The Perfect Time

When He Fell

His life had never been easy.

Aidenn's life was disaster prone. His parents had gotten divorced. His mom got a boyfriend that made things worse than his dad had left it. His grandma was the only sane person left in his family, but her mind was already falling to pieces in her old age. Most days his mom forgot to buy anything besides alcohol to put in the fridge, so she gave him two crumped dollar bills for lunch. When he got lucky where would be some nearly expired bread and a crusty can of PB&J hidden in some drawer somewhere. 

Early on, he had learned to lay low and stay out of adult matters. He knew he had to pretend he didn't care that he was hungry most of the time. Pretend it didn't hurt when his mom's boyfriend beat him up. Pretend that he didn't wish he had a different family.

He found school to be dull, but a safe place. He didn't really mind the other kids. He was pretty quiet and minded his own business. Had some friends here and there. The kind of friends that didn't have the slightest clue about who he really was, yet were content with him knowing everything about their very ordinary lives. It was easy to convince them that his mom was chill and was ok with him hanging around late at night. What they would never have imagined was that it was more like she could care less about where he was and what he was doing. The kids at school were so predictable. Boring even.

But, there was one that was different.

Tall. Dark. Big eyes. Slim, but fit. Goggle tan. Flat as a board. Long curly hair. Japanese rock band t-shirts. Jeans that were too short for those unproportionally long legs. 

She wasn't pretty. At best she was mildly cute if you squinted and tilted your head a little.

But there was something alluring about her.

 And he wasn't the only one who thought so. She was constantly surrounded by people who seemed to be trying to feed off the pure happiness she constantly exuded. Somehow, she naturally became the center of attention, even though she did nothing in particular to ask for it. She actually seemed to be pretty shy, but her sheepish grins just made people want to seek her approval. 

At first, he was curious. Curious at how she could be so happy all the time. Curious at how she could so freely tell others what she thought and felt. Curious at why everything she did felt so genuine, and why she made him feel like an imposter. 

He stared in defiance. He needed to let her know that other people weren't like her. No one can be happy all the time.

But, after a while he realized he had fallen for her. He had fallen for the skinny weirdo that didn't have a clue about the real world. In the end, he loved how raw she seemed. She was like a window with a breathtaking view, so refreshing in the midst of all the stained glass windows who tried to cover themselves up with preppy neon colors and excessive amounts of lip gloss. So beautiful compared to the dark screen he put up to keep others from looking in.

He was nearly thirteen when his mom decided to send him away. To take care of his grandma. To finally get rid of him.

He had to let her know.