The Toro Coincidence
Nevada Diner
As Ray led me up the creaky staircase, I tried to image my new bedroom; anything that only had one bed would be absolute heaven.
The staircase was lined with all sorts of things that Ray had accumulated throughout the years, graduation photos, newspaper cut-outs of local bands, and even some posters of bands such as the Misfits and Iron Maiden.
We reached the top of the staircase, and Ray turned to me,
“I hope you like it, sorry about some of the guitars lying around against the walls, I’ll get rid of them as soon as I can, but I’m sure you wont mind”, Ray said, smiling slightly.
“That’s fine”, I replied. I couldn’t care less about having to share my room with a few guitars, at least guitars didn’t talk, didn’t take up two sets of bunks, and snore all night long.
I reached for the wooden door handle, and pushed the door open. I felt my heart lodge up into my throat once again, as my new room was revealed.
“It’s, it’s amazing…” was all I managed to get out.
Ray looked at me, with an expression of pure confusion across his face,
“But it’s as bare as Bob’s bank account…” he said, still confused about what I was on about.
“No, no, not the bedroom, your Jimi Hendrix signed Gibson guitar”, I giggled, knowing that it must’ve sounded like I was talking about the room, which happened to be extremely bare, with simply a bed, a dresser, and a nightstand- not that I wasn’t extremely thankful.
“Oh”, laughed Ray, “Tomorrow we can go down to the designers and get a few things for you and Michael’s bedrooms, I had no idea what you two liked, so I thought, why not let you two work it out for yourselves?” Ray said.
“Great idea, I think I was a little scared that you would’ve painted my room pink or something scary like that!” I joked.
After a brief few minutes of Ray telling me about the guitars I was temporarily sharing my bedroom with, we both headed downstairs to the lounge again, to where Michael was stretched out on the couch, looking very at home indeed.
“You two hungry? I know I could do with something to eat” Ray stated, glancing at the clock. It was already 1.20pm, and I’d totally forgotten about how hungry I truly was.
“Absolutely starving” Michael remarked. I couldn’t work out how he could eat so much, it seemed like he never had a moment where he wasn’t hungry. But he still managed to keep reasonably thin, ‘I reckon Michael has worms’ I recall a girl named Sophie saying back at the Children’s home. I knew very well that she fancied Michael, but Michael couldn’t care less about girls, unless it was Hayley Williams you were talking about – whom he was utterly crazy for.
“How about we head down to the diner eh? I have someone I’d like you to meet Olivia, I think you two will get on great”, Ray said, grinning at me.
I wonder who that could be, I thought to myself. I couldn’t remember having any real friends before. Of course, there were a couple of kids at the Children’s home, but I never felt like I could confide in them. So when Ray mentioned someone that ‘he thought I’d get on great with’ I was more than happy to give it a go.
The car stopped outside a small diner, with the words ‘NEVADA DINER’ titled across the top of the building, in bright green and yellow lights.
The place reminded me of the time ‘The Maggot’ took us out to look at the beautiful houses one Christmas eve; she only ever took us once though, much to our disappointment.
“Here we are”, announced Ray, before turning off the ignition and getting out of the car. Michael looked over at me,
“He’s not too bad, is he?”
I let out a small laugh,
“For a Dad I mean!” Michael shot back in his own defence. But I knew where he was coming from, it was only yesterday that I was lying on my bed, wondering what it would feel like to be a part of a real family, it was something I had longed for, wished for, and dreamt about, for as long as I could remember. And now that it was actually happening, I had many mixed emotions.
“C’mon, I’m wasting away here”, Michael complained, before getting out of the car, I followed him.
As we entered the Diner, I felt a rush of nerves pass over me. I’m not so good at meeting new people, I always say the wrong things and my whole body comes to a halt.
Ray led us around to a large table, where three people were seated, I couldn’t make out whom they were, but somehow one of the voices seemed familiar.
“Ray, dude, good to see you!” the voice spoke, excitedly.
A man in his mid-twenties quickly got up from the bench, and embraced Ray in a friendly hug, and then he turned to Michael and I.
“Hello you two,” the man said, grinning.
I knew that smile all too well, and I knew exactly whom it belonged to,
“Frank!” I squealed, as a huge smile formed across my face, I couldn’t believe it, Frank Iero had just grinned at me!
“Someone’s been doing their homework,” joked Frank, giggling slightly, and gesturing us all to sit down.
I took a seat next to a girl who looked about my age, I hadn’t realised how fast my heart was beating, or how nervous I felt.
