ғʀᴏᴍ ᴘᴏʀᴛʟᴀɴᴅ ᴛᴏ ʟ.ᴀ. » ᴅᴀɴɪᴇʟ sᴇᴀᴠᴇʏ

Chapter Eight

Thursday, June 21, 2018

"Hello," Daniel says as we join each other's sides in the parking lot in front of the coffee shop we decided to meet at after my shift at the diner.

"Hi," I reply, sending him a gentle smile.

He holds the door open for me, and I slip inside, thanking him as I pass.

We place our orders- a coffee for him and a frappuccino for me- wait, pick them up, and make our way to a cozy set of chairs in the corner of the building.

I settle into the leather and take a deep breath.

"Kai," Daniel says, sensing how tense I appear to be, "you don't have to tell me if you don't want to or if you're not ready. Seriously."

"No. I want to, Daniel. I want to tell you. I just haven't told very many people, so I'm just... nervous."

Daniel nods hesitantly. I shift in my seat, and begin.

"My mom's name is Tess Merta. When she was eighteen years old, right after she graduated high school, she met twenty year old Liam Rivet. My mother's parents didn't like him at all. They warned her of him because they saw that he only wanted to use her to fulfill his own desires, but she didn't listen.

"They weren't technically a couple. They weren't dating, they didn't have the title of boyfriend and girlfriend, they were just in a relationship for... well, for sex. Liam was at least.

"When mom found out she was pregnant, she was scared to tell him, and when she finally did, he reacted just like she feared he would, and he left. She never saw him after that.

"That was when my mom moved here to Portland. My grandparents finally took the hint that their daughter was cutting off all of the strings of their relationship. I will never understand, but somehow, they let her go. They helped pay for the apartment that she moved into, where I grew up. Later on in the future, they shared in paying for my mom's college bills and stuff like that, but other than that, they left her, and me, alone."

I pause. Now's the difficult part.

"There was never a relationship between my mom and I. I certainly wanted there to be one, but she didn't. I was... a leftover to her, I guess. A remnant of the man from her past. The man that she thought she loved, and the man she thought loved her."

I avoid Daniel's eyes.

"When I was six, mom had raised a sufficient amount of money from the endless hours she worked at her jobs. Along with the financial help from my grandparents, she enrolled herself in college and medical school, her sights set on becoming a vascular surgeon.

"So, as you know, a lot of hard is involved to acquire any job in the medical field, let alone a surgeon. I don't remember a night when she had time for me. We never ate dinner together. I barely ever saw her. She left for classes before the bus picked me up for school in the mornings, and when she did come home at night, she didn't speak to me and went back to her bedroom to work. I grew independent, and I left her alone."

"Goodness, Kai," Daniel whispers when I stop for just a moment.

I still don't look at him. If I do, I'll see how sorry he feels for me, and that is the last thing I want right now.