The Friend I Needed

Nineteen.

Nineteen.

Oddie parked her car right in front of the Lament Cave in absolute silence, grabbing her duffle bag she nodded her head to the kids for them to get out of the car.

Doing as she said they walked behind her into the gym, being greeted by a cheerful Roy who was training some of the newbies they had.

“Oddie, my darling. Good to see… you.”

He stopped at the sight of her smile, she silently kissed his cheek gently caressing his beard before walking over to a bench, dropping her bag she took off her hoodie and fixed the gloves on her hands.

She walked over to the side of the ring grabbing jumping ropes to start her warmup, completely ignoring the young boys who stood beside the owner of the gym.

Roy crossed his tattooed arms over his chest with a grim look on his face, he looked down at the children who held hands trying not to pout nor cry.

“Ok, who pissed her off?”

Gabriel lifted his hand with a dull look while Elliot point at him as well, the man exhaled closing his eyes. Standing behind them he put his hands on their shoulders pushing them to sit in the bench.

“I have no idea what happened earlier, I can only be sure that she’s currently pissed and that’s not good. So just stay here and let her cool off.”

“What are you gonna do, uncle Roy?” Elliot asked tilting his head to the side, in the man’s eyes that boy was way too cute for his own good.

“I’m gonna try and get her to sweat the anger out of her system.”

Both kids watched as he walked over to her and started to give her instructions on what to do next. Gabriel bend over to rest his face on his hands, covering his gloomy expression.

“Don’t worry, Gabe. After workout she won’t be that mad.”

“You sound so sure about that I almost believed you.” He groaned trying not to feel as guilty as he was feeling right now. “It’s not like she’s going to forget it just like that.”

“Well, at least after this she’ll be too tired to yell at you.” Elliot tried to cheer him up but it wasn’t working at all.

“She doesn’t yell, Elli. Never has she yelled at me, maybe raised her voice a little but nothing more. A few times she has s*****d me and believe me when I say, I couldn’t sit on my butt for two days.”

“What did you do for her to s***k you?”

“I… yelled at grandpa… and nana Thea… and when she tried to scold me about it, I yelled at her and pushed her away.” His head almost reached the floor at how ashamed he was; Elliot’s eyes went wide at that little piece of knowledge he got. “I was acting like a true spoiled annoying kid and I really did deserve the spanking.”

“Woah… I’ve never yelled at my parents.”

His feet dangled from the seat, he was too short for them to touch the floor. With a calm aura he stared at the woman who punched a bag with Roy shouting commands and correcting her mistakes.

“Don’t think I don’t do that because I love them, I just don’t have to yell at all. Just my mere presence is enough to anger them.” Gabriel now wanted to punch himself.

He had a good aunt who raised him as a loving mother would, he had lots of people showering him in humble love and kindness and yet, he sometimes was a rude kid yelling and insulting them.

Then we had Elliot, the sweet and kind boy who was constantly abused by his so-called parents who rather have him get lost than pick him up from school.

“Don’t compare your situation with mine, Gabriel.” The little one frowned at the other, catching him by surprise. “Don’t ever do that. I’m not complaining and I’m not trying to make you look like an ungrateful child because I know you’re not.”

“I’m sorry. It’s just… sometimes I have this mood swings that I try to control so hard; that time I was just throwing a tantrum and it cost me something worse than a spanking.”

“What can be worse than that?”

“Her silence.”

…

Half an hour later, a cheerful handsome young man walked into the gym greeting everyone with a smile. When he saw Oddie having a match with Carter, his smile went wider.

If she was there, then Gabriel was too and he loved that child way too much. So making his towards the child, his beam faded at the sight of his gloomy self.

“And here I thought this was about to get better.” He kneeled before both children, lifting Gabe’s face with his rough gentle fingers. “Hey, there buddy. A dollar for your thoughts?”

“Hi, Zach.”

“She’s mad, uh?” His voice was rough but yet so soothing.

From Elliot’s point of view, that guy could easily be Nathan’s younger brother as they looked a like a little.

His hair was a lighter shade of brown and his eyes were a pretty honey brown color, but other than that, they had the same gentle smiles, big arms and incredible height.

So the little boy came to a conclusion: that guy Zach was another bear.

“Yeah.” Was Gabriel’s mere answer, the young man wasn’t sure of what had happened and he was willing to ask more, but first he wanted to know who the other kid was.

“I had no idea Oddie had another child.” He smiled at the kid who blushed trying to hide a little on Gabriel’s arm. “Name’s Zach Smith-Wright, I’m a friend of Oddie’s.”

