First Kiss
The young boy, who sat on the old wooden chair, was obviously bored of waiting and staring out of the window. Opposite him, behind the big desk, a woman of about fifty was writing something on her computer. She looked pretty old-fashioned with her big glasses, the ugly beige dress and her greyish brown hair which was put back severely.
He knew her too well — unfortunately. It wasn't the first time that he sat in this cold looking office waiting; he was also pretty sure that it wouldn't be his last time. They youth welfare office was something like a second home for him. Or third or fourth or fifth... . He had stopped counting the numerous foster families he had been living with since his mother had died and his father had just left him without saying a word.
"Lex!" he heard the woman calling and looked up. "I'm talking with you," she told him with piercing eyes that made him shiver.
"And?" he asked staying as calm as possible. "I said that I don't want to see you again here. Be nice to this family, don't steal, don't destroy anything. Got the drift?"
"Yes," the young boy replied sighing and rolled his eyes. He had heard that every time he had been here when a new family was coming to pick him up. They were all so stupid... so petty bourgeois — he hated all of them. Deep inside he knew why but he would never admit that he compared every of them with his beloved mum and they all weren't even half as nice and caring as she was.
Suddenly it knocked. Lex didn't take his eyes away from the window though — he was fascinated by the twinkling snowflakes, which were growing bigger and bigger in size and in beauty. He knew exactly that it was the new family; the other staff of the youth welfare office were knocking only very rarely but just coming in. Apart from that the knocking was pretty unsure. "Lex, these are the Oldhams," he was told and so forced to look up.
Confused Lex noticed that they looked surprisingly nice, something he hadn't expected at all. Sometimes he was tired of all those new people in his life and the constant moving from one foster family to a children's home to another foster family and so on and so on. But so far he had always found something he didn't like about a certain family and then he tortured them until they sent him back because they couldn't endure him any longer.
"Hello," the woman said smiling directly at him. Lex, who was trying not to show any of his feelings, replied as bored as he could, "Hi."
Short time later he left the office with the Oldhams after he was told several times not to be rebellious but nice. While Mr Oldham was driving the big family car Lex stared out of the window but felt that Mrs Oldham was watching him. He didn't really notice that they were leaving the city centre, the snowflakes in their fragility were much more fascinating.
"Here we are," the woman said with a friendly voice after the car had stopped. Getting off the car Lex was overwhelmed — that was definitely the biggest house he had ever seen. He followed the two adults into the house and wanted to run away immediately. In front of him stood a girl of about the same age as he was with a toddler in her arms.
"Lex, this is Janie, our daughter, and the baby's name is Caleb," Mr Oldham introduced his family to him. "I didn't know you had other children," he blurted out with what he was thinking. "Come on, follow us to the living room; there we can talk."
They led him into the big main room of the house. The first thing he spotted was the chimney in which a fire was crackling. Sitting down he suddenly felt the touch of coming home but he took barely notice of it.
"First, I would like to tell you something Lex. We sure want to be a family for you but we don't want to be a substitute for your mother, of course not; no one can do that," Mrs Oldham told him. "The reason we do this is my past; I've spent ten years of my life in a children's home. So I may not know how you feel but I can at least understand how it is to have no real home," the family man explained their consideration.
"But you already have two children," Lex said still not understanding why they decided to be his foster family. "Well, we've always wanted to have a foster child but we only got the chance a couple of days ago." Since Lex only nodded their conversation seemed to come to a standstill. "Okay...," Mrs Oldham began to speak again when the baby boy started to cry. She excused herself and left the room with him in her arms to change his nappy.
"I don't know how to call you," Lex noticed looking questioningly at the man opposite him. "I'm Jonas and my wife's name is Emily." They had decided that this would be the easiest solution for now. "Okay," the boy sighed deeply in thoughts. And again no one seemed to know what else to say; they were all a bit uncomfortable with this situation of a new beginning. Lex started to stare out of the window again while father and daughter looked at each other shrugging their shoulders.
"What if Janie shows you your room now?" Emily said when she came back to them. "Yes, come on," the twelve-year-old agreed jumping up from the couch. Only hesitantly Lex got up following the dark blonde girl upstairs. She went to the door at the end of the corridor and opened it when he finally stood beside her. Nervously he entered the room and was taken aback again — the light room was gigantic in comparison to all the previous ones he had been living in so far.
"Do you think you'll like it here?" the girl wanted to know full of curiosity. "Definitely," he replied with sparkling eyes. "Great. Well then... welcome in your new home," the girl smiled at him. Seconds later she pressed her lips on his. At first he was surprised when he felt the soft touch of her already perfectly shaped lips and wanted to push her away, but soon he noticed that it felt good and decided to just let it happen enjoying it as much as possible. This was something new but it would definitely not be the last time he was doing this.
"Why did you do that?" he asked a little confused despite everything. "I just wanted to welcome you," Janie still smiled and left the room then leaving a confused yet fascinated Lex behind.
Sitting down on his new big bed he thought that this was the best beginning he had ever had with a foster family; maybe he should really try this time to get it working. This could be his chance to return to a somewhat normal life, and he probably wouldn't feel so lonely anymore at certain times. He would do his best, he finally decided. thinking about his mum, who would probably be very happy and extremely proud of him if he managed this — and he wanted to do it for her, his beloved mother.
