So here I was sitting in front of Ryan at a diner, flies accompanied us at the table but I didn't feel disgusted, I felt humbled. I could actually breathe without having to be sophisticated.
He looked at me deeply, a deep contentment in his eyes before he sighed. I raised an eyebrow just in time for him to answer the question I hadn't asked.
"I have to tell you something about my past, I haven't been truthfully honest about who I am."
"What?" I asked my face contorted into a bit of confusion.
"My name was a bit different back then-"
"Get to the point." I interrupted.
"I wasn't born into a successful family. My name used to be Jacob Bergebstein."
"Why didn't you tell me this earlier?" I was starting to get pissed. Sure it was just a name but what else could he be hiding?
"Because I thought your were going to call me weird or something. I thought you were going to react like you're reacting now." He was starting to get defensive and one of us had to back down or else this argument was probably going to be brutal, I had a tendency to say some not-so-nice things when I was angry, Ryan or whoever he was knew about that. So I did the grown up thing and I left. This was too much to process at this exact moment and I just felt like I couldn't. I didn't know how I felt about this.
I went on a walk down the street thinking about how I should've dealt with this, now realizing that walking away wasn't the right decision. I mean I guess he had his reasons right? Do the right thing. I sighed and turned around bumping into the chest of Ryan, Jacob, whoever.
"Sorry I didn't want you to be alone." He said. I sighed deeply.
"It's fine, totally fine, I understand, I feel like you should've told me sooner so we could've got this weirdness out of the way."
"I understand and I'm sorry. I promise I'm not hiding anymore secrets except I'm gay." I furrowed my eyebrows. "I'm kidding I'm not."
"Yeah Okay." I said in a playful tone trying to lighten the mood of course it worked. "So why did you change your name?"
"I was a foster kid back then so as soon as I was out of the system I changed it to start a new life."
"That's pretty cool." I said. See you didn't have to be dramatic if you were to have listened the first time.
"Malorie are you really Okay?" He asked. I nodded.
"Yeah. I'm fine." I brushed it off. We walked to the park which was only ten minutes away and we sat on a bench.
"It's pretty nice out today." Ryan hummed in approval.
"So do you want to talk about it?" He asked.
"Talk about what?" I asked glancing at him.
"Why do you hate your mom so much?" I sighed and sat back.
"When I was younger my mom had a severe drinking problem because of what Grandpa did to her. I grew up taking care of my mother when the roles should've been reversed. She drank so much that my dad divorced her then moved out of the country the next month, I haven't seen him since then. As soon as she had my sister she started drinking again and I had to take care of my mom and sister, and due to her loss of my dad and his money she found a new hobby, which was abusing me. She was never home until my highschool years when she got remarried and pledged to turn her life around for her new husband. But the abuse never stopped. They basically tag teamed me." I chuckled, that was like me to always add humor to the situation. "He tried to rape me one night, but I called the police, luckily they believed me and he had already been in trouble with the law before so he went back for life. My mother hated me until she saw me on TV one day, I was doing an interview for being the most successful woman in my small town. But I have forgiven my mom. I pay for the house she has now, I pay for the car she rides around in. Hell, I'm even paying for my sisters wedding." I shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe I'm a pushover." Ryan nudged me.
"No you're not Malorie. You're just extremely caring. Everything will get better."
"Everything is better." I said. Luckily I didn't cry. "But what about you. What happened in foster care?"
"Wow, um, so my mom died right after my birth or that's what I was told by my dad, my dad went to jail and I had no where to stay so I went into foster care, house, to house, to house. You know all that sappy stuff-"
"Hey I just told you my whole life story. I'm going to need some more details." I said chuckling. Ryan bit his lip. "You-"
"No it's okay. It's been years. So the last house I stayed at during my foster care years was coincidentally one of the most traumatic. There were cages, cages everywhere, I- uh, thought they were for the dogs. But every night, my foster mom would blow the whistle and we had ten seconds to get in the cages. Or else we would stay chained up outside. She was a drug addict so sometimes she would shoot up heroine and forget about us still being in the cages, we weren't allowed to talk at all when we were in the cages so a lot of disgusting things happened but one day a kid was able to get out and she called the police while my Foster mom was overdosing on drugs. We were saved and she lived only to get life in prison as well so. That was good. I continued to be on the run from authority until I was sixteen. Then everything changed."
"Ryan, I didn't know." I said slowly processing all of that, this really made me think about how blessed I was and how unfortunate we were.
"Yeah. A lot of people don't. But I've gone through therapy and I feel about better about it." I sighed into him. "This so too depressing. Let's talk about something else."
"You need a girlfriend." I said looking at my nails.
"No thanks."
"Why not?" I asked. I was going to press on the subject this time. "What about Sarah, she's a nice girl."
"She's a porn star." I choked on my spit.
"Wow so you fuck porn stars?"
"When I get the chance." He chuckled. I rolled my eyes. Men. "What about you Ms.Evergreen, you need a boyfriend. I'm pretty sure you're still a virgin."
"Well I would have a boyfriend if you weren't constantly breathing down my neck, you've scared away any man I brung home."
"They were boys, you can do better."
"Yeah whatever, if you find someone while we're here at least have the courtesy to do what you do in a hotel room."
"Okay, you want to go to a hotel room?" He asked. I laughed.
"Ryan, I'm serious. We can't have you blowing our cover." I said, a ping of jealousy flew into me and I rolled my eyes at myself.
"It's okay. I have my eyes set on someone."
"Really? Who is she?"
"I'm definitely not telling you." He said folding his arms.
"What? That's not fair I thought we were friends!" I exclaimed.
"We are, but I'll let you know who she is when I'm ready."
"Yeah Okay." I scoffed getting up.
"I'm cold and it's going to rain. I want to go home."
"Do you want my jacket?"
"No-" Ryan three his leather jacket over my shoulders. "Wow you're hot."
"Thanks sweetheart I know." I punched his arm.
"Not like that genius. Now let's go."
