so far (so good)

5

A\N: there will be talking about panic attacks but only lightly.

word count:1175

By lunch another worker came to release us, me and Tyler went back to the red velvet cafe again. We had our lunch and started talking, and I was happy Tyler had not brought up what happened earlier.

"Do you want to talk about what happened earlier? '' and the obligation quotation, that always gets brought up.

"No, not really, but it is enevadete." I knew sooner or later I will need to talk about it.

"Well can I ask another question then?" I nodded slightly for him to proceed, " how do i best help?"

"help with what exactly?" I was confused at the statement.

"How do I help you, with whatever you are clearly going through at the moment."

"Just be there as you were earlier, I guess. I'm not really sure. And just so you know, I can get panic attacks, so if it happens don't freak out about it." it was the first time someone wanted to willingly help me,

"Are there any signs to look for if it ever happens?"

"The earliest visible signs are almost always shaking and, or hyperventilating and with that dizziness, and I will most likely zone out before it will blow up. the other tellings are hard to spot from the outside, and sometimes my mind will just race away and you won't be able to shut me up." I said shyly, looking at my hands tugging at my jacked sleeves.

"And if this happens, how should I handle it in the best way, and what could set it off?"

"Just talk, try to distract me from it. And with what could set it off: I'm not really sure, but one thing that I know can trigger it is large crowds and when I feel that I'm losing control." once again it felt odd, it was so easy to talk to him, like we would have known each other for years now.

"And if that happens, you just want to get away to a calmer place?"

"Yeah, that normally helps it."

After a while we had been talking for an hour but it felt like just 20 minutes. I got a call from Hunter, I wasn't sure whether to answer it or not. After a few seconds of thought, I decided to answer it.

"Hi, I'm so glad you picked up. I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for lashing out on you earlier. And I get it if you are still mad at me." Hunter said as quickly as I answered, letting out a small sigh.

"I'm not mad at you, well I was a bit first, but I get it, and to be honest, I was kinda scared, we haven't fought in ages and I didnt want this to be the reason that we stopped talking to each other." I could finally relax, I didn't even realise how tense I was.

"It's nice to hear that. Not the part of you being scared our friendship would end but that you aren't mad at me anymore."

"How could I, I probably won't survive for that long without you and you know that!"

"Yeah, yeah, but could you meet me after your shift so we could talk some? I think we could benefit from that."

"Of course, I'll be at your place around five. I think." And with that we said our goodbyes and hung up.

When we were done with our lunch we went back to the shop to close up. Just when we were walking out a woman approached us.

"Excuse me, are you already closed?" she asked us.

"No not yet, do you need help with anything?" Tyler answered, returning her politeness. He held the door open for the woman to walk in.

"Yes, I'm looking for some herbs to finish a craft."

"Yeah, which ones do you need?" Tyler was quite used to helping with different kinds of witches.

After a couple minutes the woman had gotten all the things she needed, and Tyler and I closed the store and because we were done early we decided to take a walk and just clear our heads.

we walked in silence, it was comfortable. It was nice to just have someone around, just being there not needing to explain everything to them, but they just believe what I'm saying is real, and he do not need proof to believe it. It was a nice change. as we got closer to the cafe Tyler stopt, in the middle of the sidewalk.

"What's wrong?" I couldn't see a reason to stop, was something wrong? Has something happened?

"nothing is wrong, i just wanted to say that if you don't want to you can go to your friend already, I don't mind." Why would he think that? maybe he also is insecure, that i have a lot of experience in.

"Why would I want to leave already?"

"You have had a tough day and i thought that you could use some time to just relax"

"Oh, I love Hunter but sometimes they don't always understand what's happening, there was a reason why we decided to meet at five and not earlier. it can be a little too much sometimes, Hunter is basically my only friend so we spend a lot of time together."

"you don't have anyone else to talk to?" Tyler seemed quite shocked by that, he must be one of the popular jocks growing up, with tons of friends and every one knowing who he is.

"Why is that so shocking for you? What, I bet you were always this popular jock with all the friends and everyone knowing who you were, never a problem in your life!?" I was starting to get upset. Have I just imagined that Tyler is a nice guy, how stuck up could he be? Maybe he was just pretending to be nice like everyone else, if so he should receive an oscar for that performance.

"Why would you think that?"

"You obviously seemed surprised that I don't know that many people, that I'm not a social person. So it is not hard to draw the parallels that you probably are quite well known and has a lot of social ties"

"Just because something surprises me doesn't mean that I'm not familiar with it. I only ever had one real friend, she disappeared when I was 16, probably passed away by now, and before them I was homeschooled, I never had any social interactions before the age of 9." Tyler started to slowly walk towards me and then slowly grabbed my arms. "I was surprised because you seem like an amazing person, I can't see why people wouldn't want to be your friend" when he finished I could feel a tear slowly falling from my eye, I quickly moved to wipe it away with the back of my hand.

"I'm sorry I'm not used to meeting and actually talking to 'new' people, could we skip the cafe and just take a walk instead?"

"Yeah, that sounds like a plan"