It was about an hour long bus ride back to the grouphome. When i got there just as i had assumed all the staff practically ripped my throat out trying to get a better look at the hickies. I saw the kid in the back of the group frowning and then it hit me. I waved the staff away telling them to calm down as i walked towards the kid. His name was Marcus he was a tall white boy with dirty blonde hair and blue eyes. I called him a kid but he was older than me. I asked him about Noemi and he told me that he met her at the grouphome and had been trying to date her for the longest. I laughed then patted him on the shoulder and joked about stealing his girl. He was obviously not happy about it so i told him that i already met her parents, also joking but a staff heard and walk over with a curious look in her eye. The staffs name was Samantha and she loved to hear about the boys love lives outside of the home.
She asked me to clarify what i said so i told her exactly what had happened that night including certain details about our restroom interaction. Samantha burst with joy when i was done then hugged me yelling about how happy she was for me. I laughed giving Marcus a glance before pushing off Samantha. I yelled for Marcus to keep his head up and that girls weren't all that important. He laughed and then almost instantly cheered up. I went up to my room to pack a good amount of clothes while thinking about how easy it is to come and go. The staff had already gotten used to my frequent run aways and began to greet me on arrivals as well as send me off with nothing more than a "welcome back" or a "be safe out there". I stayed at the group home for the next 5 days texting Noemi while hanging out with the other boys.
On the fifth day i grabbed my bag and told staff that i was heading out. They waved me bye as usual and i stepped out along with 2 other boys who had different plans but decided leaving with me was the easiest way out. I started talking with them on the way to the bus stop before we went our seperate ways. I never really liked lovey dovey interactions because i just wasn't used to them but Noemi was different for the first time in my life i wanted to spend every second of the day with someone. Nights would come and she'd drag me to the restroom and days were never boring around her family. It was a feeling i had never felt before, true happiness. I spent the next 5 months running back and fourth from my grouphome and Noemi's house but by then her mom started to see all my flaws in detail and started pointing them out. I changed as much as i could for Noemi's sake but things just didn't work out, in the end her mom made us break up and told Noemi she had to go back to her grouphome. I was broken, I didn't know what to think and i just kept blaming Marcus for bringing Her to the apartment that day. Eventually i came back to my senses and realized crying about it wouldn't do me any good.
I spent more days stuck at the group home with no reason to leave, eventually the staff began to worry about me and questioned me about why i stopped leaving. Thats when i started to notice all the little things wrong with my personality. I changed again not for Noemi's or anyone else but for myself. Then I met her.