Push.

14. 'Cause it's a Little Bit Dirty

14. 'Cause it's a Little Bit Dirty

He put the interaction in the back of his mind for the next two weeks, and before he knew it, it was graduation day.

He had asked Rozzi not to tell him about anything having to do with Scott anymore. He couldn't bear to hear about these things without being able to reach out to him.

Part of Mitch felt like he was abandoning the man, but he had to continue to tell himself that Scott wanted it this way.

He flopped down next to Kirstin in the stands of the football field, groaning.

"It's a bittersweet day," she said softly, as the graduates filtered in. They sat in silence as people cheered around them.

"I have to tell you something, Mitch." Kirstin mumbled, right as the video monitor zoomed in on a cocky-looking asshole who was among the last to filter in.

Oh wait. It was Noah.

"If it's about this moron, you know that I don't want to hear it," Mitch whispered.

"He's moving. To Chicago."

Mitch raised an eyebrow. "Okay. Maybe I do want to hear it."

The music ended and the graduates were asked to take their seats as a man in a suit took the podium.

As the applause died down, Mitch's heart stopped with the words that left Kirstin's mouth.

"He asked Scott to go with him."

He couldn't focus on the ceremony. He continuously allowed his eyes to fill with tears, just to blink them away every thirty seconds or so. His hands shook until his bones hurt.

"I'm sorry, Mitch. I just wanted to make sure you knew. So that maybe you could say goodbye? Rozzi thinks he's gonna go."

"Why would he go?"

"Maybe you can ask him that."

"He doesn't talk to me. Hell, he's probably leaving because of me. With a verbally abusive asshole. Hopefully JUST verbally abusive."

"Either way, I think you should talk to him one more time."

"You were the one who has been trying to encourage me to give him the space he needed."

"I think I was wrong."

"So what does he need now?"

"Honestly? I think he needs you, possibly even more than you need him."

"And you couldn't be on this page with me, what, three months ago?"

"I'm not a psychologist, Mitch. I don't know what the hell I'm doing!"

The crowd around them turned, narrowing their eyes at the pair in a nonverbal warning to shut the hell up.

Mitch wondered if Scott's family was here.

Come to think of it, he knew nothing of Scott's family at all, other than that his parents weren't helping him pay for school.

So he spent the rest of the ceremony thinking of Scott Hoying. His past, his future. What a refreshing change from thinking about Scott Hoying, Mitch thought with a roll of his eyes.

He could figure out where some families were sitting based on loud cheers from sections of the audience as certain students crossed the stage.

He heard a loud scream from the right side of the front when Rozzi crossed the stage for her diploma.