"Hey 'lanza," he said nonchalantly, rising to his feet, a loose smile pasted crookedly on his face.

"Dad," I replied, grinning as I hurried towards him to give him a hug. He hugged me gently, before releasing me, watching me carefully.

"You've gotten taller."

"No, I haven't, your mind is just getting old."

"You've changed then."

"Since you last saw me about a year ago? Not much, Dad."

I had changed a little bit, but nothing real obvious. There was simply a difference in hair coloring when I highlighted some of my naturally brown to blonde, and I was wearing a different clothing style, due to the ever-changing fads.

He, of course, hadn't changed any. He was still as tall and proud as he always had been. His quickly fading blond hair was swept back alongside his head, tucked carefully behind one tanned ear. For clothing, he wore black shoes, a simple pair of blue jeans, and an old shirt. Of course, let's not forget the leather jacket. I swear, he wore that jacket everywhere. He said he felt comfortable in it. I said that he couldn't let go of the past.

Releasing his gaze from me, he glanced over at Mom. "Hello Max."

"Hello," she said, attempting to look busy in the kitchen. Like I said: attempting. Mom isn't Susan Sunshine, homemaker queen. The only time I had ever seen Mom cook something herself was when…hmmm…Anyhow, both Dad and I knew that she was just avoiding conversation.

There was a lot of tension in the air that wasn't about to be ignored. Fortunately, the shrill ringing of a phone interrupted it, freeing us all from conversation. I mean, what were we supposed to say, "Hey Zack, good to see you. Haven't seen you in about a year since you ran off again, but hey, just pop back into our lives and pretend nothing happened"?

Mom answered the phone, then held it out to me. "It's for you," she said.

"Who is it?" I asked, taking the cordless phone from her. She shrugged and headed back into the kitchen to pretend to be busy. I rolled my eyes. If she ever wanted to be an actress, she was definitely going to have to improve on acting like a typical mom.

"Hello?" I said into the phone, not sure who it was. After all the people I had met so recently, I had to question what kind of person would be calling me.

"Hey, Alanza?" the female voice answered.

"Yep."

"It's Max."

I immediately smiled, which I was sure could be heard through the phone. "Hey, what's up?" I asked, sitting down on the couch, since I didn't have my own room to retreat to. Unfortunately, not having my own room, meant that Mom and Dad could sit right there and watch me, listening in on my conversation. Definitely going to have to keep it clean.

"I called my mom just a while ago and everything you told me? It's true."

"Uh-huh…"

"So, I was wondering if you wanted to meet up later on, y'know, just go out and do somethin'. I don't know all that many people here, so a new friend would be more than welcomed."

I laughed, agreeing with her. "Same here. The only people I've really gotten a chance to know are my mom's old lesbian friend and another of her old friends." I didn't say that the other old friend was perhaps an old boyfriend. Like I said, my conversation was going to have to be limited with my dad sitting right there.

"Are you doing anything tonight?"

"Well, I've got an 'appointment', so to say, to meet up with a guy I met last night. Hey, you want to meet me there? I mean, I don't think he'll stay around for a long time…he's not your regular party dude."

"Sure, where's it at?"

I rattled off a street number and the name of the dance club, along with an approximate time for her to meet me there. She replied that she'd be there.

"Great, see ya there," I said.

"Bye."

"Bye Max." Click.

I hang up the phone to face my parents. Mom wasn't really paying attention, since I had already told her about Max Jr., but Dad was looking strangely at me.

"Max?" he asked with a cocked eyebrow.