2

         I  think we walked for about twenty minutes, maybe longer, when Jax came to a stop, sending the rest of us to a sudden halt. We stopped at a white tall house with light gray shingles. It had a two door garage but appeared to not have anything in it, he must be redoing it.  In front of it he had a shiny, brand new, jet black 1967 Chevy Impala. I’ve read about those and if I ever learn to drive. That’s the car I want. To me they are just the coolest. 

 Jax turned to us and pointed to the car to his right with a sincere smile. 

“Wanna go somewhere?” Jax asked, looking at us with a grin. 

 Layla looked at us ,nodded asking with agreement which we all nodded back, and then turned back to Jax. 

     “Sure,” she said. 

     She then walked over to the car with Jax and turned to me and Cas.

 “Cas , Ash, come on guys, we're going on a ride with Jax.”

       Jax then got in the car and waved to us to hurry up. Layla got in the side-front seat. Cas got in and then I got in on the other side. We then rode down the dim-lighted road looking at the new-born sun. 

       Jax put some rock channels on and then surprisingly Layla and Cas fell asleep. All of Layla’s energy must have worn herself out. Jax turned the music down a tad. 

   “I didn’t expect to get a new member today,” Jax sighed with a grin. 

        Member? What does he mean? Oh a new addition to his friend group. 

   “ I didn’t expect to make any friends today,” I laughed with a hint of sadness that I couldn’t hide. 

     Sometimes my loneliness gets to me. I never really had any friends at all. The only person I knew died and was barely ever around. Poor Kev, the hard working baker with an adopted child. I loved him like a father but I surprisingly never called him dad but then again he never really called me son. I’m surprised that so far no one asked about my eyepatch that I wear to cover my pure black eye. 

   I found myself coming out of my daze filled with thoughts when Jax coughed as if to say “hey give me your attention for a moment please.” 

   “You said that like you never had any,” it sounded like both a question and a statement. 

      “What do you mean?” 

      “You sounded sad when you said you didn’t expect to make any friends. I guess it just sounded as if you never had any.” 

      “Oh , I see.” 

   Jax looks through the side view mirror at me. 

  “If you don’t mind me asking. Do you have any friends besides us?” 

   I looked down a little ashamed and embarrassed that it was so obvious.

   “No, I never had any friends until now.” 

  “Oh, jeez. I’m sorry about that man. At least you got us now, right?” 

    “Yeah, that’s true.” 

   “What about family? You have to have somebody besides us.” 

     I lift my head to speak but I find myself at loss for words. I look out the window as I feel a strong feeling of sadness in my stomach. Thinking about the loss of Kev reminds me of that emptiness in my stomach that he left. My eyes start to feel wet. I rub them to feel...water? Tears..? I never cried before. I had seen Kev cry once before; however, I never experienced it myself. I feel embarrassed, so I hide my face behind the seat.  I’m so used to holding my emotions in and I never would ever talk about them. Now that I have met someone that actually asks or is even curious about why I sound sad ,instead of just walking away….is odd to me. I think Kev’s death is getting to me again, as all those old memories refresh themselves in my mind.  

   “Listen, I’m sorry man. Let's go get something to eat, yeah?”

   I rub my eyes and take a deep breath , relieved no one noticed that I was crying. Even though those tears are gone, that…feeling..still lingers inside me. I wish for it to fade away, to disappear forever. 

   “Sure, that sounds nice.” 

          He pulls over and turns off the music. I tap Cas and Jax taps Layla. They both wake up and look at where we are. 

   “Hell’s diner,”Cas reads out loud. 

   Layla Gets out of the car and the three of us follow. 

   “The best diner in town, for my three best friends,” Jax smiles at us,”My treat.” 

  Layla gives Jax a hug and says thank you to him. We then walk into the diner.

I walked in rather surprised. To me this place is fancy with its red leather chairs , bright light bulbs , and shiny marble tables. Then it occurred to me that I did grow up in a bakery. However, I never even did see the actual bakery. I was kept in a small, spare room in the back. It had a wooden table with a small wooden bench, which sometimes gave me splinters, and a small bed on the floor. It also had a small closet-like bathroom. Kev always just said that he tried hard but just didn’t have a lot of money. I always just thought that was just enough. To me it is still just enough. He would feed me leftovers from the bakery at the end of the day ,and even would give me sketch books every now and then. He would say that it's good to be creative. I agreed and still do. To me my only problem growing up was maybe not having much social interaction. I was used to being alone but that doesn’t mean I really liked it. Now I am not truly alone, for I am no longer lonely. For now I have people that care about me. Now I have friends, which I hope never leave my side, and I have no intention of leaving them either.