The Boy Next Door

ｔｈｉｒｔｙ ｆｉｖｅ

Rachel

The next morning after Colton had stayed over, he made my mom and me breakfast. The moment she appeared at the top of the staircase, I knew that she had made some tough decisions. She was an absolute mess. I had never seen her in such an awful state before. She had officially made the decision to leave my dad. As sad as it was to know that our family was going to be torn apart even more than it already was, I knew it was the best thing that she could do for herself. She did not deserve to be treated in that way. I knew she would be much happier knowing that she has nothing to worry about every night when he came home late or was "on business trips". She had been with him for 25 years. It is devastating to leave a marriage after that long. She went into the marriage expecting that it would be her forever, but instead she ended up in heartbreak.

I couldn't figure out if it was okay for me to pick sides in this. I had never been super close with my father, but he did help to raise me. I knew that he did wrong, but I felt guilty for feeling like I should hate him. Once the divorce was final, whether he cared about me or not would be shown in his actions. If he didn't want to see me and spend time with me, then I would have a reason for not trying to put my full energy into having a relationship with him. For all of these years he had avoided home where my mother and I were, so what would change now? If he didn't want to spend time with me then it was highly unlikely that he would want to spend time with me now.

On the other hand, Colton's parents were spending more time together. His dad had come back for an extended period of time for the graduation. There was an effort being made by him to reconnect with his family. Last night, Colton had told me that he and his dad were on their way to making amends. They had gone through a rocky patch for the past year or two. I had faith that if they were understanding with one another that they would be able to strengthen their relationship and not feel so much resentment towards one another.

Even though it felt like my world was falling apart in front of me, I was glad to see that Colton's was starting to be built back up. I wanted the best for him and seeing him happy made me happy.

After we ate and cleaned up, my mom left the house to go visit with a friend. Colton and I went back up to my room and laid on my bed together.

"Would you ever move away from here?" He asked me.

"Like from home? Well yeah. I am doing that for school in a few months."

"I know that, but I mean maybe in a few years. Have you ever thought about moving to a new town or a new state?" He questioned.

"I've never fully considered it. My whole life has been in this house, in this town. I have so many memories and good times that I have had here that I have never had the urge to go anywhere else. I am not opposed to it though. Just because I grew up here does not mean that I need to stay here. What about you? What are you thinking?" I asked.

"I do like it out here, but I would really like to travel around a bit. Right now I have the idea in my mind that I will end up back in Colorado, but I may fall in love with some other place in the country. I just feel like I haven't seen enough to really have my heart set on anything. I do imagine that I will leave California when I am done with school. I just wanted to see what you were thinking. There is a lot about the future that I have been thinking about lately."

"I would be open to leaving California. I want to see more of the country too. So, I think we are on the same page there."

"That is good because I really do hope to take you wherever I go." He said. "Your beautiful smile would light up anywhere we went." My cheeks flushed with red.

Every little thing that he said warmed my heart.

He planted a kiss on my forehead before meeting my lips. The soft skin of his cheek brushed against mine, as he moved to place kisses down my arm down to the back of my hand. He brought his head up to meet my lips again. I pushed myself into him, forcing him on his back. His hand was tangled in my hair. Our lips moved in sync. Suddenly, he pulled away. "Babe, you have to tell me if I am hurting you. I don't want to hurt you."