Sam
Sam leaned against the counter again as Luke and Grace went out. He hung his head low as he sighed in relief. He wasn't the only one who was going through something different. He had two more people who he could talk to about this mess. The bathroom door opened.
"I said I'd meet you guys out there." Sam said without looking back. Footsteps sounded closer towards him. Why couldn't they leave him alone for a few minutes? He turned around to tell them to leave him alone when he froze.
It wasn't Luke or Grace. It was a middle aged man who was dressed in different clothing. Moreover it was armor over his clothing. But most importantly the guy had a sword pointed at Sam's throat.
Sam gulped. He didn't move an inch and the guy in front of him didn't seem to be kidding with the sword.
The man had a sunken face with even more sunken eyes and a beard that made him look shady enough for people to know not to trust him.
"Where are the other two?" He asked in a gruff voice.
"What other two?" Sam asked in a shaky voice.
"Don't play with me boy." The man growled low and touched the tip of his sword to Sam's throat.
"Excuse me?" A girl's voice came from behind the man. The man turned around at the sudden disturbance. That's all he did before his head swivelled to the side as Luke threw a punch to his face.
"What just happened?" Sam asked, pointing to the man who was knocked out cold on the ground.
"We came to rescue you man." Luke grimaced as he cradled his punch throwing hand.
"Yea now let's get out before the guy comes around." Grace motioned to the man who was groaning on the ground.
The three of them shuffled outside the washroom and then for some reason a girl started talking in Spanish and pointing at Luke.
"Sweetheart I know you love me but we gotta do this some other time." Luke smiled at her and they got out of the restaurant.
"What was that about?" Sam asked once they were out of the restaurant.
"Long story. Ask me about it later." Luke waved him off.
"We need to go somewhere nobody knows." Grace said ignoring them both.
"We can't go to my place." Sam said instantly.
"Okay." Grace shot him an incredulous look and then looked at Luke.
"Know of any good places?" She asked him.
"Actually, I know just the place." Luke grinned.
They walked to a vintage looking building a few blocks away and Luke led them upstairs to an apartment with the name tag "Walker" on the door.
He opened the door with a key and held the door open for them. "Welcome to mi casa."
"How come I never knew where you lived?" Sam asked as he walked in behind Grace.
"That's because nobody knows where I live." Luke said shutting the door behind him.
"Why not?" Grace asked as she looked around the apartment.
"I have my reasons." Luke shrugged off his jacket to reveal a white-shirt underneath.
Sam walked over to the windows to look at the street outside. Then a lady he presumed was Luke's mom came out of one of the rooms.
"Honey you didn't tell me you were having friends over." She smiled warmly. She was wearing scrubs and looked like she had just come out from the shower.
"Hey Mrs. Walker." Grace greeted her with a wave. Luke sighed as he stood beside his mother.
"Mom, this is Grace and Sam. Guys, this is my mom." Luke introduced them.
"Hello to you two." His mother greeted them.
"Are you going to the hospital now?" Luke asked her.
"Yea, I'm headed over there in five minutes. Do you guys want anything? We have soda and leftover macaroni." She said.
"That's okay." Sam smiled at her.
"Well then see you two around later. And Luke, your friends can come over anytime you know. I never get to meet any of them." She scolded him light-headedly.
"Yea mom as you wish." Luke sighed.
"Bye, see you later." She kissed Luke on the cheek and left the house to go to work.
"So you're saying you've never had any friends over?" Grace asked as soon as the door shut closed.
"None." Luke said in a tone that meant end of conversation.
"Well what are we going to do about whatever is going on with us?" Sam asked sitting on the couch in front of the T.V.
The house was simple. The entrance opened into a living room and joint kitchen. The living room consisted of only two couches, a coffee table and a T.V. Beside it was a kitchen that overlooked the living room. The kitchen had a small island with three bar stools. A narrow passageway led to two doors facing each other Sam assumed were the bedrooms and a smaller door which probably was a storage closet. At the end of the passageway was one door which was the bathroom.
The home was small but it had a feeling of belonging and comfort. The heater warmed up the place. The walls were covered in photo frames and art hangings.
"Wow. You were quite a chubby baby." Grace commented while looking at the photos on the wall.
"Okay can we please get back to the topic at hand?" Luke asked loudly.
"It's a nice home." Sam told him.
"Thanks. We do what we can." Luke nodded back.
"God you were cute." Grace was still looking at the pictures.
"What do you mean were?" Luke frowned.
"Was as in past tense because you're no longer a kid." Grace shook her head at him.
"I am still cute. It doesn't matter if I'm a kid or not." Luke said.
"Hey I want to hear about how you set a tree on fire." Luke looked at Sam.
"I don't even know how I did that." Sam took a seat on the couch. "I sat down at my desk to start on my assignments and I was eating an apple. Then there was this crow that just wouldn't shut up. I got pissed at it and threw the apple at the crow. Next thing I know the goddamn tree is on fire." He huffed.
"Damn! Did anyone see it happening? How did it all pan out?" Luke asked. Grace was now kneeling on the floor and looking at all the photographs.
"Oh somebody saw it alright." Sam chuckled sarcastically. "My neighbor's kid saw the apple hit the tree and then catch fire. Then she made an entire show of coming over and blaming it on me since it was from my window that the apple flew. On top of that my stepfather saw it as an opportunity to call me a rebel for setting the tree on fire and ground me. And then I bolted." He explained.
