes to social situations with adult men. I have you to thank for that, daddio.

I grab a poptart from the kitchen and start heading out the door.

"Headed to school?" Mom asks.

"That's what I usually do on Friday mornings." I reply. Mom laughs and I head out the door.

I walk to school. Being a senior and not having a car is very uncool, but that is what happens when you have no job and a single mother. The school is about a ten minute walk from our apartment, so I usually get to school a few minutes after the bell. But I left rather quickly today because of a stranger that was in my living room with my mother.

Now, don't get me wrong. I'm all for mom finding other guys and being happy. But who the hell was that guy and why was he in my apartment at 6:30 am? I was just a little shaken up, that's all.

"You're jealous." Danny says.

"Why would I be jealous?" I ask.

"Your mom is spending time with another guy. That means less time with you."

"So what?" I say, trying not to admit that he has a point.

I get to school ten minutes before the bell rings and decide to sit down and start writing my essay for english that is due in two weeks. The topic is to write about our greatest example in life. I haven't sat down and put much thought into the project until now. Any good child would say one of their parents was their greatest example.

But an absent father in prison for abuse? A mother who barely fed her son for years? I think about my grandparents, how they ignored me and mom after you went to prison. I shut my notebook in frustration. I have no great examples in my life. Which really sucks because you're my dad and you're supposed to be my influencer. But I want to be nothing like you when I'm older.