He was my Smoke,

Chapter Eight - I cross my heart on that -

Eight:

After we’ve ordered the pizza and managed to ignore the few looks we’ve received because of Javier’s presence with us, Hare decided to talk,

“What happened with you and Roya’s dad?” Natalie smiled mysteriously and then looked at me and said,” Do you really want to know?” I smiled excited and replied,” Badly!”

A giggle escaped her and then she said,” I just told him how you’ve been working your ass to keep up with us after missing out four months of school and that the boyfriend he hated wasn’t really your boyfriend and that you needed sometime out.”

I stared at her and then moved my head to look at Hare and Javier who were looking at me.

“Why did you miss school for four months?” Javier asked frowning; I shrugged and hid my palms under my thighs,” I was in—“

“She was sick” Natalie completed for me and then rubbed my arm affectionately before looking back at her brother who seemed curious to know some details.

“what did she have?” he asked and then he looked at his sister,” did she have the same thing as you?” Natalie shook her head as I opened my mouth to speak,

“I was an addict” the table fell silent and then I cleared my throat feeling a little embarrassed,” anything you’ve ever heard of, I’ve tried it, abused it and was addicted to it”

Javier’s head was hung low so I couldn’t see but the short strands of his hair falling to hide his face. “You’ve been through a lot then” was all he said a while later. I raised my head to look at him and then I smiled, grateful he didn’t judge me.

“Yes it wasn’t easy.” He nodded understandingly and that was when the pizza arrived. We all seemed extremely hungry so each of us dug in his pizza and silence fell upon us. At a point Natalie spoke with a mouthful,” where were you anyways?”

Javier looked at her and then swallowed before saying,” I was at this event.”

We all diverted our eyes to his direction questioningly which pushed him to say,” it was formal and related to business.”

Natalie’s eyes narrowed slightly before she spat,” was it dangerous?”

He gulped and threw a look at me before he said,” I don’t think speaking about business and boring stuff is best for now, Natalie.”

I understood the hidden warning, he didn’t know that Natalie had already told me about her brother being a part of a gang and obviously from what I’ve heard about Javier’s opinion on Abraham, I’ve reached the resolution that both gangs were either rivals or enemies.

“It’s okay, Javie. She knows all about your business.” Natalie said and then turned her head to smile at me. “She’s trustworthy” Natalie completed and I couldn’t help but smile slightly.

“You told her? What the hell did I tell you, Natalie, about spitting words wherever you go?” Javier suddenly erupted angrily, I jumped with the outburst and Hare choked on the piece of pizza in his mouth. Javier’s teeth were clenching and his breath was accelerating with every second as his fists clenched and started silently hitting the table. I watched him with awe, the anger he was feeling, the bottled up emotions he was trying so hard to hide, reminded me of myself whenever I needed drugs again.

I felt I was bonding with him. And because of the way his eyes turned crazy and scared, I knew his anger wasn’t rooted in the land of not wanting me to know, but it was rooted in the land of wishing I didn’t know so he wouldn’t have to worry about me not being safe.