Chapter 6: They want to meet you

Aaron's pov:

After my horrible day at school I get home and can't wait to eat. I know I said I lost my appetite but its food. And food is my life. "Honey I'm home!" I scream as I enter the door.

"How was your day dear?" My mom asks after I give her a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "It was...eventful?" I said sounding more as a question. My mother looks at me and raises her eyebrow.

"Please don't make me talk about it now otherwise I'm going to lose my appetite." I ask her while looking at her with big pleading puppy dog eyes. "Ok fine but we are talking about it as soon as you are done eating." She gives me that, there's no getting out of this, look.

I give her a kiss on her cheek and go to the fridge. "I made a burger for you. Its in the oven." I smile and go to the oven. "What would I do without you?" I ask her and she gives me a smile. "You would be the person I brought you up to be." She says giving me another smile but this one has more sadness than happiness.

"Why does it seem like you're hiding something from me?" I ask her worried. "Don't worry about it we'll talk later on." She says wiping a tear that slipped down her cheek. I slowly take a bite from my burger and reluctantly walk out of the kitchen.

What is going on? Is she planning on leaving me? Is she tired of having me around? I ask myself but then dismiss the thoughts almost immediately. She wouldn't do that to me after all these years,would she?

I finish my burger and go back in the kitchen to leave my plate in the sink. "Are you ready to tell me about your day now?" My mom asks me while she stirs the pot. "Do I have to." I ask her dreading that I have to relive that horrible moment for a few minutes.

She just looks at me and I know she's waiting for the story. "My day was going great until lunch when Rachel kissed me." My mother was drinking water and she started choking. I run to her wide eyed and give her some more water. After a few minutes she calms down.

"Isn't she the one who keeps on troubling Alyssa?" She asks. "Yes that's the one. That was just part of it after she kissed me I threw up and lost my appetite." I say feeling nauseous all over again. After a while she started laughing.

"Why are you laughing?" I ask her confused. "I never thought...I'd see the day something....made you lose your appetite." She tries to say between laughs. I look at her shocked that she would find humour in my misery.

"I'm glad I could make you laugh." I say getting up to walk out of the kitchen. "I'm sorry dear but I guess you've just always been hungry." She says calming herself down. "So is that the only thing that happened or is there more?" She asks me while I sit down again. "She told me to go home with her if I enjoyed the kiss." I said walking to the fridge to get some apple juice.

"What did you say to her?" She asks me clearly interested in the turn of events today. "I told her that I wouldn't be going home with her because her kiss made me lose my lunch." I say shrugging my shoulders. I pour some juice in a glass and drink it.

She shakes her head and goes to check on the pot. "What's for dinner?" I ask her as I hoist myself on the counter.

"Why is it that you only think about food?" She shakes her head. "I'm making stew for dinner. I know its your favourite so don't try to leave." She says pointing a finger at me. I laugh at her and she laughs along after a while.

"Why would I leave when my mother is making me one of my favourite foods?" I ask her jumping of the counter and giving her a hug from behind. "I don't know its just you spend a lot of time at Theo's house." She says shrugging her shoulders.

"I'm going to do my homework,call me when dinner is ready." I shout as I head upstairs. I go to my room and start with my homework. Don't teachers have any other sort of entertainment other than giving us homework.

After a few hours I hear the door open signalling that my dad is at home. I go downstairs to greet him. As I reach the bottom of the stairs I hear my mother scream for me. "Aaron! Dinner is ready." She screams while going to greet my father.

I get to the bottom of the stairs and give my dad a hug before sitting down at the table and dishing my food. We eat in silence which is unusual and I can feel a little bit of tension in the air. After a few minutes of silence my mother speaks up but what she says has my head spinning.

"Aaron dear we need to talk to you." My mom says looking at my dad. "Just promise me that you won't get mad,and know that no matter what happens we will always love you." I look at them confused and to be honest a little bit scared.

"The orphanage we adopted you from phoned. Your real parents want to meet you and take you into their custody." My mom tells me trying not to cry but failing miserably. "What your mother means to say is that they want to look after you from now on." My dad says with his voice cracking.

"Please tell me this is some kind of sick joke." I look at them completely dumbfounded. They look at each other but don't tell me anything. "Why,after all these years, do they think I would want to talk to them?" I say getting angry now.

