"There he is," Angel said pointing to a tall black man.
Biting my lip roughly I realized just how nervous I really was. Angel must have seen that because she gently gripped my hand and guided me to him. Taking a deep breath I tried to pull my hand from Angel's grip. When the hand tightened around mine a soft whimper escaped my lips.
"Gregory," Angel said in a soothing voice, "This is Collins."
"Hello Gregory," he said grinning.
Shaking my head I started to pull my hand away from Angel even more. Collins saw this and took a couple of steps back. Shrugging the jacket off I reached down to grab it. Angel let my hand slip through hers. Taking the chance I ran to the alley.
"Gregory," Angel yelled taking after me.
After running onto another street I felt someone pull me back. Turning around to hit the person I saw it was Angel. She smirked down at me and waited for me to explain why I had run. As much as I wanted to explain I could only fall to my knees sobbing.
"Gregory," she said running a hand through my hair, "I know it's going to take awhile to get used to him, but you can't run away."
"He's scary," I said in a whisper.
"I know you think so," she said softly, "But you should talk to him before you say that."
"No," I said shaking my head.
"I'm not going to push you," she said pulling me up, "But can you at least come home with us?"
"I won't have to stay alone with him?" I asked hopefully.
"I won't leave you alone with him," she said calmly.
"You promise?" I asked biting my lip.
"Yes," she said nodding.
"Okay," I said taking a deep breath, "I'll come with you."
"Thank you," she said and started to guild me back to him.
We continued to walk for awhile neither of us speaking. I wanted so badly to start a conversation, but I was afraid that Angel was mad at me. Tears started to fall from my eyes at the mere thought that she was mad at me.
"What's wrong, Gregory?" Collins asked when we got to him.
A whimper escaped my mouth before I could even stop it. He didn't seem to mind that I was afraid of him, but he did look worried about me. I started to chew on my lip to keep the sounds of my whimpers at bay.
"Are you okay?" he asked looking really concerned now.
"I'm afraid," I said in a whisper.
"Are you afraid of me?" he asked sadly.
"Yes," I said even though I was noticing that he wasn't a bad person.
"Are you afraid of anything else?" he asked noticing that I was still tense.
"Yes," I said nodding my head.
"Will you tell me what you're afraid of?" he asked hopefully.
"I'm afraid Angel is mad at me," I said the tears falling heavier.
"Oh Hun," he said stepping closer to me before remembering that I was afraid of him.
"Please," I said opening my arms slightly simply wanting to know that I wasn't alone.
Angel was standing a few steps behind me so she didn't hear what I had told Collins. She must have seen me ask him for a hug because she clapped her hands and went over to us and hugged us too.
"I'm so proud of you," she said wiping tears from her eyes.
"Yo-You're not ma-mad?" I asked stuttering slightly.
"No, of course not," she said confused, "Why would I be mad?"
"Because I'm a fuck up who is so afraid of what his father did to him that now he fears anyone that comes within a five foot distance of him," I said like it was obvious.
"No you're not," Collins said shaking his head, "I would do the same thing if I went through it."
"You would?" I asked hoping he wasn't just saying that.
"Yes," he said smiling, "Now, do you want to go to the Life Café? A few friends are going to meet us there, but we can just go home instead."
"No," I said taking a deep breath, "I'm going to meet them at some point in time."
"Okay," Angel said taking my hand, "Let's go."