Chapter 20

Aww. Shi and Ry are great people aren't they?

“I’ll be able to see her every day and tell her how much I love her every day. She’ll fall for me in no time.” My voice was practically shrill as I spoke to David. He was packing boxes in his small room. I laid on the end of his bed as he walked around me.

“Great, man,” he threw some clothes into a box and went into his closet for more.

My body stat up on the bed and I watched his exhausted figure look through all of his clothes, “I’ll miss you David.”

“You’ll be fine once you see Abigail, I’m sure.” He ripped some shirts off their hangers and threw them out into his room. They completely missed the box that they were intended for.

                I stood up and picked the shirts up. I folded each one and placed them in the open box, “You’re my brother David.”

“Ya, your brother that lives in the middle of nowhere halfway across the nation,” The sadness was extremely hard to be around.

I sighed and placed the last shirt in the box, “I thought you were going to get independence?”

“I’m too young.”  He threw some more shirts out and I bent over to pick them up, “If I go to Minnesota there’s a chance I’ll have family and parents.”

“David, you have family here.”

He walked out of the closet and pulled the shirts out of my hands. “It’s not the same.”

Again I sat on his bed and watched as he paced back and forth from the closet and the box. He threw each shirt in with more aggression. I breathed deeply and tried to keep at least myself calm. There had to be a simple solution. “Maybe we shouldn’t pack anymore,” I finally said to him.

He froze, “What else am I supposed to do?”

“We’ll go to my house and find something else.” my mind searched hard for things to do.

“Your house is also being packed up.” He again started moving around.

My gaze shifted to the ground. He was right almost everything was boxed up already. Miami was only a few days away so was Minnesota for David. As the hours drew nearer the pain began to appear in my chest. “I really will miss you David.”

He sighed and stopped. Another shirt landed in a new box, “You know that I’ll miss you too.” With a cheesy smile on his face he held his hands out. It was something that had to be done. I stood up and wrapped my arms around him. He patted my back trying to not make the situation as awkward as it was. “That’s enough,” He said and pulled back. We both laughed and I punched him in the shoulder.  He looked at me strangely and we both sat in silence for a moment, “Let’s get out of here. We’ve officially turned our friendship creepy.”

I laughed and we walked out to my car. When we got to my house it was dark. There was one light on deep in my parent’s bed room. “Hi dad,” I called loud enough so whoever was back there could hear.

“Hello Zander and David.” Rylan yelled from the back of his room. His voice came from where their computer was sat. I heard him roll away from the desk and walk out to the kitchen. His silver eyes were gleaming brightly underneath the kitchen lights. “Did you guys eat?” Both of our heads shook for an answer, “let me make you something.”

He pointed towards the stools in front of the breakfast bar. I looked at David, who shrugged. We both walked into the kitchen and sat on the stools. He turned on the oven and whipped out a frying pan. His eyes looked back at us, “Are you all packed David?” This was the strangest thing. Never had he wanted to make conversation with me or my friends. He always left that up to Shiloh.

David looked at me and gave me a strange smile, “I am.” His attention turned back to my dad. “I still have a few things like my computer and bed, but besides that I’m pretty much done.”

My dad opened up the fridge and started pulling fresh vegetables out. He piled them on the counter on top of a cutting board. “You’re welcome to keep stuff here if you’d like. We’ll be keeping the house.”

“Thank you sir,” David was holding back a laugh. I think that he didn’t even know how to talk to him.

“Where’s dad?” I asked taking the attention off of David.

He started chopping away at the vegetable. He poured oil into the pan and threw his cut up vegetable pieces into the pan. They sizzled happily inside the pan. “He’s closing stuff up, he has a few cases he’s still going to have to travel for, but we think that he’ll be able to get everything moved.”

“Well that’s good,” David chimed in. He and I both shared a smile.

My dad returned to the fridge and pulled out some already cut up chicken. “What’s your school going to be like in Minnesota?”

A sigh escaped David’s mouth. The smile ran completely from his dark lips, “very small. There are about one hundred kids in my graduating class. It also snows every winter there.”

“Ugh, really?” That was really something I would hate.

Suddenly there was a buzzing in David’s pocket. He slid the dark plastic phone out of his pocket. “That’s my social worker, I better take it.” He slid off his stool and walked into the main room. He walked out of view behind a wall.

My dad spun around and looked at me. He walked over to the bar and leaned over. His hand grabbed the side of my face and pulled me toward him. Softly his lips touched the top of my head, “I love you, Zander.”

“I love you too, dad. Thanks for dinner.”

Suddenly David yelled from the main room, “What? Are you kidding me? Please tell me this isn’t some sick joke Melanie.”  He walked around the corner his jaw was halfway dropped to the ground. His eyes were lit up like the fourth of July. The words coming from his mouth paused as he listened to his social worker Melanie speak. “Miami? Really that’s where they are? Melanie this is the best news I’ve heard in my whole life. Thank you so much.”

His hand slid the phone shut and he jumped up and down. “You aren’t going to believe this.”

“What’s going on David?” My dad was pouring two glasses of milk and carrying them over to us.

David slid in the seat next to me again, “There’s a family in Miami that wants to adopt me.”

My jaw practically dropped as far as David’s had, “No way!” I practically screeched.

David was jumping up and down in the stool, “It’s a gay couple which is totally awesome. You and I will be able to have that in common now too.”

“Did Melanie tell you anymore?”

His head shook, “Just that they want me out there as soon as possible. The family in Minnesota has already been contacted.” A big sigh of relief left his mouth and he sat his forehead on the bar in front of him. “There is nothing that could make me happier right now.”

My dad piled the food from the frying pan onto two different plates, “I bet there’s something.”

His head rose up and he looked at Rylan, “What?”

We both pushed our eyebrows together trying to figure out what could possibly be better than this. My dad walked over to his brief case sitting on the table. The food underneath us steamed up into our faces and warmed them. He pulled a couple pieces of paper out of his dark bag and walked back over to us. He placed the papers in between David and me. As our gazes both looked down at the papers I knew David recognized them immediately. “Adoption papers,” He read down further to see his name, “for me?”

We both looked up at the same time. My dad’s arms were crossed across his chest and he was smiling down on us. “Welcome home, son.”

“Are you kidding?” I practically yelled. We both leapt up from the stools. I was the first to reach him. His arms wrapped tightly around me. His lips kissed the top of my head. My arms pulled tighter and I felt as if I was squeezing a little too hard. My shoulders were pulled in as he held me tighter. When I let go David took my place. My dad, our dad, grabbed David’s shoulders. “Shiloh wanted to be here, but he told me we couldn’t keep you waiting any longer.” I could tell that David was trying hard to keep tears out of his eyes. When Rylan let go he tossed David’s hair and flicked my nose. He turned around and went back into his room.

David turned around and we wrapped our arms around each other, “I love you brother!” we both took turns yelling. This was pure euphoria. Finally my family felt complete.