Reno and Weisz

chapter 30: reno can't handle it

chapter 30: reno can't handle it

~reno~

       The moment the school bell rings to dismiss us all, I'm excited. I won't have to go to school for two weeks, meaning I won't have to look at Neil at all. Even after Weisz told him that he hasn't been at school because he's sick, the rumour about me murdering Weisz hasn't died down.

       Not that I thought it was going to. I'd have to be stupid to believe that.

       At least I get a break from the rumours and gossip for two weeks. Unless, you know, Neil and his friends decide to pester me at the diner. Again. They still haven't taken the hint that I'm not going to tell them anything about Weisz. It's Weisz's choice only, not mine.

       Now that school is done, I head to my locker to put my stuff away, thankful that none of my teachers decided to curse us with winter break homework, which has happened in the past. Teachers don't seem to understand what 'break' means.

       I leave the school and head to my car, first heading home to pick up something Weisz has been begging me to bring to his house. I don't have work today, so I'm probably going to end up spending the whole day at Weisz's. Maybe sleep over too. I have slept over a few times already.

       After picking up what I need, I head over to Weisz's place, hoping that he's feeling a lot better today.

       He's not.

       When I get to his bedroom, I see him sitting up cross-legged on his bed, a bucket sitting in his lap. He's sweating profusely, his skin looking pale. He doesn't even smile at me when he sees me walk in, not even the smallest of smiles. I don't blame him, though. I don't want him to force a smile for me when he doesn't feel well.

       Weisz ends up throwing up a bit. Once he's done, I offer to dump the bucket out for him. "You don't have to," he says. "It's gross."

       "Yeah, but I'm sure you don't want to get out of bed to empty it out," I say. "I'm fine doing it."

       Weisz hands me the bucket. I empty it out in the bathroom before returning to Weisz's bedroom. He's now lying down on the bed, curled up under the blankets. I set the bucket on his nightstand before I sat down beside him. "You're weird for coming here every day," Weisz mutters.

       I furrow my eyebrows. "I'm weird for wanting to visit my boyfriend every day?"

       "Are you not bored?" Weisz asks. "I just lie here. Sleeping or throwing up. It probably gets boring for you."

       "Not really," I say as I pick up my guitar, which I left standing against the bed. "I did bring something to entertain me this time."

       Weisz smiles softly now that he's not too preoccupied trying to throw up. "You brought it."

       "I mean, you did ask me to," I say. "How could I say no to my boyfriend? I could play some songs for you while you relax or something."

       "Mmm, sounds good."

       It's not long before Weisz ends up falling asleep while I play the guitar. I play it for a bit longer before feeling like I need to get some rest myself. School exhausted me.

       I kind of wish I didn't fall asleep, though. It seems peaceful at first, but then I start to get flashes of what happened that one night. That one night that makes it hard for me to take out the trash on my own. That one night I keep thinking back to, no matter how many times I tell myself not to.

       Weisz must have woken up and realized I'm struggling in my sleep because he soon shakes me awake. "Reno," he says. 

       I sit up and wipe my forehead, feeling a bit of sweat on it. I sigh. "Sorry."

       "Sorry for having a nightmare?" Weisz asks. "Reno, what's going on with you?"

       "You know what's going on. It's PTSD. Simple as that."

       "I'm pretty sure it's not that simple." Weisz gently holds my hand. "You can talk to me."

       I take a deep breath, which turns out to be a bit shaky since I'm still feeling a bit on edge because of the nightmare. Every time I think about what happened, I feel weak. Anxious. Panicked. I hate talking about it, but talking to Weisz might do me some good. "I, uh... I don't want to get into the details but last year, I was taking out the trash at work when we were just about to close. And these guys approached me. They beat me up. And I mean brutally beat me up. I was hospitalized for a long time."

       "Oh, wow," Weisz says. "That's awful. Why did they do that?"

       "Short answer?" I ask. "They were slightly intoxicated. Long answer? I have no idea. There must have been something that caused them to even think about it, but they refused to answer. Well, refuse to tell the truth, that is. Their answer was that I was talking shit about them. No one believed them, thankfully. I was past it for a bit. Never thought about it, but when I went to take out the trash a few days ago at work, it just... came flooding back."

       Weisz wraps his arm around my shoulder and pulls me closer to him. "I'm sorry you had to go through that. I had no idea you were struggling so much."

       "That's because I don't talk about it," I say. "You're the only person I told. My dad knows because he was called when I was admitted to the hospital. And then the staff at the diner knows because Carly was the one who found me and warned everyone else about those guys. But I never told them."

       "If you're okay talking about it more, was it just some random guys?" Weisz asks. "Or do you know them?"

       "I know them," I say. "They went to the high school. Graduated last year. Neil's older brother was the ringleader."

       "What? Why didn't you tell me? I would have cut off my friendship with Neil a lot earlier."

       "Because believe it or not, Neil disagreed with his brother over it. Thought it was a messed up thing to do. Neil may be a jerk who likes spreading rumours about people, but I don't think he can ever physically hurt someone."

       "Emotionally doesn't make it better."

       I sigh. "Yeah. I know. You think he'd leave me alone after what his brother did, but I guess not. I'm okay, though. Really. I panic about it from time to time but soon enough, I'll stop thinking about it."

       "Well, if there's anything I can do in the meantime to help you out, let me know," Weisz says.

       I smile at him. "I will."

_______________________

we'll get into that event even more later on but like i said before, reno is a very closed off person and skipped out on a lot of details. he just wanted weisz to know the basic of what happened.

i almost didn't get this chapter up because i currently have a very nasty headache :( but i pushed through and now i'm going to go to bed even though i wanted to watch one more episode of stranger things. i'm on episode 4 rn of the new season but my headache is not letting me focus properly so that's fun.