Get Me To A Church

CHAPTER 5: HIDDEN

SAL

          "Do you... not have a face under there... or what?" Travis asked.

           I glanced over at Travis and chortled. "Yes," I replied sarcastically. "No, but really, I was in an accident. I just wear this to cover the scarring and... well, disfiguration."

           He furrowed his eyebrows in what I think was concern... or maybe just him being squeamish. "What's it look like?" He paused. "Or, actually, I don't think I wanna know."

           Ouch. None of the other stupid shit he said to me ever hurt, but that one stung. I wasn't even sure why; he'd probably never even see my face. He wasn't enough of a friend to me to see it. Something about it just didn't sit right with me. I didn't even need to tell him his mistake before he realized that what he said might be insensitive.

           "No, wait," he budged in. "I didn't mean that." He put his head in his hands. "Fuck. I'm a shit friend. I'm just so used to being a jerk — I didn't mean that, really. I'm sure your face is nice," he said all in one breath. The last sentence made him cringe. "I didn't say that last part. Your face is... cool. Shit, that's worse."

           I snorted humorously and hunched forward. His face, neck, and ears could get really red when he was embarrassed. He looked at his shoes with his usual pissed cat face. "Hey, man, just chill out. It's okay," I told him.

           It took a while for the red on his face to subdue even when we were talking about totally different things entirely. This time, we didn't discuss his dad at all. He didn't say anything, and I didn't bring it up. I think he needed a break, a distraction. That's what I promised anyway — a friend for when he wanted to escape.