Grace had given up on kneeling and had sat down on the floor itself facing Sam to listen to him.
"Your stepfather doesn't like you?" Grace asked him.
"He and I have never been on good terms. I figured I wouldn't have to see him much because of school and football practice so I never had to deal with him much. But the guy never really liked me since he married my mom." Sam answered.
"What exactly happened at your home? You looked really mad when you showed up at the Brew." Luke leaned against the kitchen island.
"After everything went down with my neighbors my mom seemed to stop listening to what I had to say. And Aaron just seemed to jump in to get inside her head. He had her convinced that I was rebelling against them. I mean why would I even do that?" Sam asked out loud.
"I told her that I didn't throw a flamed apple at the tree but she didn't believe me. So that jackass started saying I was rebelling against them and then when I told him no, he pulled out the stepfather card. Aaron never liked me because I'm not his real son. I think the only reason he ever married my mom was because of our house and money. The gold digging asshole just saw me as an obstacle to getting all the money on his name."
"Didn't you ever call him out on it?" Luke interrupted.
"Mom always got upset when we fought. So we didn't do it whenever she was around. But I stayed out of home most of the time. I didn't really like talking to that guy." Sam answered him.
"What happened after Aaron tried to scold you?" Grace asked him.
"My mom grounded me. She didn't try to listen to my reasoning and I got pissed off. There was no in hell I would be spending time at home listening to Aaron. That would be the last straw. So I ran out of there and ended up at the Brew." He explained to them.
"Do you plan on going home at all?" Grace asked.
"I don't want to. But I'll sneak in eventually and then get out early." Sam sighed.
"You could crash here if you want." Luke suggested.
"Really? Your mom won't mind?" Sam perked up. At this point he considered anything that would allow him to stay away from home.
"Sure. She's usually looking for any opportunities for meeting any of my friends. She'd be delighted when she comes to know I got a friend for a sleepover." Luke chuckled.
"Speaking of friends? How come you don't have any of your friends over at your home?" Grace asked him.
"Hey can I get some of that macaroni? I haven't had a chance to eat anything since after school." Sam asked Luke.
"Sure." Luke nodded and then opened the fridge to get out a container of frozen macaroni. Luke put it in the microwave to heat and turned to look at Grace.
"To answer your question." Luke began talking while working simultaneously. "My only existing family is my mom. I don't know of any relatives and distant cousins. And my mom had to raise me alone. So bills need money to be paid and I didn't really last at any workplace where I managed to get a job. So to help my mom I got into local gangster, shady stuff. Any person with a grudge could contact any of my friends and locate my home. My mom has suffered through a lot. I do what I can to get the money for school to pay the bills.
I got into some shady stuff on the streets and I don't want any of those people finding my mom to get to me. So I never really told anyone where I lived." Luke explained his story.
"Didn't your friends ever question where you live?" Grace asked.
"I managed to avoid the questions." Luke answered while setting out plates on the counter.
"Do you want some?" Luke asked her.
"Yea sure. How did you manage to evade questions every single time?" Grace asked him.
"I am very talented, you know. Getting people to see things my way is something I'm good at." He distributed the macaroni into three plates and then kept them on the kitchen island. Sam got up and walked around the couches to sit at the island on the bar stools, Grace following behind him.
Luke removed three forks from the drawer and held them out. Grace and Sam plucked one from his hand and dug into the food. Two seconds later both of them moaned in satisfaction.
"This is good." Grace nodded in approval.
"I know right." Luke grinned.
"I'm going to come over every time if your mom makes such good macaroni." She forked some more into her mouth.
"So what's your story? What's your background?" Sam asked Grace.
"Oh I don't have such colorful stories to share like you do." She shrugged. "But I live with my dad. I never really knew my mom. Dad says she left a few months after I was born so I don't really remember her. He's always going out on business trips so I'm always home alone.
I only ever get to see him on the weekends and even then he has to go out sometimes. I'm used to staying home alone and doing stuff on my own. I don't really go out much and the only friend I actually hang out with is Cleo. She comes over sometimes but she's more of an outdoorsy person than I am. I found out about this superpowers stuff at home when I was alone and I destroyed a pen while experimenting with said powers. So I went to the Brew where it would be more warmer and hopefully wouldn't destroy anything else. Seemed to be working fine until I met you guys." She explained.
"You never go out? No parties?" Luke gave her an incredulous look.
"I like staying home to read and watch T.V series. I never went out with friends to parties." She shrugged innocently.
"Not even once?" Sam asked her. He'd always seen her at school and she'd always been joined to the hip with her friend Cleo but he just realized that he'd never seen her at a single party that he'd attended. Her friend Cleo was there at most of those parties but Grace wasn't with her at those times.
"Well most parties happen on weekends or Friday nights. Those were the only times when I got to spend time with my dad so I never bothered going out." She went back to eating.
"Well we're your friends now and the moment someone throws a party next time you're coming with us." Luke said.
"Definitely. It's the last year of school after this summer. It'd be a shame if you never even went to a single party in high school." Sam agreed.
"I look forward to that." Grace smiled at the two of them. They finished eating and helped Luke clean up when the doorbell rang.
"Go get that. I'll finish up here." Grace waved Luke off. He walked to the door and opened the door swiftly. But the person standing at the other end had all sorts of warning bells going off in his head.