“Elliot Wilkins.” He mumbled stretching his hand to shake with him, Zach laughed amused taking the small hand on his. “I’m Gabriel’s best friend.”

“Best friend, uh? Now that’s new and I like it. If you ever need anything you can come to me, I’ll help you out.” He winked bringing a smile on both kids’ faces. “A friend of Oddie and Gabriel is a friend of mine.”

“Does that mean I’m under your protection?” Now Elliot sat straight and leaned forward to take a better look at the honey eyed man.

“Yes indeed you are, I won’t let anyone hurt you.” He leaned forward as well almost knocking foreheads with him. “Now care to tell me what happened? Must be something bad if Oddie wants to win her match with a punching bag by knockout and Gabe looks this miserable.”

“Well,” Elliot started, looking at Gabriel for a moment to get approval to keep on talking, when he did by mere nod, he continued. “It’s not that long of a story.”

“I’m all ears.” Zach sat down in front of both, listening intently not wanting to miss a thing.

“Ok.”

..

“I’ll cheer for you.”

“Thanks for the support.” Gabriel gave him a look before taking a deep breath and getting into the front seat and leaned to kiss her on the cheek. “Hey, Oddie.”

“Hey, pumpkin.” She saw Elliot standing outside and frowned looking back at her boy. “Stood up by his parents again, uh?”

“Yup, he asked if he can spend the day with us before he goes back home.”

“He doesn’t even have to ask.” She turned to Elliot once more smiling brightly. “Get in, baby.”

He did as he was told and leaned over to kiss her cheek too before he sat back on and buckled up.

“I suppose Gabe told you we’re not going home, right? I’m sorry darling, but I already missed a week of gym and uncle Roy will murder me.”

“It’s alright, I’m the one tagging along so wherever you go I go.” He smiled and she had to control herself before she crushed him in a hug.

“Alright then, you’ll get to meet two more friends of mine. They’re cool so you’ll like them, I hope.” She spoke while driving with a smile.

“Zach, right?”

“Yeah, did Gabe told you about him? He’s one of my best friends.”

“Just told me his name, who’s the other friend?”

“His name’s Carter, he’s a good friend. But he can’t always hangout with all of us, he has lots of responsibilities so that’s why you haven’t seen him yet.”

They stopped at a red light, Gabriel was messing with the radio and Elliot was staring at him attentively, waiting for him to tell Oddie about the note.

“Either way, how was school?”

Both children froze at the question, not knowing how she would react after hearing the reality.

“I myself had a pretty chill day, everyone’s working so hard to bring the project to perfection. If you guys want to, I can take you to the office in the holidays; I’m sure you’ll like to see all the cool things we have there.”

“Yeah, that’d be cool.”

Elliot gave a nervous laugh getting the complete attention of Oddie, who frowned a little at him before giving a side look at Gabriel, he kept his face hidden under the cap.

“So, how was school today?” Her voice changed a bit, so both knew that she had caught on that something not good had happened.

“I was congratulated for beating my record in tracks. I’m not as good as Gabe yet, but I’m trying to be better.” Elliot tried to cheer the situation but it was too late, she had figured something wrong was up.

“That’s amazing, baby. I can help you train if you want. Now Gabriel, how was your day?” The said boy flinched at the tone she had on her voice.

“Good…” He barely whispered, Oddie’s eye twitched, she knew he was lying.

“Gabriel.” Both kids flinched, she hated to be lied to. “Do I have to repeat myself?”

“No, ma’am.” His voice was barely a whisper and Elliot decided that he better be silent for the upcoming situation.

Gabriel opened his backpack and took out the colored note, she barely saw it but by the color and length of it, her eyes went wide.

Quickly she pulled over to the side of the road and parked. He then handed her the note and to read it, but she didn’t even try to touch it.

“Read it.” She kept on staring at the road, hand gripping the steering wheel and Elliot trying to figure out how to manage to hide behind the seats. “Loud and clear.”

“Detention report. Gabriel Beaulieu. Reason for detention…” he briefly stopped to look at Oddie, but her eyes were too far away from him. With a deep breath he continued. “Not paying attention in most of his classes, getting called out by his teacher three times when disturbing the class by yelling and threatening a classmate.”

Now, anyone would expect a mother to start yelling and scolding her child in anger after such a note. But all Gabriel received was pure chilling silence, not even a slap on the head or an evil glare. Just nothing.

And just like that, she started driving again, not speaking at all and avoiding looking at him.

...

