Bad Days

Delilah's at Daycare

The car was quiet.

"..So how did the chemistry test go?" Jordan asked.

Declan glared at him.

"Oh, fine." Jordan mumbled

Declan saw Bennett send a wary glance over to Naomi in the front seat next to him. She had her arms crossed and her head tilted back. Her jaw clenched and unclenched as she stared out to the road, completely zoned out.

The car stopped at a red light.

Declan looked at Bennett through the rearview mirror only to find he was already looking at him. Declan pointedly looked at Naomi and back at Bennett, hoping he would be able to do something. Bennett slightly shook his head, then cast his eyes back at the road.

Naomi sighed.

"I'm sorry for making it so tense in here, just because I had a bad bullying day doesn't mean you have to." She said, still staring out.

"Its not like that, I think we just dont want to make your mood worse." Jordan said. He put a hand on the shoulder of her seat in an attempt to comfort her, but dropped it when she didnt notice it.

Naomi let out a breathy laugh. "I doubt you could do anything to make me feel worse than I already do."

"You can always talk to us about it," Bennett suggested. Naomi acknowledged him with the faintest of smiles, a smile Declan had coined as her small Naomi smile, as she often used it in intimate moments like this.

The car was quiet. The light turned green.

Declan couldnt help but feel a tiny surge of jealousy at the fact that she'd smiled at Bennett instead of him.

He wanted to do something for her. It wasnt fair that she had to endure everything she was going through all alone. He wished he was able to take her problems for her, to pluck them like fruits from a tree and ship them far, far away. He wished there was more he could give her than just his silent support.

Declan cleared his throat.

"Hey, Naomi, do you want to hang out at my place for a bit instead of going straight home?"

Naomi looked back at him. "Thanks, but I think I'm better off on my own for now."

Declan said the first thing that came to mind. "It was Delilah's birthday last week. Don't you want to wish her?"

Delilah's birthday wasn't for another 4 months.

Jordan's mouth fell open. "Wait, but isnt it- ow!" Declan had kicked him to shut him up. He saw Bennett raise an eyebrow at him through the mirror, causing Declan to look away.

"Well... alright, I'll get off at your place."

As if timed perfectly by the author of this story, Bennett pulled up at Declan's house. Naomi said her goodbyes and got out, but as Declan reached for the door, he felt Jordans hand on his arm. Declan looked back to see him looking slightly worried.

"You'd better not be trying to shoot your shot,"

"Shut up, I'm not." Declan said, his cheeks burning.

"Is it actually Delilah's birthday?" Bennett questioned, turning towards him with an arm still stretched out over the steering wheel.

Declan didnt answer and instead opened the car door to leave.

"Well, dont mess it up!" Jordan called after him.

---

Declan unlocked the door and held it open for Naomi to go in first.

"Where is she?" Naomi asked.

Declan closed the door, locking it. "Delilah's at daycare."

"What?"

Declan sighed. "I'm sorry, I lied to get you here. If you really want to go home, I'll drop you off and we can pretend this whole thing didnt happen. My dad left his car here, anyways."

Naomi frowned, fiddling with the straps of her bag. "So why did you want me here in the first place?"

Why did Declan invite her? He realised he didnt have an excuse. "I really dont know... but I didn't want you to have to deal with whatever you're dealing with by yourself. I know you're used to being alone, but you've been alone for too long now, you know? And you shouldn't feel that way anyways because you have- you have us."

Declan had been looking at everything in the room but her while he explained himself. He couldn't put into words how embarrassed he was.

"That means a lot to me, Declan." He finally looked at her, and she was wearing her small Naomi smile.

He looked away. "Well, you can hang out in my room for a minute. I'll get us some food."

---

Naomi had left her bag on the floor and was now sitting at the foot of his bed, looking down at her phone.

"We got lucky. I found one last bag of chips in the pantry, so go ahead and eat to your hearts desires," Declan said, setting the bowl next to her before sitting down on her other side

"Thanks. Weirdly, I'm not too hungry. Are you going to take some?" Naomi asked, turning back to look at him. Declan stretched an arm out, and Naomi passed him the bowl.

"What do you usually do to feel better?" Declan asked, taking a chip.

Naomi planted her hands behind her and leaned back, looking around the room. "Study it off, I guess? Or I just convince myself it's not that bad and watch a movie."

"Have you ever tried taking comfort in music?"

Naomi chuckled. "That's very on brand of you, but no, I've never felt the need to."

Declan felt an idea forming in his mind. He jumped up and got out a speaker before plugging in his phone.

"I can tell you from experience, that the right song at the right time can get you through a lot. I know you dont feel like talking about it, so coming from probably the worst 'talker' of the century-trademarked-" He winked at her before getting back to his phone. "I can tell you that you dont have to open up to me about anything." He set his phone down and looked at her again. "Just open up to the song."

The opening instrumentals began to play.

AN:

I was gonna leave the chapter without a note but i wanted to add this in: if youre a silent reader and u dont comment much thats valid and i still love u for reading my fic HOWEVER it would be very very much appreciated if you could vote or add this to a reading list just because i see the notif and it tells me that people are vibing and interacting with my work and i feel motivated to keep working. Also, reader interaction gets my stories more clout lol. So when you're reading this do keep that in mind!