I can’t stand the silence of my own room anymore or the loneliness of an empty house. Despite my dad’s friendly note yesterday, I’ve yet to see or talk to him because he had to go somewhere last night. The early Sunday morning sun is trying to shine through the clouds as I walk towards Jose’s Mexican food shop for a burrito- and hopefully a someone, too. Beans, cheese, chicken, and guacamole all mixed together and stuffed into a warm tortilla. Yummy, bring on the calories! I jog the short distance from my house to the restaurant as the rain starts. The clean smell of the rain on the pavement sends a feeling of peace through me. My ipod blasts “Awakening” by Switchfoot and I laugh and sing along to the chorus as I run.

“Here we are now with the falling sky and the rain,We're awakening,Here we are now with the desperate youth and the pain,We're awakening,Maybe it's called ambition, you've been talking in your sleepAbout a dream, We're awakening!”

Due to the early hours, no one else is here with me. The lyrics surround me as I push aside everything but the simple joy of running and singing and breathing heavily. Miraculously I spot Cole walking towards the door. I say a prayer of thanks before I reach him. Soaked, tired, and laughing I throw myself at him and hug him tightly. He looks shocked to suddenly feel someone hugging him, but hugs me back when he realizes who’s doing the hugging. With a twinkle in his eye he leads me to an empty booth and we sit down. Now that our moment of reconnection is over, things are a tad awkward. He just smiles at me like the great friend that he is and doesn’t push me to explain. As we eat silently, he starts to talk,

“Just a breakup, aye?” I blush and look down at my burrito, “I heard directly from my brother that it was more than that.” I hasten to reassure him,

“Just because he cheated on a girl once doesn’t make him a bad person. I mean-” Cole silences my rambling with a held up hand.

“No Shale, he should not have treated you so poorly. There is no excuse for what he did; I guess I knew that he wasn’t as great as I always thought he was. It just disappoints me that he could treat you so callously.” He trails of with something about John getting what he deserves. I gape at him,

“You punched your brother for me?” Cole looks slightly shameful about his attacking his brother.

“I know I shouldn’t have punched him, but he hurt you!” I just shake my head in wonder. I freeze at what he says next, “I talked to your dad yesterday Shale.” My head hits the table as I wait for the worst. “He is a pretty cool guy. He really loves you.” I look up at Cole with a blank face.

“But did you hear what he said about- And he loves- what?” I’m completely shocked. He grabs my hand and smiles gently at me.

“Talk to him Shale. Don’t loose both parents when you can still have one of them. It isn’t fun being alone.” With those last words Cole gets up and leaves me staring at his retreating back in shock. After five minutes I slowly stand up and go to pay the waitress, Cole’s words jumbling around in my head. As I go to pay she waves me off.

“Don’t worry about it Hon, you’re hot hunk of man already paid for your food. What a catch. Don’t loose that guy!” I smile at her words, slightly grossed out that this 30-year-old waitress thinks that a sixteen-year-old guy is hot. Even if he is quite a catch…

I stand outside my house and stare thoughtfully at my dad’s car parked in the driveway. I’ve been standing here for two hours as I build up the courage to confront my dad. Cole’s words and the ones exchanged with my father war for precedence in my mind. “Don’t loose both parents when you can still have one of them.” “You will not make the same mistake as she did!” “He really loves you.” “You could end up pregnant like your mother…I won’t see your life ruined!” “It isn’t fun being alone.” I slowly walk up the path to my home and open the front door. As I walk into the house, I turn my head to see my dad sitting in the chair in the formal room. We just stare at each other, the same thoughts running through both our minds. The silence is deafening and I can’t stop the tears from falling. I am shocked to see tears falling from my dad’s eyes too. Never in all of my nearly sixteen years have I seen my dad cry. He opens his mouth and then shuts it again. He opens his arms and speaks the words that I’ve always wanted to hear,

“I am so proud of you.” With a sob I run into his arms and we both cry. “I love you Shay.” I hug him tighter,

“I love you too daddy. I’m sorry about the fighting; it wasn’t supposed to go that far.” Ben looks at his daughter and shakes his head.

“It wasn’t your fault Shay. I judged Cole before I even had a chance to meet him. He has more wisdom then most people that I have ever met, and way more than I will ever have.” He pauses, “I said some things that I never meant to say and that aren’t true at all. You are my life Shale and I have never regretted giving up my previous life for the one I built with you and your mom.” I look up at him to see him crying harder, “I just don’t want you to do what your mom and I did. We ran away from home when she found out she was pregnant at seventeen.” I sit down next to him as he continues, “I want to be apart of your life Shale. But I almost ruined it with my own mistakes and insecurities.” I smile at him and take his hand,

“You’ll always be apart of my life daddy! You have to leave the old pain and memories behind. I love you.” He kisses my head and hugs me as both our hearts start to mend. Not everything will be back to normal immediately, but the relationship has started to rebuild. Maybe it’s for the better. Since it was broken, now it can be remolded into something better.

It has been three days since the talk that I had with my dad and things are going well. We’ve been spending more time together doing fun things like bowling and miniature golf. Christmas is in four days, and our great relationship is the best gift that I could have ever gotten. He’s been smiling and joking more lately and it makes me happy to see that. We’ve just gotten back from the beach (Yes, here in California you can go to the beach in December…) and I’m sitting on the porch sipping ice tea and thinking about Cole. My dad walks out onto the porch and sits next to me, appraising me. I look up at him and wonder about his speculative look. He finally speaks,

“Do you know that it was your friend Cole that encouraged me to speak to you? He mentioned something about being alone.” I give my dad a small smile and reply,

“He advised me to talk to you too. I wish that he didn’t feel so alone though.” The thought of Cole being alone on Christmas is tragic to me. With John spending all his time with the football team, Cole is left alone a lot. Thoughts continue to bombard me and my dad notices. He smiles at me,

“Go get him Sweet Pea. I approve.” The smile I give my dad is brilliant and he chuckles. As Ben watches his daughter skip away to go after a boy, he is reminded of him and his wife again. This time it doesn’t bug him though. He might actually be happy about this fact, who would have ever thought?

“Cole! Where are you Cole?” My voice shouts Cole’s name from the bottom of the steps in front of his house. His shaggy brown head peeks out of the window and a smile appears on his face. He throws on a shirt and yells for me to come in. When I get to his room he wraps me in a huge hug and then sets me down in the chair near the desk. He sits on the bed and looks at me expectantly. I smile and tell him the good news,

“Everything’s fine with my dad and me. I thought that the relationship would never get better, but we’re both letting each other be ourselves for once.” He comes over and hugs me again saying,

“I’m so happy for you Shale!” I frown as all his words come back to me. I grab his hand and stare at him seriously.

“Cole, will you spend Christmas with my dad and me?” Cole looks shocked that I would invite him into my family for a holiday. He looks hesitant,

“Are you sure that it’s okay with your dad?” I shake my head vigorously and he smiles, “Okay, that sounds great! I haven’t had a proper Christmas since I was five, before my Grandma moved in and my parents died.” This information saddens me, and mixed with what he said at the restaurant, I stand up and hug him.

“You want to know something Cole?” He nods his head; “You aren’t as alone as you think you are.” I stare into his beautiful blue eyes for a minute. Then I stand on my tiptoes and kiss him. I’m not exactly sure whose lips meet whose, but our shared kiss cannot be described as anything less than amazing. I smile happily at Cole and whisper,

“I love you Cole.” He smiles and kisses me again.

“I love you too Shale.” We happily walk hand in hand back to my house. My father smiles as he sees us coming towards him. And guess what? For once it isn’t raining.

The End