“Man, if my brother started a fist fight with me, I would know that I was in a nightmare,” David said and shook hishead.
“Why? Because it’s not something he’d do?” Skylerasked.
“He’d be out of his mind. Mainly because he’d lose.” I grabbed for my side as the three of us laughed. “Second, our folks raised us to love one another and not start shit with eachother.”
“Mine too. My parents would flip if they had come home to find out one of their kids busted the ribs of another,” Skylercommented.
I felt the need to say something. My family wasn’t like theirs. It wasn’t like most. I knew that all families were unique, but mine was unique and not for good reasons. But I couldn’t paint the picture of my family asbad.
“My mom was out working, and my brother came home drunk,” Ilied.
“What about your old man?” Davidasked.
Instantly the pain in my stomach came front and center and downgraded the discomfort in my ribs to the equivalent of a stubbed toe. Skyler elbowed David in the arm, and he closed his eyes and lookedembarrassed.
“Sorry, man. Sky told me it’s just your mom raisingyou.”
“It’s okay.” I nervously picked up another slice of pizza and tried thinking of something to say, but they decided to getnosey.
“Did you ever know your dad?” Skylerasked.
“Or get to meet him?” David began eating morepizza.
Fuck, what do I say to this? Did I really know my dad? I guess I did. He was a fucking asshole that I hated with every cell in my body. He wanted me for one purpose. He didn’t let my mom terminate me because he wanted to hurtme.
“No. I never knewhim.”
We continued to eat in silence while I thought about that fucked up time I had to go visit him in prison. What had my mom been thinking? Why would she make me go there? That was so fuckedup.
“Hey, man, you okay?” David askedme.
“You look pale,” Skyler said and set some cash out for thebill.
“He should rest. Coach said he needs rest. I’ll get abox.”
David went to the counter with the bill while I reached in my pocket for my wallet. I wasn’t afreeloader.
“I have money,” I offered but Skyler waved meoff.
“Don’t worry about it. You can get the next one. We should get home so you can getsettled.”
When we got to my new home, David and Skyler showed me to my room. The desk and nightstand were still there. A chair and a desk lamp had been added. All of the boxes had been removed. It was perfect. There was a window near the desk that overlooked the street below and a park in thedistance.
“Do you want us to go with you to your place tomorrow and get your bed and the rest of your stuff?” Skylerasked.
“No. Uh, I’m not going backthere.”
“Dude, you can’t sleep on the floor,” David pointed out. “Not with yourribs.”
“Yeah, you can’t even sleep on the couch likethat.”
“No, it’ll be okay. I’m going to go get an air mattresstomorrow—”
“Shit, Sky!” David smacked Skyler in the arm. “Dude, we have an air mattress your sister used when she came tovisit.”
“Oh, yeah! I’ll be right back, it’s in the storage unit on thepatio.”
Skyler ran out of the room and came back a few minutes later with a box. The two worked together, and within minutes I had a bed. They brought me sheets, an extra pillow, and a blanket. I started to feelguilty.
