Ephram rode away from Ryan's house, in the opposite direction of his house. He didn't know where he was going, but he didn't want to be near Ryan and he didn't want to go home, so he just peddled. He was still in some form of shock. He couldn't process his thoughts; they were running too fast across his head.
He needed to find a place where he could think. And he couldn't think of anywhere better but the park. So he quickened his pace and was there in faster than he realized. He rode over to a bench, where he laid his bike up against it. He sat down, hunched forward, with his head in his hands.
He didn't know what to do anymore. As time went on, he had lost pretty much all faith in the opposite sex. Growing up, he always had his mom. When it came to girlfriends, he had a few back in New York, but nothing serious enough to actually last. They usually got fed up with him and left. It didn't matter though, because his mom was always there to catch his fall, and she had caught every fall.
And then she died. The very most important person, let alone woman, in his life was gone forever. Everything from there was whirlwind. Before he knew it, he was leaving New York and moving to some town in the middle of nowhere.
He had Delia. Delia had never let him down, but he couldn't forget it was Delia's vote from his father's bribe that had made them move here in the first place. If he had never moved here, he wouldn't have ever met Amy and dealt with all that heartache and never met Ryan and never dealt with this latest disappointment. But he didn't blame Delia, he loved her too much. But he knew, eventually Delia was going to grow up and get married, and another guy was going to take her away, marry her, change her last name, and his little sister wouldn't be his to care for anymore.
So, when he came here, he met Amy. He fooled himself with thinking he had a chance with her. She got what she wanted, a surgery from The Great Dr. Brown, and dropped him cold. For a little while anyway, until her precious Colin befriended him. But, somehow, despite the obvious awkwardness, her and Colin were the closest things to best friends that he had. Colin wasn't that bad of a guy either. Even Bright and him had formed some kind of friendship. They didn't insult each other anymore at least.
He started junior year with no expectations. He still had feelings for Amy but he had accepted his role in her life. And then Ryan came along. She was just like him in so many ways, and she seemed interested in him, genuinely interested in him. But, then, she doesn't tell him she has a boyfriend, and he has to find out when that boyfriend calls. He saw the look on her face, she didn't want to talk to that boyfriend and when she looked at him, he saw that she didn't want to hurt him. But she did, in an involuntary way.
So, it was safe to say, woman weren't fair to him. He didn't mind being alone, he was independent anyway, but anytime he got interested in someone, it was always a heart crushing event when he was let down again. He wondered if he'd ever find somebody to settle down with, not necessarily right now, but when he was older, and wanted to have a family of his own. He wondered if he'd ever have a family. He wondered if he'd spend the rest of his life alone, with no one, just memories of his mother and all the "could have beens" with the girls in the past. He also wondered if he'd die a virgin, but that was another subject all together.
He lifted his head up; surprised to see his hands were wet from tears. He didn't really want to cry, so he leaned back and lifted his head to look at the sky, in hopes the tears would go backwards, back into the depths of his soul, where they usually stayed. Instead, they continued to fill up his eyes, until they spill over and ran down his cheeks.
So, on this Friday night, two souls who were connected before they met, were crying out for each other. Both alone, with breaking hearts.
