Someone To Love Me

After school, I went to my usual spot when I wasn’t allowed home. The park. Gabe found me there sitting on the swings.
“Hey,” he said.
“Hey.”
“What’s up?”
“Nothin. You?”
“Got my truck back.” “You want to go for a ride?”
“Sure.”
I got out of the swing and went to his truck. A Ford 4x4. He also had the big tires.
“Nice,” I complimented as he helped me in.
“Thanks got it with my own money.”
He drove me around and I showed him some of my favorite spots to eat, but when we he pulled up to Everything under the Sun. They had the best food period, no matter what you were looking for. Italian, Chinese, Mexican, just variety.
“How, did you know?”
“Raven and Nathan.”
We walked into the restaurant and Mr. Gregory the owner came out.
“Still the clumsy one I see,” he said
“Yes sir.”
“Usual seat?” Mr. Gregory asked.
“One moment.” “Gabe, I usually sit in the back. You okay with that?”
“Yeah.”
“Mr. Gregory, the usual seat.”
“Ok.”
He led us through the front part of the restaurant and then we were in the back. He led us to the very last seat by the window. There was a river that took up the back half and you could actually sit on the deck to eat. Just looking at the water always made me feel calm.
“So what do you like to do in your spare time?” Gabe asked.
“I like to read and write.” “You?”
“The same and I enjoy cooking.”
“Cool.”
“Good evening my name is Maria and I will be taking your order. What would you like to drink?”
“Coke,” Gabe replied.
“The usual Maria. Thank you.”
“I’ll be back in a second.” she replied.
She left and we sat there in silence. I watched Gabe and he watched me. I still had the sunglasses on.
“So how did you really get the black eye?” Gabe asked.
“Like I said I got into an argument with my coffee table last night.”
He took my hand in his and looked me in the eyes.
“You can tell me,” he said gently.
“Last night I took a cab to meet Andy at Luxious, well the cab driver got lost and we were 10 minutes late. When I told Andy he punched me in the eye, and then after he told me that my mom told him the truth, I said whatever and he slapped me.”
“You deserve better Vie.”
“Yeah.” I sighed
“I would hate to see you get hurt.”
“It’s fine, he never goes to far, maybe a slap, or punch, or shove, but-but-nothing too bad, nothing too noticeable, nothing that’ll draw attention to what he does. No nothing like that. That would ruin him. Ruin everything about him, and that is something he wouldn’t accept.”
“Well its mostly everyday, that’s what really bothers me. I also hate to see you hurt.”
“It’s no big deal. Really.”
He took my sunglasses off and brushed his knuckles across the black eye and he let his fingers linger for a minute. As Maria walked back to the table with the drinks, he slid my sunglasses back on my face.
“Here ya’ll are. A Coke for the young man and a Mountain Dew red for you Violet.” “Do ya’ll know what you want?”
“Yes, I would like the spaghetti supreme with cheesy garlic bread and hash browns,” Gabe answered.
“The usual Violet?”
“Yes mam.”
My phone vibrated in my pocket. I took it out and saw that it was Andy calling.
“Hello.”
“Vie, where are you at?”
I put the phone on my lap after muting it.
“I don’t want Andy to come here, but he wants to know where I am.”
“Don’t tell him.”
I took the phone off of mute.
“I’m at a friend’s house. Her mom’s looking at my leg.”
“Okay, don’t make any plans for tomorrow night, there’s this really big party and were going.”
“Okay.”
“Love you Violet.”
“Love…Love, you too,” I said hanging up.
“What was that about?” Gabe asked.
“There’s a party tomorrow and he wants me to go with him.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah.”
We sat in silence. The food arrived. Gabe had spaghetti supreme which is spaghetti with lots of sauce, cheese, tomatoes, and onions, then he had the garlic bread smothered in cheese and hash browns smothered in ketchup and parmesan cheese.
“Wow, that’s quite a meal, huh.”
“You know it.” “You have quite the meal yourself.”
I had two bambinos’, a bowl of spaghetti, garlic bread and 9 mozzarella sticks.
“It’s what I usually get when I come here.”
“You come here often?”
“Yeah. After Andy had hit me however, many times he’s felt like it, I come in here, sit in this seat, order this meal, and look at that lake. It relaxes me.”
“So, you have been hit by him before?” He asked.
“Yes,” I whispered.
“Vie, I like you, I mean I really like you. How long have you and Andy been dating?”
“A year and half next Tuesday.”
When did he start hitting you?”
I sat in silence and ate my food. Then I took a deep breath.
“4 months into our relationship, was the first time he hitted me.” I whispered looking into the water.
“Vie,” he said taking my hand in his. “Vie, I will always be hear when you need me.”
“Thanks Gabe. I really like you too,” I said smiling, and I meant it, the more I talked to Gabe the more I wanted to be with him, have his arms hold me, instead of Andy’s holding me one minute, then hitting me, then holding me again, like nothing ever happened.
We finish eating and go back to his truck. We drive to the apartments. He leads me up to his.
“Mom! Mom! Mom are you here?”
He walks into the kitchen and sees a note on the refrigerator.
“Gaberial, your mom’s in the hospital. Cancer may be back,
Louis&Jack
I feel my phone vibrate in my pocket. I take it out and see that I have a text from my mom. I read it.
Mom: Can you stay with a friend; My Company is staying all night.
I sigh and Gabe looks at me.
“Something wrong?” He ask.
“My mom wants to know if there is a friend that I can stay with because her company is staying all night.
“You can stay with me, but first we have to go to the hospital.”
“Okay.”
I texted my mom yes and then turned off my phone. We got back into his truck and headed for the hospital. His arm rested on the armrest and I put my hand over his and smiled at him.
“If you ever need anything, I’m here for you,” I said
“Thanks.”
We arrived at the hospital, and talked to his Aunt and Uncle. His mom had taken a turn for the worse, and it was only a matter of days or weeks, and if she was lucky a month. He told them goodnight two hours later, we were in his apartment. I slept with him in his bed.