UNWORTHY || driam

𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘪𝘹 // 𝘴𝘪𝘹𝘵𝘺 𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘺

Drew arrrived at my house. He was soaked from the heavy rain that was happening, which confused me.

I had gotten a phone call off him minutes before asking if he could come round for a bit.

Now he was here, I was starting to pick up on minor indications that things weren't okay for him. He had no other clothes with him other than a plain shirt, despite the fact it was eight pm when he called and he only got here at nine. Speaking of the call, I could've saw I heard a small bit of fear in his voice.

I lead him up to my room. It felt wrong to turn him away. Besides, I needed to know what had happened for him to be here.

He emptied his pockets and sat down on my bed. Drew always made late night plans but he was usually good at masking his emotions. I couldn't put together what had happened.

Unless...

As soon as the thought came to me, I felt a wave of guilt and pity wash over me.

Something must've happened when he came out to his dad, the timing made too much sense.

I decided not to ask about it yet. I didn't know what Drew wanted me to do but I felt it was right not to make him uncomfortable when he'd only been here for five minutes.

"Hey Liam," my mom begun, pushing open the door attached to my bedroom. "Do you know who was at the door before— oh. Hi Drew, are you here for something?"

"Last minute sleepover," he explained. I looked at him shocked.

Up until now, I hadn't been focused on my crush on Drew. It had seemed like there were more important things. But Drew staying the night seemed like a whole different issue.

"Alright then. I'll be downstairs if you boys need anything," she said, before walking out.

"Hey Drew," I started. I wanted to get the awkward question out of the way. "Why are you really here? Did something happen with your dad?"

I saw a look of fear in his eyes from the moment I said that. Something had clearly happened and there was no denying it now.

"Yeah."

"What happened? Did he do something to you."

"What do you think?" Drew snapped.

He took a deep breath before finishing. "He kicked me out. For good."

I was stunned. I had thought something happened with his dad, and up until now I had had hope that it was never going to be the worst case scenario. That his dad would come around. But now, it didn't seem like that.

"Oh my God." I was speechless. "I'm so sorry."

"It's not your fault. You and Henry were just trying to help. I was the one who decided to come out to him, I should take responsibility for that."

"It's not your fault he doesn't except you." I said.

"Yeah but it's my fault I gave him a reason not to. I'm not even entirely gay. I still like girls. Why couldn't I just find a half decent girl. You know?"

I looked at him, still at a loss for words.

"I mean there's plenty of people out there. For every good guy I could find a good girl. Surely?"

"You shouldn't have to force yourself to be straight for him. He's a bitch Drew. You're seriously better staying away from him."

He laughs to himself. "I guess so. Thanks Liam."

There's a moment of silence before we started talking again.

"So uh, sorry for putting the whole sleepover thing into motion, I needed somewhere to stay. It was between you and Henry anyway, and I didn't feel like explaining this to Henry. You know how he is."

"Yeah," I respond. "How long are you going to be staying? I mean - you can stay as long as you like but I'd need to explain it my mom so..."

"oh.. no more than a day or two."

"DREW!" I yell. "You only have one other place to go! I'm not letting you be homeless."

"Oh okay then."

"We're still pretty early into the year." I say, trying to thing of a reasonable amount of time. "So you're going to be out of a solid living space for a while. Until college."

"I could always get a job." He says.

"Andrew fucking Ramirez having a job in high school. That's something I thought I'd never see."

It was true. He was not a person who valued the experience of a job. Henry would often tag along for job offers so we could enjoy our time together whenever we were lucky and got a shared shift.

Drew wasn't like that. And besides, unlike me, who needed money to help out my mom, and Henry, who just wanted the cash boost, he didn't exactly need the money because he already had thousands at his disposal. What was the point?

"Yeah but small appartments only cost about $600. If I'm going off to some Ivy League after this year, I suppose I could make do."

"Yeah but that'd still be," I paused to calculate. "About three or four months here."

"So I'll just tell your mom that my parents are on holiday and I thought about just hanging out with you for a bit. I'd still buy my own food and possibly split the bills."

"Drew I'm telling her what happened." I explained. "I won't tell anyone else what happened, not unless you want me to, but my mom's knowing. Okay?"

"Fine," he stated, sounding annoyed. "But I won't stay here the entire time, two months at most, alright?"

"If agreeing to that is what I need to say to convince you sure." I reply.

"By the way, I grabbed $100 from my bedroom," he said, taking out a bunch of scrumbled up ten and twenty dollar notes: "At least it's something around that number."

"I would use it for appartment rent," he continued. "But I don't have any clothes so I was wondering if.. next weekend you and maybe Henry would uh go shopping with me."

"Sure." I said. "But for now lets get some sleep I say, getting up to turn the lights off.

As the lights dimmed, I watch as Drew sets up some pillows on the floor and a blanket. "I'll sleep on the floor." I offer, only to notice that he's already half asleep, so I just climb into bed, I'll force him to sleep in it tomorrow."

"Thanks, Liam,"