The Monsters Inside and Out (Scott Howl x Depressed Reader)

91. Peace of Mind

You quickly get ready for your day and prepare yourself to leave. Although Damien yelled at your mom last night, but there's no way of telling if she'll really stand by what she said. Will she actually let you go out more often than once a week? You nervously head out into the living room to see your mom sitting on the couch, watching TV. "Hey Mom.. I'm going out with a friend." Her breathing almost seems to stop. She calms herself. "And where are you going?" "I'm not sure yet. We're just going to wing it." "Who are you going with?" You take a deep breath. "My friend Scott." She nods. "All right.. Well, stay safe. And please let me know where you are. I just want to make sure that you're safe." You go to leave the house. When you put your hand on the doorknob, your mother adds, "And honey, I know I can't control who your friends are, but please stay away from that demon boy. He really is bad news. I know that you want to be with your friends, and I can accept that, but I just don't want you to be vandalising anybody's property, okay?" You look dejectedly at the ground, "Yeah, I'm really sorry about that. I shouldn't have done that, I promise I'll stay out of trouble." "Thank you," she says.

You walk out of the house and stretch, happy to finally be able to be out and about. Now that it's halfway through March, it's finally starting to feel like spring. The sun shines down on you, and you enjoy its warm rays. You step out onto the front sidewalk of your house and look up and down each side of the street, waiting for Scott. About five minutes pass by until you finally see his van turn around the corner and make its way towards you. You can feel your heart beating faster as the car approaches, finally being able to see and talk to Scott for the first time in a while. He stops right by your house and you quickly jump in and buckle in, and let him drive away. A few streets down, you finally lean over and peck a kiss on his cheek. He smiles and blushes, saying, "I missed you." "I missed you too," you reply. "So what are we doing today?" He thinks for a moment before saying, "I haven't planned that far ahead." He chuckles, "Why don't we just drive around for a little while, and then maybe we can get some food later?" You giggle with him and say, "Sure. That sounds lovely."

You and Scott drive around aimlessly for a while. Driving down an old back road, you're able to take in the scenery for possibly the first time. You haven't really done anything like this, and it's really peaceful and relaxing. At some point, you sneak your hand up to Scott's and intertwine your fingers. You look up at him and he still has a calm smile on his face. You need to break the silence. You ask, "Where have you been this last week?" You know what the answer is, but you obviously can't let him know that. You expect him to maybe fall apart and cry, but he doesn't. With the same smile on his face, he says, "I've been at the hospital. I'm sorry for running out that one day, and not explaining anything, but yeah, I've been at the hospital. Mawmaw fell, so they had to take her to the hospital. She broke a few things, but she should be fine again. I'm really sorry that I didn't tell you sooner." "It's okay, you were worried about her. I'm just glad that everything is okay." "Me too." You continue to stare at Scott, almost a little worried for him. You two have already talked about being honest with each other, but you're worried that he's lying about his feelings again. However, looking at him now, you don't feel any actual sadness coming from him. You can't help but have the impression that he genuinely isn't worried. He's not sad. You smile to yourself, happy that he's happy, despite these unfortunate circumstances.

Finally, after driving for nearly an hour and a half, Scott's stomach growls loudly. You both chuckle and he says, "I guess I'm getting hungry. How about you?" "Yeah, I could eat." "Good," he smiles. He drives around for about 10 more minutes until he pulls down a driveway, which turns out to be the driveway to his house, meaning you were a lot closer to town than you realized. He puts the car in park, and the two of you head inside together.

Stepping inside, you see the rest of Scott's family, except for the leader of the Wolfpack, sitting down on the couch watching TV. Scott greets them happily and hang his keys up by the door. He looks down at you and says, "I would offer to cook something but, Mawmaw and Archie are the only ones who know how to cook." You cock your eyebrow, "Archie?" "Oh yeah! He's the one that's not here. His name is Archibald, but we just call him Archie." You nod. Scott continues, "So would you like some pizza? Then we can have it delivered." You nod again. Scott asks everybody what they want, and makes a phone call to order it. You head up to his room to just hang out until it arrives. You play video games for a little while, until Scott's family is calling him from downstairs. He heads downstairs and you follow quietly behind him. Once you get downstairs, you can see a girl with long, black hair in a work uniform fazing through the TV. In a monotone voice, she says, "I've got three large meat lover's pizzas and uh... Another one for Scott Howl." Scott pays for the pizza with a debit card. The employee says, "Would you like to add a tip?" He does, and thanks the girl for her service, "Thanks uh.. Sadie," he says, squinting at her name tag. "You're welcome," she says in her monotone voice. She then fazes back into the TV. Scott gives the pizzas to his cousins, but keeps one. Both of you head back upstairs and eat the pizza, continuing to play video games. After another hour, Scott yawns, still clearly sleep-deprived. You ask, "Are you tired? You wanna take a nap?" He nods, rubbing his eyes. You both stand up, and he takes off his jeans to get more comfortable, leaving him in his shirt and underwear. You turn the game and TV off as well as the lights. He gets into bed and pats his chest. You shoot your mom a quick text, letting her know where you're at. You lay down and snuggle with Scott, slowly drifting off into a well-deserved nap.