The Boy Next Door

ｔｈｉｒｔｙ

~Rachel~

I sat down at a lunch table with Colton. All day he has seemed a little off today.

"It is almost spring break." I told Colton. "Two more days."

"I know." He said.

"You don't seem like your normal self today." I said. I took a bite of my sandwich.

"I'm not really in a very happy mood right now." he said

"What's wrong?" I asked. There was a moment of silence between us.

"Tomorrow will be one year since the accident." he said.

I nodded because I knew that it was a still a sensitive subject for him. I also wasn't sure what to say. I have never had anyone that I was close to pass away. I honestly don't know how it feels to lose someone you love. "I didn't know." I said.

"I know you didn't. It is okay." he said.

Katie and Dylan sat across from Colton and I.

"What are we talking about? Katie asked.

"Nothing." Colton said. I could tell that Dylan knew what we were talking about. He set his lunch down. Dylan looked at me and motioned that he wanted to talk in private.

"I'll be right back." I said.

"Me too." Dylan said.

We walked into the hallway. "Is he thinking about his sister?" Dylan asked.

"Yeah."

"Tomorrow is the one-year anniversary. He is not really one to open up about things, but I know that this has been tough for him to accept that what happened. Do you have any idea how much you have helped him?" Dylan said.

"How have I helped?"

"Before he met you, he would push everyone away. He would lock himself away in his room for hours at a time. But, once he met you I guess that he was able to..." he trailed off.

"So basically what you are saying is that when he met me, he started to let people back into his life. He decided that he could, I don't know, he started to act like himself again?" I tried to understand what he was trying to say.

"That is kind of what I am trying to say. I don't know what I'm trying to get at here. But I feel like I need to thank you. I'm not exactly even sure why, but thank you. You brought the fun back to him. I know it's hard for him to think about, but you have taken his mind off of it. Not saying in a bad way, like you're just a temporary distraction, but in a good way." He said.

"You're welcome." I said. I hadn't seen him before he met me, so I could not relate to what Dylan was trying to explain to me.

We walked back into the lunchroom. I sat back down next to Colton, giving him a quick rub on the back.

"I was just telling Colton about that time when we were seven and we were at the zoo." Katie said.

"You cannot be serious. I thought that you promised me that you would never speak of that day again." I said. It was one of the most embarrassing things that has ever happened to me.

My grandparents decided to take Katie and I to the zoo one summer day. When we came to the monkey enclosure, I desperately wanted to hear him make noises. He was hanging from a branch. So, I stood on the bar in front of the monkey. With my pipsqueak voice, I made monkey noises. My grandparents and the other adults there found this cute. Of course, the monkey ignored my request. When he'd had enough of my racket he turned and shot a spray of urine at me. Well, at my face, technically my mouth. A giant mouthful of monkey pee. I was so embarrassed and cried.