"Do they honestly think that they can walk into my life and I'll just go running back to them with open arms?" I say laughing. I look at my parents and can tell they're speechless. "Well they can go to hell because I am not meeting them anywhere and I sure as hell am not living with them." I say standing up.

"Aaron they are your parents." My mother tries reasoning with me.

"No they are not my parents. You two are my parents. You've risked everything for me. You've brought me up and made me who I am. They just left me on the doorsteps of an orphanage. They didn't care about me all these years. Why do they all of a sudden remember they have a son?" I scream. I didn't mean to scream but now I'm really pissed off.

"They have done nothing for me so why should I do them a favour and meet them." I say walking out the door. Somewhere through my rant I grabbed my car keys. I go to my car and start it. Within 2 minutes I'm out of our driveway and on the road.

Theo's pov:

It's 7 in the evening, I just got out of the shower and I can hear my mom calling me. "Theo, you better get down here now before I come get you." She says worriedly and I am utterly confused.

I go downstairs about to ask my mother what her problem is when I see Aaron. He is sitting in the living room with his head in his hands and crying. I look at my mother, she shrugs her shoulders and walks out. "I'll go make some hot chocolate." She says.

I go sit down next to him and put my arm around his shoulder. "Dude, what's wrong? I thought you were having dinner with your parents?" I ask him trying to get him to talk. He continues crying and I keep quiet. I comfort him until he's calmed down enough to talk.

"My biological parents are back." He starts of and I rub his back. "They want to see me and possibly make me move in with them." I stare at him with wide eyes. This is the most contact his ever had with them and they want to take him away.

"I'm sure they can't do that,can they?" I ask him and he sighs. "I don't know. I'm scared Theo, I can't imagine being away from my parents and now these people come. They haven't been there for me before so why now?" He says shaking his head.

"I guess the only way for you to get some clarity would be to meet them." I say carefully afraid of his reaction. "I would rather jump off a building than meet the people who abandoned me." He says emotionless.

"Please don't jump off any buildings while I am alive." My mother says walking in with a tray of hot chocolate. Aaron gives her a small but sad smile. My mom sets the tray down on the table and takes a seat next to him. She gives him a hug.

"Aaron, I understand that they abandoned you and you've survived without them, but maybe they don't know that." He looks at her confused. I'm going to admit I'm also confused at what my mother is saying. "What do you mean?" We both ask her.

"Maybe they think that they made a mistake and you aren't being treated right. I know it's late for that but they also have their reasons." My mother says. It makes sense but if they had reasons why haven't they tried talking to him before.

"Why haven't they tried to talk to me before?" Aaron asks as if he read my mind. "Like Theo said only they can answer that. Maybe speaking to them will give you some peace." My mother tells him before hugging him and getting up.

"Are you staying with us tonight?" My mother asks him while handing him a cup of hot chocolate. "If that's alright with you." Aaron says taking the cup from my mothers hands. She smiles at him and heads upstairs. Most probably to prepare the guestroom for him.

I take my cup of hot chocolate and start drinking it as well. "How are you feeling? Like really feeling about this whole situation." I ask him carefully. Aaron is staring into space while drinking his hot chocolate.

"Honestly, I don't know what to feel. I'm happy that they want to talk to me but confused at why after all these years. I'm angry that they abandoned me but happy because I got a loving family." He says with a sigh.

I hate seeing my friend like this and I feel so useless because I can't help him. "Alyssa or I could go along with you if you'd like that." I suggest. He looks at me and smiles. "I'll see when it comes closer to the time but thank you." He says giving me a hug.

My mother comes in as he releases me from the hug. "The guest room is ready for you. And there's still some of your clothes here from the other times you've stayed over." My mom says as she takes our empty cups to the kitchen.

"Thanks Sally. I don't know what I would do without you two." Aaron says with a small smile. "Ok enough with the sentimentality we should go to bed." My mom shoo's us to our rooms. I laugh and shake my head at the way my mother acts. She can be a bit childish but I wouldn't change it for the world.

I look at Aaron and see how exhausted he looks. I feel sorry for him. I can only imagine what it feels like to be abandoned and after 16 years your biological parents want to meet you. He's been through a lot in his life but he is the strongest person I know and with a little bit of help he will get through it.