[COMPLETED] A teen boy meets a girl in the park. Despite things starting off a little rocky, they start to meet at the park everyday and talk about their day, and share things they'd never share with anybody else. One day, the girl doesn't show up a...
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"Are you feeling okay Joey?" Mom asked me at the breakfast table.
I didn't eat any toast that was sitting on a plate in front of me.
I didn't eat any of the eggs nor bacon either.
Dad had been talking about something he'd seen on the news. Mom, Aaron, and I had been listening patiently and quietly. He didn't stop talking until Mom interrupted him by asking me, "Are you feeling okay Joey?"
Before I could answer, Dad was already saying, "Yeah, Rena, he's fine."
Mom looked at Dad with incredulousness. She touched her mouth. "But he isn't eating anything. He's barely touched the eggs on his plate."
"Drop it Rena," Dad said with little patience. "The boy is fine."
Mom didn't say any more, but she kept looking at me with concern. Aaron on the other hand was still a little apprehensive. He studied me, and then took one look at my plate."Bro, you know it's bad to waste food don't ya?"
I glared at him. "Yeah, I do." Stabbing my eggs with the fork and taking it to my mouth, I then said, "I'm just not that hungry."
I set the fork back down.
Mom looked at Aaron, then at me. She looked at me a little longer.
Dad started clearing his throat abruptly, and went back to talking about the news.
I still didn't touch anything on my plate.
♢
I smoked the cigarette, and man, did it feel good. I inhaled and exhaled slowly, already feeling less stressed than I had.
"You smoke?"
I focused on the girl who stood in front of me, with her hands in her coat pockets. She furrowed her eyebrows at me, tapping her foot softly against the pavement.
"Yeah," I replied. "I smoke sometimes."
She nodded. "Where do you get your cigarettes?"
"I steal them from my brother Aaron. He keeps on trying to quit. But I know that'll never happen."
"You were in wrestling, right?" She asked. "You were the star wrestler."
I shrugged, and took another smoke. "Yeah, I was. Then I quit."
She raised her eyebrow. "But I thought you loved the sport?"
"My old man loved the sport," I muttered bitterly. "He loved the sport so freakin' much, he wouldn't care if it killed me...even though it nearly did." I whispered that last part, and didn't look at Aisling.
That last bit of information I just said hadn't meant to come out, but I felt, for some reason, compelled to tell her.
She didn't look fazed, but she did for the first time, sit down on the bench next to me. She looked at me with a genuine smile. "Joey, I'm not going to judge you. I mean, my dad is neglectful."
