Sweetheart

Chapter Four

Cole

I always loved sitting on the swing at night, looking at the stars surround the moon. It always calmed me down. Sometimes if home was getting too much for me to bear I would sneak off to the swings and just rock back and forth for hours at a time.

As I swayed my body I heard a low whistle. My heart skipped three beats: Ryder. I would know that whistle anywhere. I turned and not to my surprise I saw Ryder coming down the path with Mayla at his side. I smiled despite myself, no matter what I have tried to tell myself over the years, I really did miss him.

                “Cole! Thank God! Why haven’t you answered my calls? I’ve been worried sick. You can’t do that to me! At least when I call or text you using the code I answer you back.” Mayla was pissed but she was relieved to see me. I got off the swing and met up with them half way.

I would have answered her but…I pulled my phone out of my jacket pocket to show them. It was in pieces.

                “Well I would have if I could have.” I said handing her the broken phone.

                “Wow!” Mayla said her eyes wide as she examined the once fully functional phone.

I caught sight of Ryder out of the corner of my eye. He was staring at me, his eyes intense. I couldn’t face him so I focused on Mayla.

                “Sorry. I figured I’d just go over to your house tomorrow. So I wasn’t too worried about you worrying about me.” I tried to smile.

Mayla rolled her eyes. “When you text me with that, I worry!”

                “Sorry…”

                “No, it’s fine, I was just worried.” Mayla looked at her phone. I knew it must be late. Mayla’s expression conformed my thought.

                “OH. MY. GOD! My mom is going to like so kill me! I told her I’d be home an hour ago! I gotta go!” Mayla turned to leave but stopped mid turn. “You going to be ok? You need a place to stay?” She looked concerned. I hated when she looked like that.

                “Don’t worry! I’m ok.” I smiled weakly. But I wasn’t even fooling myself, let alone Mayla.

                “You got a place to sleep or are you going to go home? You can always sneak into my place.”

I looked at my best friend. Her mom was divorced, living in a two bedroom apartment with four kids. And to top it off she was drunk half the time. Her mom never really appreciated me staying over, and I really didn’t want to cause a fight, especially if she had had one or two too many tonight.

So I lied “I’m all good. I’ma just go home!”

I could tell she didn’t really believe me but she was in a hurry and wasn’t going to push it.

                “Ok. Well, call me- I mean, I’ll see you later.” She gave me a tight hug and I winced. Mayla didn’t notice but Ryder, the quiet observer did.

                “Bye.” Ryder and I said to Mayla’s back.

I turned away from Ryder, trying to avoid his eyes. I sat on the swing again and just looked up. Ryder sat down on the adjacent swing, copying my actions. We sat like that for a good 15 minutes. I thought about the events in the last month or so. I couldn’t believe it had been a month. That dinner with my dad and David had been the worst yet. And almost every night after, it felt like the nightmare had just kept going. I had managed to avoid my dad and his partner in crime every so often; sleeping in the park or at a shelter. I even snuck into Mayla’s house a few times, but her mom caught me, so that ended. But last night I went home and my dad just lost it.