The Life of a Nobody

Chapter 3: Will I Ever Know?

No one has asked or suspected anything from my strange behavior in the house. My uncle doesn't usually have time to. Check the news because of work and Ozzie was too young too. So far Paige was right the incident blew over after a few months. The cops had put the investigation at rest for now. During the time I was worrying my Uncle had gotten me enrolled in the high school here. All I had to do was get school supplies which was pretty easy. All I had to do was go to the store Clearance aisle. Once I had gotten everything I had enough to get some Cigarettes too. Once I got home I got everything I had bought and stuffed it in a backpack I woke up early the next morning. Me and Paige rode the bus together. She also showed me where my classes are in the maze of a school. I didn't talk to anyone for the first week or so. I normally just got some weird stares. School ended later than my old school used to. I got home and immediately fell flat on my bed. When I woke up it was around 2 am. I left my room to find Ozzie rummaging through the fridge. "What are you doing up?" I ask him knowing he is avoiding sleep like I used to at his age. " Getting something to eat." He said almost in a whisper. "Ok, but go to bed after you eat it ok" "Ok..." he said, almost quieter than earlier. I woke up that morning to Ozzie and Paige shouting at each other. "I told you not to tell Dad!" An angry Paige shouted. "How was I not supposed to tell him?" Ozzie countered and I ran out to see what was happening. "How could you not tell me you had a girlfriend!?" I heard my uncle say from down the hall. " You have a girlfriend!?" I say shocked by the citation "Yeah and her name is Sophia~." Ozzie says with a teasing giggle. "Shut up you dumbass brat" Paige yelled so flustered she could get mistaken for a tomato. My uncle then goes on a rant about how she should have told him. Ending it with "I want to meet her." silence follows the words till Paige breaks it. "We have only been dating for like a week. She can't meet y'all yet." she said, refusing to introduce us. I sighed in disappointment. I was truly wishing to meet the one who had taken my cousin and best friend's heart. She had never been too emotional mainly empathetic towards me when I consoled her for support. She is good at that. Replacing her feelings in a moment for others to better understand. "Could I meet her?" I asked in a very soft tone of voice. They almost forgot I was there till I heard Paige say "Maybe but not them yet!" She says still fuming. "I'm glad she must be extraordinary to have stolen your heart." "Yeah, she is." She says as her eyes soften. "I can tell you like her a lot." I say seeing her almost completely relaxed with the thought of her. "I do." My uncle ruins the moment by not reading the room and shouts "I still want to meet her though!" I look over at him with a glare. "You will wait till she's ready or she will leave you like your wife did." I say in a threatening tone. The words had escaped my lips before I realized what I was saying and I quickly was taken aback by my own words. My thoughts. "I am so sorry," I say regretting my actions as my uncle sat there stunned. I had never talked back to him before. Not since I got here at least... "Ok. Go to your room you are grounded." He said in hushed tones but you could tell he meant business "Fine but make sure you don't force her." I say warning him. "Whatever." He said turning back on the TV and turning away from us as I walked to my room with my head down in shame. The next day things seemed to have gone back to normal. Aside from a few cold glares from my uncle. I had decided tonight was the night I would ask to see my mom in the prison. I have to see her to know she's alright. I sit at the table and sigh as I let the words fly out of my mouth so fast I wasn't even sure what I was saying. "Can I go visit my mom?!" It takes him a minute to comprehend till he sighs and says "Fine but tell us if anything happens. We can call Henry and his mom to pick you up." He says trying to make the best decision he can. "Really! Henry is gonna be there!" I yell out of excitement "Yes! I haven't seen him in so long!" I say knowing it has only been probably only a few months since I had seen him last. "Yep." My uncle says taking a long drink of his coffee. Which he normally has at night to 'help him sleep' but it just keeps him up all night. I head off to my room excited about seeing my mother again. It felt like I hadn't seen her in years. I wondered what she would say. What she would ask. I hoped for it to be 'How are you doing?' 