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Everyone's Got Problems

Guest wrongturntaken

By Guest wrongturntaken
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wrongturntaken

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Thanks for all the comments, really help with making updates quicker! Bit of a shorter chapter this time, i hope you like it! (Just about made it by three! (or one minute past, lol))

Chapter 2.

"Do you want something to eat?" Tess asked Lisa as they walked in to the kitchen of her beach side house.

"Uh, what do you have?" Lisa asked, looking around curiously as she followed Tess in to the room.

Tess looked in the fridge, "Oh," she groaned. "Nothing… I can offer you an OJ though?"

"That's cool," Lisa laughed, "Um, is your Dad around?" she asked, pretending to be indifferent.

Tess shut the fridge door, quickly, "Oh, please, do not start this again!" she cried, getting out two glasses and placing them on the kitchen counter before pouring the juice into them evenly.

"Hey! It's not my fault your Dad is so hot," Lisa defended herself.

Tess shook her head gently; laughing.

"Oh, come on, it's not like your blood related, you must have noticed!"

"Ew!" Tess squealed. "Just because he's not my biological father does not mean he's not my dad so thinking… that… is just gross!" she added.

"Okay!" Lisa said; raising her hands in surrender, "…but let me tell you, you are missing out! I mean… if he looks this good now, imagine what he looked like twenty years ago."

Tess laughed, "Do you want to see pictures?" she said jokingly.

"Yes," Lisa responded immediately.

"I was kidding!"

"I don't care… if you have pictures; you have to show them to me!" Lisa said determinedly.

"I'm not showing you pictures of my Dad to perve over!" Tess glared at her.

"Oh," Lisa whined just as Aden walked through the door, obviously just from the beach as he was shirtless and his hair looked like it had only just dried.

"Hi, Dad," Tess greeted; smiling.

"Hi, love," Aden answered, looking at Tess and then smiling politely at Lisa whose jaw had now dropped at the sight of Aden's toned body.

"Hi, Mr. Jefferies," she said in a high pitched voice.

"Please don't call me Mr. Jefferies, it makes me feel so old… it's Aden," he told her kindly. "…and you are?"

"This is Lisa," Tess filled in for her, as she seemed to have lost the ability to speak.

Aden looked at Tess weirdly; silently asking her if this girl was okay. Tess nodded slowly in response and tried to hold back a laugh. "We're just going to work on our English assignment."

"Okay," Aden said. "Right, I'm going to go and get dressed and then I'm going to the Drop In Centre, can you tell your Mum where I am when she gets back from work?"

"Sure," Tess agreed and Aden turned to leave the kitchen and she suddenly remembered the situation in the fridge, "Dad?" he turned around and looked at her questioningly, "…we don't have any food."

Aden looked around the kitchen as though he had x-ray vision to see inside all the cupboards and the fridge, "Right, I'll have to go shopping tonight then... sorry… I guess your mother and I just lost track of what needed doing."

Tess smiled in gratitude and watched him leave.

"Woah!" Lisa breathed once Aden's absence had filled the room.

"What?" Tess asked her tiredly.

"You did not tell me he looked like that underneath…" she said before she was interrupted.

"Lisa!" Tess exclaimed exasperatedly and her new friend stopped talking. "Come on, let's go to my room and try and get this assignment done."

Lisa followed Tess up the stairs, "Wow, I love your room," she breathed quietly, taking in the purple theme that Tess had decorated her room with… purple walls, purple curtains, purple bed linen, but all different shades. "Why purple?"

Tess shrugged, "I don't know, just seemed right," she told Lisa looking around her room, trying to see it from an outsider's perspective. She groaned when she saw the photo frame on her nightstand that she was sure Lisa would take notice of any second. She was right.

Lisa picked up the photo, "Who are all these people?" she asked softly.

Tess tried to smile at Lisa, but instead felt tears stinging the back of her eyes, that photo was her favourite, it had everyone she considered family in it, even those that weren't born yet… and the back drop of the Drop In centre just made it all the more special as it showed what they had all accomplished together.

She took the photo from Lisa and guided her through it, "That's obviously my Dad, you've seen him before," she said softly.

Lisa smiled but didn't joke this time as she had sensed this photo was not one to joke around with by the way Tess was looking at it reminiscently. "…and that's me on his hip, I was two years old there."

"Who's that?" Lisa asked, pointing to a woman in the frame.

"That's my Mum… Belle… and that little bump you can just about see is Mark," Tess told her, smiling slightly. "…and that woman next to her is Irene, you met her at the diner today."

Lisa nodded, "That woman looks a lot like Rachel," she said pointing to another figure.

"That's Nicole, she's Rachel's Mum… and that bump is Rachel… and stood next to her is Rachel's dad… Geoff and then that's Annie, his sister."

"What about him?" Lisa asked, pointing to the tall blonde man.

Tess swallowed and let out a short breath, it had been nearly a year, yet she still found it hard just thinking about him, "That's Roman, he was Rachel's grandfather and pretty much a grandfather to me and Mark too; our Dad lived with him when he was a teenager."

