Popular Meets Unpopular

Shock-20

"So," Grants begins, "when I was little my parents were always fighting. They had, at least, one day a month where they got along. While they were fighting, which was mostly at night, I would just open my window and stare at the stars, picking out constellations and just admiring the sky. Well, one day, my dad caught me out of bed and yelled at me and asked why I was still up and I said because of the stars." he lets out a small chuckle at that part but then his eyebrows scrunch back up and he continues.

"He got mad and said that I shouldn't be into nerdy shit like that. He told me that I should like football instead and I was only a kid then so I said okay. Then my mom came into my room and started to yell at him for saying that to me and then..." he stops and his jaw starts to clench and I squeeze his hand tighter. "he hit her. Slapped her right across the face in front of me. He looked shocked when he did it, like he didn't mean to and so did my mom. They both just looked at each other while I cried in the background and he ended up storming out the room and driving away in his car. That was the last time I saw him."

I sit there in utter shock, unbelieving of what my ears were hearing. It made me sad that his father would say those things to him and that he had to witness that at a young age. "Grant...I'm sorry..." is all I'm able to let out because I'm speechless.

He shakes his head. "Don't apologize, it was a while ago. I'm over that he left but I am still upset that he hit my mother."

I frown. "Why is he back? What did he want?"

Now, it's his turn to frown. "I thought he would be back to apologize for what happened, which he did apologize but I think it's only because he needed money."

"Why do you think that?"

He sighs. "Because he told me that he was struggling and that he needed a little money to get by."

"And how much is 'a little?'"

"He wants $150..."

I cut him off. "What?"

His hand goes over my mouth. "Let me finish."

I remove his hand and wave him on.

"But I only gave him $50 and he said, 'thanks, kid, this'll do' and then left. And that's when you found me on your front porch."

I shake my head. "I'm just gonna say it, your dad is an asshole."

He nods, agreeing. "He is, but he's still my dad and that's why I gave him some money."

I nod. "Yeah."

He drops his head and starts to play with my fingers. "You know, sometimes I do wish that he would come back and be a better dad than he was but...there's nothing I can do to change that."

"Did you talk to him about what happened when you last saw him?"

He shook his head. "No, I was too nervous."

I nod. "Well, that's okay, just talk to him about it when you're ready."

Grant turns his head towards me and stares at me with such passion in his eyes that I ask softly, "What?"

He continues the look with a faint smile on his face. "You're just great."

I smile, feeling the happiest I've been in a while. I lean my head against his shoulder and intertwine my hand with his. "You are too."

______

Grant was driving me back home and we were just talking about nothing. It was starting to get dark and we were passing through the rough part of town and it made me a bit uncomfortable.

"Gosh," I say, "this place gives me chills."

Grant nods. "Yeah, it's a bit creepy at night."

We were almost past it when all of a sudden Grant brakes really fast almost giving me whiplash. I'm sure I would've flown threw the window if I didn't have my seatbelt on. Luckily, there was no one driving behind us.

I looked at Grant with a bewildered look on my face. "Grant, what the hell was that?"

But he wasn't paying attention to me. Instead he was looking outside at some man that suspiciously looked like a drug deal with another man on the street corner. One of the men looked strangely familiar but I don't know why.

Finally, Grant mutters angrily to himself. "Are you serious right now?"

Then he pulled off to the side and put the car in park and took off his seatbelt. He gives me a brief look. "Stay in the car and lock it when I get out."

I was about to ask him what's going on but he quickly gets out of the car, leaving me alone. I was more confused than ever as I watched Grant walk up to one of the men but I locked the doors as he said.

He approached one of the men with an outraged expression and the man looked frozen in place like, he was shocked to see him. I could tell Grant was speaking to him with an angry tone and this has to be the first time I've ever seen Grant this upset. Not even upset. Boiling anger.

Finally Grant gets the last of his words out and storms off. The man tries to grab him but Grant yanks his arm away. He approaches the car and tries to open the door but it's locked so it doesn't open. I quickly remember to unlock it and reach over, unlocking it.

He finally opens it and closed the door. More like slamming the door. He looks over at me when he sees that I jump when he slammed the door. "Sorry." he mumbles.

He takes the car out of park and starts to drive off. I shake my head. "No, it's okay."

Grant was completely silently on the way to my house and I can tell he was still fuming. When we make it to my house he parks and we just sit there in silence. Me not making the move to get out, looking at him and him staring outside, seemingly lost in his thoughts.

I reach over and touch his arm. "Grant, are you okay?"

The moment he looks over at me I see the tears in his eyes and it makes my heart ache. I climb over the console, sitting in his lap and pull him towards me in a hug. His body shakes as I hold him and I can tell he's crying and it breaks my heart and has me worried about what is going on.

I rub his back and whisper soothing words into his ear. Even though I didn't know what was going on I still said, "It's okay, it's gonna be okay."

He continues to sob into my shoulder and I say softly, "Grant, babe, you have talk to me. What's going on? Who was that?"

He slowly lifts his head and wiped his tears from his face. He swallows the lump that I'm assuming was in throat from crying. I wasn't expecting what he said next.

"That was my dad."

A/N:

plot twist...

tell me your thoughts!