When You Fall - {Salvis}

Chapter 4.

The walk home was brisk and long, October was here. Sal's lungs stayed warm as he gently blew out cigarette smoke, and watched it dissolve in the cool air. October was nostalgic for him, for reasons he'd rather forget. 
His black sweater, loose fitted red jeans, and black beanie stopped the wind from cutting through to his skin. He stopped putting his hair in pigtails, a while ago. "Outgrew it" he'd say.
Before entering the lobby he stomped out the cigarette, not like his father would care. He swears he's sober but reeks of cheap booze and grief. Sal doesn't blame him though, we all struggle and his father's been through a lot. He's all his dad's got left and takes care of him when he can.
Sal greets gizmo and walks to his room to change, the windows open but he doesn't mind the cold night air. It feels nice, caressing his face now freed of his prosthetic. it's sharp but at least he can feel it. 
Closing the window he feels a buzz in his pocket, his flip phone.
Laying back on his bed- completely neglecting the months worth of homework crumpled in his bag from last year, he sees a message from an unknown number.

"hi .. it's Travis."

He admits he wasn't expecting a message so soon, if any. He didn't have much faith in Travis but was at least hoping, he knew they weren't on the best terms but he's trying to fix that. There's something about Travis that's strangely intriguing to him.

💙: "Hi Trav :)"

💜: "Trav?"

💙: "Is that okay?"

💜: "Yeah."

💙: "soo what's up, are you feeling  better?"

💜: "A bit yeah."

💙: "Cool"

💜: "hru"

💙: "Good, are you doing anything this weekend?"

💜: "Church, why?"

💙: "Bleh."

💜: "Church isn't 'bleh'."

💙: "Ok well I was gonna ask if you wanted to hang out."

💜: "Why?"

💙: "Jeez you're skeptical, I was going to ask if you wanted to come over."

💜: "Saturday?"

💙: "That works"

💜: "Okay"

before he could shut his phone Larry threw himself onto the bed, startling both Sal and Gizmo.

"So who're you texting?" Larry asks nonchalantly, flopping over to lay on his back watching the cigarette smoke blow from his mouth into the chilly air. 

"No one of your interest, and warning next time you decide to jump out of nowhere please." 

"get fucked sally face, hey do you still have any left of that 3.5? I'm all out."

"What already?" Sal asks, untaping a poster to reach a hidden compartment in his bedroom wall. Sal wasn't too big on drug use, but it felt good to feel good and happiness doesn't come to him as naturally as others most the time. 

"Well y'know, before school sesh, almost school sesh, during school sesh, after school-" Larry was counting them on his fingers.

"Ok I get it, I still don't know how you haven't been caught yet." Sal tosses a small bag containing about 2 grams of the happy green plant towards Larry. 

"It's my natural scent at this point, plus you should see Todd's parents, absolute legends." 

"I don't think they're that big of a deal, plus you should want better for yourself Lar, dont you want to get out of Nockfell?" Sal asks, not to be too sentimental. 

"What? Oh yeah I could start a band! you on guitar, me on drums, and Ash could sing- she'd be a killer vocalist." 

"Yeah and Gizmo on keyboard." Sal holds up the plump orange cat with a cheesy smile as they both laugh. 

"What about you man? you ever want to leave this shithole town?" Larry takes another drag from his cigarette. 

Sal takes a moment to respond. Where would he go? Back to Jersey? 

"How about california?" 

"Well that's corny, could be cool though. Nice beaches is what I've heard." Larry blows away more smoke. 

"Yeah." 

Larry's phone buzzes and says something about his mom needing help with maintenance work. He flicks his cigarette out the window and slides on his falling-apart shoes before leaving Sal's apartment. 

Alone again.

Laying on his back staring up at the ceiling, feeling the cold october breeze carress his deathly skin, thinking. 

Where would he go if he got out of Nockfell? And When? He didn't really want to go to california, it was too busy and too hot. If he could go anywhere- in the us, he'd pick somewhere colder. His eyes gently glide over to the poster again, small bags of various pills, more of the green plant, and empty "T" bottles with syringes scattered in the hole. His phone buzzes again, and flips it open to a message from Travis that gives him butterflies. 

💜: Can I come over now?