Chapter 3

It was one o'clock in the afternoon and he was still sound asleep in his 'new room'. His therapy appointment was at two so his grandmother decided to wake him up.

"Wake up, dear" She said to him, while shaking him gently. "It's one o'clock… your appointment is in an hour. Don't you want to shower and eat before you go?" He began to stir and mumbled something she couldn't figure out. "What was that, dear?"

He opened his eyes and saw that his grandmother was standing over him. He sat up immediately and grabbed a t-shirt that was lying besides his bed. "What's the time?" He asked her.

"It's one in the afternoon… and your appointment is in less then an hour" She told him.

"Appointment? I have an appointment? What kind of appointment?" He thought to himself when he suddenly remembered. Therapy. "Great" he mumbled. "I'm gonna take a shower" He told her. She just nodded and left his room. He started collecting the clean clothes he had brought with him and walked into the bathroom, which was at the other end of the hallway.

Emerging from the bathroom 10 minutes later he was on his way to the kitchen to get something to eat when he saw his grandmother walking towards him. "I've fixed you some breakfast, dear. It's on the table, ready to be eaten"

He just rolled his eyes and walked into the kitchen with her on his heals. On the table she had made 5 kinds of waffles, eggs, bacon and toast along with fruit and vegetables. And yeah, she had poured him some orange juice too. "You, uh, expecting someone?" He asked, not knowing why she had made that much food.

"No, not that I know of" She told him. "And I didn't really know what you'd like for lunch so at least now you have more to choose from"

"Uhm, thanks… But I eat almost everything so you don't have to go to so much trouble just for me" He said, while sitting down by the table, collecting some food on his plate.

"Nonsense" She assured him, "I enjoy cooking. And since I only live alone here I only get to cook for myself so be prepared to have a lot of home cooked meals while you stay here. And besides, it's not like an old lady like myself has anything better to do with their time"

"Well… don't you have a Newpsie convention or something?" He asked her

"Are you calling me a Newpsie?" She joked, but said it offensively though.

"Uhm… no?" He stated, more as a question then a fact. "I don't even know what a Newpsie is. Dad just always used to say it…" And with his last sentence he went quiet. That was the first time in over a year he had talked about his father without getting angry or raising his voice. Now there was even a hint of sadness in his voice. Although how he had left him, and how much he hated him for that, he did, in a strange way, miss him. But he wouldn't admit that to anyone.

But his grandmother had seen the sadness in his eyes when he had brought up his dad. She had, briefly, been informed on how he had reacted to the incident with his father but, seeing him now, she knew he was just a lost teenage boy who couldn't handle it all at once. "Yeah don't worry, I was just kidding you… But thinking about it, I guess I am a Newpsie… but I'd like to think I'm not as bad off like some of them are" She said, shooting him a smile.

He smiled back at her and went to finish his food.

After his lunch, his grandmother had taken him to therapy. He had assured her that he could walk there but, realizing he didn't know where it was, he finally agreed on letting her driving him.

"You want me to pick you up after your session?" She had asked him when they had arrived.

"Nah… I think I can manage" He told her.

"You sure? 'Cause I could always-" She started when he cut him off.

"Yeah, I want to walk" He assured her.

"That's fine, dear. See you when you get home then" She said as he started getting out of the car.

"Yeah, bye" He said as he made his way to the therapist's office.

As he got in the office, he stopped in front of the elevator. "Should I take the stairs or the elevator?" He thought to himself. After moments having thought about it he decided to take the stairs. That way he would have more time to think about what he would be getting himself into. And, well… he was afraid of heights and elevators didn't help much with that.

As he reached the 3rd floor he remained still in front of the door for a few second but then decided to go in. He looked around the room, briefly. There was only one other person in there, a dark-haired girl around his age. She was sitting in a chair, listening to her iPod and looking through some magazine. He went in and sat down in the nearest chair he could find. He sat there still for a moment and then stood up again and began walking rapidly through the room until he finally decided to leave. He opened the door and was about to go when a voice cut him off. "Are you bailing already?" He looked back and saw that the voice belonged to the dark-haired girl he had seen in the diner the previous day.

"Yeah well… it wasn't my idea to go here" He told her

"Same here" She told him, "Can I bail with you? I could show you around Newport and you can give me that free meal you promised me"

He laughed slightly "Sure" He said, "I'm Ryan by the way"

The girl nodded and said, "Marissa"