🏃Clark's POV🏃

Five months later

I stared up at the cloudy sky and sighed. It seemed as if I would have to sit in the rain again. Though I was fortunate in the sense that it was September and it seemed as though Summer would stretch into fall and we wouldn't have to worry about winter so soon. But that didn't mean the cold or rainy nights weren't just as cold or rainy. And I still had to figure out how to dry my clothes without spending all the money I got that day. Plus this was Canada we were talking about. The weather is pretty unpredictable.

Being on the streets sucked.

I would've hoped my first time seeing Toronto would be in a nice hotel or walking around with some friends. Not seeing it from a beggers point of view. But now I am here, begging on the street and hoping no one would take too much interest in me,

Or anything I had.

Or decide that they didn't want me on this street.

I was brought out of my head when a man tripped over my foot causing him to fall down on the concrete.

"God! I'm so sorry!" I said while getting up and noticing that my voice sounded scratchy from what sounded like an oncoming cold.

"Let me help you," I offered, reaching my hand out for him to take.

The whole time I was talking he was letting out a string of mumbled curse words but once I was done he took my hand and got up.

"It's fine," he sighed while putting on a tired smile. "I wasn't paying attention."

Wow, this guy is pretty cute. I thought.

"Ok then," I said before awkwardly sitting down and looking away from the cute stranger. Instead of walking away like I thought he would he just stood there staring at me.

"How old are you?" He asked.

"What?" I blurted out in surprise.

"How old are you? You look way too young to be out here by yourself," He stated, surprising me.

"Sixteen," I said.

"Why aren't you in some house for teens?" He asked.

I stayed quiet, not wanting to answer him. He looked away from me and stayed silent for a moment before letting out a deep sigh.

"Get up," he said.

"What?" I asked.

"Get up. You're coming with me," he said with authority in his voice.

"I can't go with you, I don't even know if I can trust you," I argued.

"Do you want to finally shower and have a decent meal to eat or are you happy sleeping here?" He asked.

I stared at him in shock but still stood up anyway. He turned to start walking but I grabbed his arm to stop him.

"You have to at least tell me your name," I insisted.

"Ethan Sterling," He told me.

"Clark Robinson," I said in turn.

"Nice to meet you." He smiled.

"Likewise."

—————

One month later

"Are you sure about this?" I asked Ethan nervously.

Surprisingly Ethan wasn't a bad guy and turned out to just be a nice guy who thought a kid like me shouldn't be on the streets, and now he wanted me to meet his closest friends which included three "kids" around my age who were only like a year younger than me. To say I was nervous was a huge understatement.

I didn't know anyone else here since I never really left the condo and I really would like to make some friends.

Plus anybody wouldn't trust me so I also had to try to leave a good impression.

"Of course I'm sure. You'll love them, they'll love you, it will be fine." He assured me.

Another thing a learned about him.

He is really good at convincing people.

I finished putting on my shoes, stepped out of Ethan's condo then waited for him to lock it so we could go. After we stepped in the taxi Ethan called and he told the driver where to go I wrote down the address in case I needed to remember it and silently prayed that this would go well.

We pulled up to a house and I was once again in aw by Toronto as I looked at the beautiful home.

"This is where they live?" I nervously asked Ethan once we were walking towards the beautiful home and didn't look like we were changing direction anytime soon.

"Yup." He said. "This is Aiden and Aaron's place. They are the ones that are married."

I nodded remembering what Ethan told me earlier.

"So today I am going to meet Aiden and Aaron, Aaron's younger siblings Meaghan, Mark, Jasmine, and Aiden's younger brother Mason right?" I asked repeating what I heard a week ago when Ethan told me the first time.

"Correct," Ethan said, looking surprised.

Ethan had a smile plastered on his face and I couldn't help but smile as well. But of course, it was wiped clean off my fave when the front door opened and a beautiful woman was staring at us with a huge smile on her face.

"Ethan!" She yelled before squishing him in the tightest hug I have ever seen.

"Clark, this is Meaghan." Ethan chuckled while hugging her back.

Meaghan stopped hugging Ethan and turned to me with a smile still evident on her face.

"I'm Meaghan." She said politely while putting her hand out for me to shake. "It's nice to meet the guy Ethan was saying so many good things about."

I took her hand but before I could shake it she was pulling me into a hug too.

"Let's go inside, I can smell food," Ethan said and I gladly followed since it allowed me to get out of Meaghan's not-so-gentle embrace.

"Ethan!" Someone yelled again before a girl came running into the room and tackled Ethan to the ground.

Ethan let out a groan at the same time someone yelled "human pile!"

A man came running into the room and jumped on top of the girl and Ethan causing them both to let out groans.

"Fuck yeah!" Meaghan yelled before jumping on top of all of them causing them all to groan. I slowly closed the door guessing that no one would notice that it was still open.

"Damn it Jasmine, I wanted to tackle Ethan!" A handsome boy whined after jogging into the room.

"He he, I did it first." The girl who I now assumed was Jasmine wheezed from under the man and Meaghan.

"Off!" Ethan rasped and in a matter of seconds everybody who was on him was either standing or helping him up.

"Clark, these crazy people are my friends. Good luck," he stated before walking away to what I assumed was the living room.

"Ok." Meaghan started while clapping her hands. "Guys this is Clark, he's sixteen super nice, and staying with Ethan. Clark this is Jasmine, Aiden, and Mason." Meaghan introduced them as she pointed at each person she was talking about.

"Cool," Jasmine said once Meaghan was finished.

She quickly walked up to me and grabbed my hand. "I think we're going to get along just fine."

"Let's go to the living room, I don't want to be standing here the whole time," Mason said, coming over to my other side and smiling.

That was way easier than I thought.