'How's your ass of an uncle?' or something like that. I mainly just hoped that she would care enough to ask. She had never really asked about my days at home so why would she now? I thought to myself knowing she would finally care and I could go back to eating ache for dinner. I don't even care how bad I tasted anymore. I miss it. I miss her. Her yelling, her annoying voice, her consistent nagging. I miss everything. Sure she was mean and rude sometimes but she was also my mom. I could never stay mad at her. She raised me. I love her no matter what. I still don't know what caused the argument between her and Cedric though. He seemed like a chill guy. What could make them both go off like that? Even resorting to violence? She never even used violence with me. So why him? What did he do? Did he cheat? He didn't seem like the type to cheat on his fiance, so I don't understand. I thought through all of this till I fell asleep. It was around 5 am now and I had to see Mom that afternoon but I slept through the morning and woke up at 11:30 am that afternoon in a panic. "Why didn't anyone wake me up? The jail is two hours away and I'm supposed to visit Mom at 12:30 this afternoon!" I yelled across the house and began rushing my clothes on and doing my hair. I rushed out of the house just in time to see Henry and his mom pull into the driveway. I ran and hugged him as soon as he got out of the car. "I am so glad I get to see you again! You have to tell me everything about the stuff you've been doing now that I'm not in town" I say excited to see him. He hugs me back for a moment before answering. "I missed you," He said quietly "I missed you too! It's so hard being so far away!" I say still very excited. "I have to tell you about everything happening!" He said smiling at me but not letting me out of the hug. Almost as if he thought if he let go he'd never see me again. I got into their car and Henry got in too but instead of putting on his seat belt, he leaned over like he used to when we were in middle school and rested his head on my lap looking up at me as he said. "Every straight man's dream." as he giggles. A ton of nostalgia hits me as I remember when we used to hang out in middle school and he would lay either in my lap or on me and fall asleep claiming it was the only way he could get to sleep easily. I would lay there and play with his hair often braiding tiny strands till he woke up and that is exactly what I did this time around. He lay in my lap just as he used to as I played with his hair. He then says "I got a boyfriend while you were gone..." He said it almost as if he was worried I'd be mad at him. "Really! I would love to meet him." I say being as supportive as possible before mentioning " Don't worry I'm not mad or anything." He lets out a small relieved sigh. "Thanks." "No problem man. Besides what did you think I'd be homophobic?" He then says quietly "I kinda did.." I then add "How could I be homophobic? I am freaking Bi!?" I said reminding him I'm part of the lgbtq+ community too. He relaxes a bit more and I begin to tease him "So... What's his name? Is he hot?" I say he responds in silence for a moment before speaking up so I can hear. "His name is Culton. I think you two would be good friends." "I'm sure we will!" I say. After those words leave my mouth he lets out a sigh of relief and begins to finally relax after a bit. He seems overjoyed as he happily lays his head in my lap knowing I don't mind his new relationship. I'm glad he trusted me enough to tell me but I can't help but worry. I wondered what type of guy Culton was. He could be a horrid person with a humor comparable to a rock or he could be a great person who Henry could see spending the rest of his life with. I was nauseous thinking it might turn out like my Mom and her fiance and he might hurt Henry. I would hope for the best though and wait to meet him before I judge. We spent most of the car ride in silence after that conversation. We sat there just enjoying each other's company. We had nothing more to say to each other and the silence wasn't awkward but more comforting. It was like when you just finished a hard day at work and just had to have a moment of silence to relax with the people you love. Your family. That's what I considered Henry and his Mom. Family, there was nothing more to it. Henry was my brother and his mother was my mom. I preferred this family over my own. They rarely argued. Well, at least they never argued around me that is. In these moments with them my life was peaceful sometimes it wouldn't last long but this time it at least lasted a little bit. I was thankful for that. Silence.