Lisa looked up at Tess with a soft look on her face, "…was?" she questioned.

"He died," Tess said, suddenly putting the photo back on the night stand.

"I'm sorry," Lisa said, she was able to see how much talking about him hurt Tess and knew they must have been quite a close family.

"It's okay," Tess forced a smile and changed the subject, "Let's get on with our assignment."

*

Aden had just finished doing the food shopping and was paying for it at the check out when his phone rang.

"Hey, honey," he answered it, "Yeah… I'm just at the shops now, so hopefully we'll be having something real for dinner tonight for once… yes I'll cook… don't laugh… yeah okay… I'll be home soon… oh wait… a few new people came in last night, did you put their contact details into the database?... …thank you… okay… I love you," by the time Aden had finished his phone call with Belle, whilst the woman on the checkout looked at him disapprovingly for being rude, he had simultaneously managed to pack all the food into bags, bar a loaf of bread, which he held in his hand as he busied himself with hanging up his phone.

The next second the bread was gone as he saw a figure running away from him suddenly, followed by two security guards who caught up with him and held him still with his hands behind his back.

Aden quickly paid and then dashed over to the three figures.

"I believe this is yours sir," one of the security guards said to Aden and handed him back the bread, Aden took it but didn't bag it.

"Sorry, this boy's always causing trouble round here," the other one said and Aden looked at the boy between them, struggling to shake them off and looking angry that he had been caught.

"He wasn't causing me any trouble, I bought him the bread," Aden told them as the boy stopped struggling and looked at Aden in shock.

"What?" one of the guards said, "…but he was running away from you?"

"We were just messing around," Aden said simply, "…sorry if you got the wrong idea."

"Oh, well… we'll just let you both go then," one of them said awkwardly, "…but I warn you, he's trouble."

"I'm sure I can handle it," Aden told them with a fake smile.

They let go of the boy and he turned and walked away from Aden who shook his head slowly before following him, keeping a couple of metres away until they were out of the shop.

"You're welcome by the way," Aden called and watched as the boy turned around to look at him angrily.

"I didn't ask for your help, so don't expect a thank you," he said slowly, full of loathing.

Aden laughed lightly, "Is that the way you treat everyone who tries to help you?"

The boy shook his head in annoyance and turned back away from Aden.

Aden didn't move, "…bread's a pretty weird thing to steal…" he commented.

The boy turned around again, "It's none of your business, and why don't you just leave me alone cos I don't need your help... I don't need anyone's help…"

"I'm Aden," Aden said, ignoring the way the boy was speaking to him and trying to continue a conversation.

"I know who you are… you're that do-gooder from school," the boy said in disgust. "Just running yet another institution that thinks it's actually helping people..." he continued angrily.

Aden registered his comment wondering where all this anger towards him was coming from, "I thought I recognised you," he said after a pause. "…you're the one that left in the middle of my talk… I gotta tell you, I was a little offended," he continued.

"So? I left because you were talking a load of bull," the boy said.

Aden raised his eyebrows slightly, "I know hundreds of people that would disagree with you but I guess you're entitled to your opinion," he answered and then after a short pause asked, "What's your name?"

"Tyler," the boy answered shortly, looking agitated, as though he wanted to leave but was rooted to the spot.

"Well, Tyler if you ever want to talk, here's my card," Aden said handing over a piece of paper.

Tyler took the card, "Thanks, but I've coped this far without you, I'm sure I'll be fine," he said and then added begrudgingly, "…sorry for taking the bread."

"Keep it," Aden said, holding it out.

"I don't need your charity," Tyler said defensively.

"It's not charity, call it a reminder… seriously, if you ever want to talk," Aden said gently.

"Do you ever stop?" Tyler exclaimed angrily not accepting any of Aden's offers.

"Not if I think someone's in trouble," Aden told him simply.

"You met me two seconds ago!" Tyler exclaimed, "…and you definitely don't know me, so don't think you do!"

"Fair enough, but first impressions can be telling, especially as you were close to being arrested," Aden countered.

"Whatever… just leave me alone, alright?" Tyler shouted and turned to leave once again.

"Do you want a lift home?" Aden called cautiously, he wasn't sure why, but he felt a connection to this boy that he'd never felt with another kid he'd tried to help. Perhaps it was the fact that his attitude reminded him of his when he was younger and he now wondered where it was coming from and how he could help. Tyler turned his head, "…it's getting dark," Aden explained.

"I stopped being frightened of the dark a long time ago," Tyler said tiredly, "You can't stop what comes out of it, so why bother being afraid?" and this time he walked off, not giving Aden a second look.

Aden watched him go, that last comment was worrying but he knew that someone with Tyler's attitude would have to come to him when he was ready. He couldn't force it, or he'd just push him away and in to more trouble.

Thanks for reading, and please leave me a comment!

I guess your thoughts on Tess's age have kind of been explained...

Questions that will be answered in upcoming chapters:

How did Tess come to be adopted?

How did Roman die?

Why does Tyler have this attitude?

If you have any more just let me know in a comment! Thanks!

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