Unexpected Love

Chapter 4: Talking About My Past

I was walking home on a Sunday, when I decided to walk to the park. I loved to sit down on my favorite bench and watch children play. I knew that I'll never have kids, unless if I adopt, but I was still in college and have a big responsibility with just that. I walked around the park when I saw an ice cream truck. I loved ice cream so I decided to get one. I walked up to it and bought a vanilla ice cream cone. I sat down on my favorite bench and started to eat it. I was almost done when someone crashed into me, papers flying everywhere. My ice cream flew up in the air. It landed on one of the papers.
"I'm so sorry!" He bent down to pick them up. He didn't notice the ice cream/paper, so I quickly took it and tried to wipe it off. After I was done trying to hide it, I helped him with the rest of the papers.
"I'm sorry," I said.
"I'm the one who should be apologizing. I ruined your ice cream." He continued to pick them up. I froze at the word "Ice cream". Did he know about the ruined paper? I took the ice cream paper and folded it, then put it in my purse. "Do you want me to buy you another one?"
"Uh, no. No. I'm fine."
"I feel so bad, let me at least buy you another one." He put all of his papers in his leather bag. He stood up and held his hand so I could take it. I hesitated. "Come on." he encouraged. I grabbed my purse then put my hand in his. He pulled me up. As he stood at the ice cream truck, waiting for my second ice cream cone. I studied him. He had dark hair, and had grayish eyes. He always brushed it out of his face. He looked cute.
"Here you go, my lady." He handed me my ice cream.
"Thanks."
"How come I never saw you before?" We walked next to the park.
"Um, I just moved here. School. Getting a job and stuff."
"Oh, I'm so sorry for being rude." He quickly stuck his hand out. "I'm Kevin."
I took it. "I'm Chloe."
"So, you're a student?"
"Yes."
"Oh, that's cool. Me too."
I looked at him weird. "Really?"
"Yeah," He smiled sheepishly. "College for being a doctor."
"Being a teacher." He grinned at me and I smiled back.
He gave a half laugh. "Oh, that's so cool. We can be friends and help each other study. Now that I'm not lonely anymore."
I smiled again at the word "friends." This guy knew how to keep my lips up.
As I was in college, me and Kevin hung out. I was only a freshman in college and he was a sophomore. We exchanged phone numbers. I happened to be thankful for his number because he didn't mind late night calls or three-in-the-morning texts about what a miserable life I have. He's always there for me and helping me with the small things. One night, I called him and we talked until 2 in the morning and little by little I started to know things about him that I never really knew. But he started to open up to me and I was grateful that he was telling me these things.
"My mom got in an accident and she was in the hospital when my dad started to drink. He used this bat that my uncle taught me to play baseball with to beat me. It got so bad that I drove around all the time not wanting to come home, and this one time I went into a bar and I almost got drunk when I decided that I didn't want to be like my dad. I came home and my dad started to yell at me wondering where I was, then he got the bat so I left again."
"Oh, Kevin, I'm so sorry."
"Don't be. It's in the past. I've moved on and a year after I went to college, I went home to visit my mom. She had to go to a mental hospital because the trauma my dad put on her. When I came home, my dad apologized for everything."
"So how's it going with your dad now?"
"He's fine. He's getting old and can't really move around like he used to."
"And your mom? Is she okay? I pressed on. I needed to know about his life more.
"She's okay too. She got out of the hospital and my dad confessed to her about what a mess he was and they fixed each other up."
"Wow..."
"Yeah, my life is a mess. I kinda ran away to college to get away from all my problems back at home. My parents are fine now but back then they were a mess. I just want to live my own life without following in their footsteps."
"I'm glad you told me. We both have messed up lives."
"Yeah, true." He laughed.
"I should go to bed. It's 2:55."
"I should get some sleep too. See you tomorrow at school."
"You too. Goodnight."
"Goodnight."
I can see Noble's paw prints peeking out of the curtains of the windows. Every day he waits for me, in the same spot. I walk up and open the door. I can hear Noble's paw clicking on the wood. "Hey Noble!" I patted his head. "Come, Noble." I dropped my backpack on the floor as Noble climbed onto my bed.
We studied together and he wanted to know about my family because he was talked about his and it was very hard on him and he was curious about my life before moving here. We met up and walked to the park and sat on my favorite bench we first met on, which was now our bench.
"Talk to me about your dad, Chloe..." he said knowing that I wasn't comfortable talking about him.
"Kevin...You know how you think life is so amazing but then someone dies or someone gets hurt and then you're just lost and you want to blame everything on God?"
"Yes, I've felt that way too many times to count."
"That's how I felt when my mom died." I sighed. "I loved my mom so much and she did so many things for me. Bought me things when I knew I didn't deserve it. Got me ice cream when I punched some girl in the face at school--"
"You punched someone?"
"Yes. Let me talk, Kevin."
"Okay, sorry."
I laughed. "I was there. By her deathbed, watching her die, while my dad was busy doing something else. She told me that she loved me, and that I needed to learn to be like her." I kept the thing that my mom said about learning to use my powers. "I didn't know what that meant but I kept her last words dear to my heart. She died right then, and my dad took me away. My father never talked about her, he threw all her stuff away. I took things out of the trash that she kept and I took it to my room. One time, he found out that I didn't do one of my chores and yelled at me until I was sobbing. Then he left.." We talked about our lives and our families. I didn't really want to talk about my dad, but he kept bugging me. I trusted him so I explained. He sat there, listening carefully. After I was done, I noticed he had a bit of tears in his eyes.
"Give me a hug, you." I hugged him and we just held each other. As we hugged, I felt natural, like hugging wasn't a big deal. I felt safe in his arms. "I didn't know that someone as kind as you, had to go through something like that in order to become who you are today."
I smiled.