“Mmm, I see.” Zach sighed scratching the back of his head, he looked back at Gabriel with both serious and worried look. “Now I know you’re not the kind of kid to bring trouble. As far as I know this is the very first time you get detention, right?”

Gabriel nodded with his head still hanging low. Zach felt the need to hug him and let him know everything would be ok, but he couldn’t. He had done something bad and didn’t need to be spoiled.

“I guess you haven’t told her why you threaten a classmate?” The boy shook his head, having the older sigh again, holding two fingers on top of his nose. “Why did you do that? It’s not like you to be violent at all.”

“He annoys me.”

“Yeah, well there are a lot of people who annoy the hell out of me but you don’t see me threatening them on a daily basis, do you?” The boy shook his head once more.

Whenever his own father wasn’t there to scold him for being naughty, you would find Zach acting the father. Both scolding him and giving him good advice, trying to make the boy understand that there were things he should never do or at least, try to avoid doing.

“No, Zach.”

“Have anyone in the family thought you to be like that? I don’t think any of us has ever been violent in front of you. And our fighting matches do not count.”

“No, never.”

“Then why did you do that?” Now kneeling before him with a serious face, he lifted the little one’s face. “Why did you threaten another child, Gabriel?”

“He was trying to distract me from class when I was paying attention…” he stopped not wanting to finish the sentence.

“And?” Not that Zach gave a damn about it, he needed to know the whole truth.

“He bad mouthed Oddie and I told him to stop or I’d make him cry and regret it.”

Zach really wanted to be completely and absolutely pissed, but at the same time he wanted to be proud that the little one wanted to protect his mother no matter what. Either way, that was no excuse to threaten someone.

“You know you did bad right?”

“Yes. But I don’t regret it.” Both Elliot and Zach’s eyes went wide in surprise.

“What?”

“I won’t and I never will, regret defending my mother’s honor. I don’t care if they talk about me or try to hurt me, but when it comes to her… I rather have her mad at me than her hurt by others.”

The young fighter had no idea of what to do, so he laughed. He laughed hard and loud catching the attention of other people in the gym, including Oddie and Carter who briefly stopped to see.

Roy gave them an odd look before going back to training, Elliot just stared in silence as Gabriel kept the serious eyes. That was an unexpected comment, but Zach would be lying if he said he wasn’t proud right now.

“You, little one.” He ruffled Gabriel’s hair while standing up, smirking down at him. “Are incredible.”

“Shouldn’t you be mad? Why are you telling me that?”

“Don’t get me wrong. I’m still bothered about it and now I understand why Oddie is pissed. But that doesn’t mean I can’t be proud of you, you’re a lot like him.”

“Him?”

“Ollie. Your dad was just like that when younger, even though I didn’t meet him until college. But for what I was told, there wasn’t a nose he couldn’t break if someone ever dare bad mouth his loving twin.”

Gabriel blushed. He always did whenever someone told him something about his father, he liked it a lot when they said he was like him. That meant that he was doing good, even if sometimes it looked bad, at becoming someone as great as his hero.

“Took you long enough to get in trouble though. I guess we can blame Oddie’s genes on you.”

“What are you talking about now?” Gabriel tilted his head up with a weirded face, trying to understand the man.

“Ollie got in trouble quite often.”

“You said you didn’t meet him in his younger days.” Elliot pointed out earning a wide grin from the honey eyed man.

“Yeah, I said that. But it doesn’t mean he didn’t get in trouble while in college.”

With that, he walked away towards Roy only to get scolded by the older. Getting a hard slap on his head that almost knocked him down onto the floor.

“What kind of father do you have?” Elliot gave his friend a curious glance.

“Quite an interesting one apparently.”

Gabriel looked back at Oddie who was now watching both Carter and Zach spar in the ring, whispering some things to Roy and pointing out some flaw and improvements on both guys.

“Well, apparently, all your family is quite interesting.”

“I guess so.”

“You’re lucky. Is it wrong and selfish of me to say that I envy you?”

“Not at all, they’re your family too now. You’re safe with us.”

“Am I…” Elliot hesitated a little, fidgeting with the edge of his shirt looking down at his worn out shoes. “Am I really worth… the acceptance of them? Of you?”

“I don’t see why not.” Gabriel held his hand, squeezing a little with a small smile.

Elliot smiled back at him holding his hand tightly in his, both looking back at the people in front of them. He wanted to cry again but held his tear back, his eyes couldn’t leave Zach.

He liked him, he was amazing as a person, he was a great fighter and what caught his attention more than anything, was the fatherly feeling he gave off.

‘If only I could have someone like him to call dad.’