But I had a strange feeling that things were too good, I mean, this was a dream come true for me, I finally had someone to tuck me in a night and wave goodbye to me when I left for school. Someone to share Christmas’s with, and buy father’s day presents for, but it still felt so unreal, so pretend…
The staircase was lined with all sorts of things that Ray had accumulated throughout the years, graduation photos, newspaper cut-outs of local bands, and even some posters of bands such as the Misfits and Iron Maiden.
We reached the top of the staircase, and Ray turned to me,
“I hope you like it, sorry about some of the guitars lying around against the walls, I’ll get rid of them as soon as I can, but I’m sure you wont mind”, Ray said, smiling slightly.
“That’s fine”, I replied. I couldn’t care less about having to share my room with a few guitars, at least guitars didn’t talk, didn’t take up two sets of bunks, and snore all night long.
I reached for the wooden door handle, and pushed the door open. I felt my heart lodge up into my throat once again, as my new room was revealed.
“It’s, it’s amazing…” was all I managed to get out.
Ray looked at me, with an expression of pure confusion across his face,
“But it’s as bare as Bob’s bank account…” he said, still confused about what I was on about.
“No, no, not the bedroom, your Jimi Hendrix signed Gibson guitar”, I giggled, knowing that it must’ve sounded like I was talking about the room, which happened to be extremely bare, with simply a bed, a dresser, and a nightstand- not that I wasn’t extremely thankful.
“Oh”, laughed Ray, “Tomorrow we can go down to the designers and get a few things for you and Michael’s bedrooms, I had no idea what you two liked, so I thought, why not let you two work it out for yourselves?” Ray said.
“Great idea, I think I was a little scared that you would’ve painted my room pink or something scary like that!” I joked.
After a brief few minutes of Ray telling me about the guitars I was temporarily sharing my bedroom with, we both headed downstairs to the lounge again, to where Michael was stretched out on the couch, looking very at home indeed.
“You two hungry? I know I could do with something to eat” Ray stated, glancing at the clock. It was already 1.20pm, and I’d totally forgotten about how hungry I truly was.
“Absolutely starving” Michael remarked. I couldn’t work out how he could eat so much, it seemed like he never had a moment where he wasn’t hungry. But he still managed to keep reasonably thin, ‘I reckon Michael has worms’ I recall a girl named Sophie saying back at the Children’s home. I knew very well that she fancied Michael, but Michael couldn’t care less about girls, unless it was Hayley Williams you were talking about – whom he was utterly crazy for.
“How about we head down to the diner eh? I have someone I’d like you to meet Olivia, I think you two will get on great”, Ray said, grinning at me.
I wonder who that could be, I thought to myself. I couldn’t remember having any real friends before. Of course, there were a couple of kids at the Children’s home, but I never felt like I could confide in them. So when Ray mentioned someone that ‘he thought I’d get on great with’ I was more than happy to give it a go.
The car stopped outside a small diner, with the words ‘NEVADA DINER’ titled across the top of the building, in bright green and yellow lights.
The place reminded me of the time ‘The Maggot’ took us out to look at the beautiful houses one Christmas eve; she only ever took us once though, much to our disappointment.
“Here we are”, announced Ray, before turning off the ignition and getting out of the car. Michael looked over at me,
“He’s not too bad, is he?”
I let out a small laugh,
“For a Dad I mean!” Michael shot back in his own defence. But I knew where he was coming from, it was only yesterday that I was lying on my bed, wondering what it would feel like to be a part of a real family, it was something I had longed for, wished for, and dreamt about, for as long as I could remember. And now that it was actually happening, I had many mixed emotions.
“C’mon, I’m wasting away here”, Michael complained, before getting out of the car, I followed him.
As we entered the Diner, I felt a rush of nerves pass over me. I’m not so good at meeting new people, I always say the wrong things and my whole body comes to a halt.
Ray led us around to a large table, where three people were seated, I couldn’t make out whom they were, but somehow one of the voices seemed familiar.
“Ray, dude, good to see you!” the voice spoke, excitedly.
A man in his mid-twenties quickly got up from the bench, and embraced Ray in a friendly hug, and then he turned to Michael and I.
“Hello you two,” the man said, grinning.
I knew that smile all too well, and I knew exactly whom it belonged to,
“Frank!” I squealed, as a huge smile formed across my face, I couldn’t believe it, Frank Iero had just grinned at me!
“Someone’s been doing their homework,” joked Frank, giggling slightly, and gesturing us all to sit down.
I took a seat next to a girl who looked about my age, I hadn’t realised how fast my heart was beating, or how nervous I felt.
But I had a strange feeling that things were too good, I mean, this was a dream come true for me, I finally had someone to tuck me in a night and wave goodbye to me when I left for school. Someone to share Christmas’s with, and buy father’s day presents for, but it still felt so unreal, so pretend…