We'll Come Clean

Call of Duty

P.O.V. Nate

            It’s almost midnight at the moment, it’s our first night on the road. Elle seems to be settling in well. Emily helped her get situated and unpack her things. Everyone is starting to go to their bunks in the next room, it’s just Elle, Andrew, and I left in our sitting room. Andrew and Elle are playing Call of Duty. They’re yelling and laughing and seem to be really hitting it off. In fact, Elle’s really hitting it off with everyone. Andrew eventually starts to yawn and act tired.

“Well guys, I’m calling it quits,” Andrew explains and walks to his bunk. It’s just Elle and I now.

“Nate, do you want to play? This is actually pretty fun!” Elle asks, a wide grin on her face. She’s wearing a tank top and a pair of sweatpants, her cuts are starting to heal. Which reminds me, I need to talk to her.

“Hey Elle, can we talk just a second before we go to bed?”

“Yeah, of course.” Elle has a more serious, worried look on her face. She quickly touches her wrist.

“I just wanted to let you know, if you need anything, anytime, whatever, you can come talk to me. Part of the reason we invited you here is so we could help you. This sounds cliché, but I don’t want you to have a ‘Why am I the One’ kind of day everyday. When you were telling us about you, that’s what I thought of. What I’m trying to say is that I’ll be here anytime you want to talk. You can wake me up in the middle of the night if you need to. It really doesn’t matter.”

“You’re the closest thing I’ve had to a friend in the last few years.” She says, staring at the floor. I can’t even imagine how she feels like this.

“No one’s ever seemed to care about me this much.” She says, eyes still on the floor. I go over to hug her. We just talk for awhile. About nothing in particular, but mostly just the things she’s been through. She talks about the first time she cut herself. She was in fourth grade. She hasn’t stopped for more than a month since.  I listen to her talk for awhile. Then I realize something. I  realize that I love her. Not like I’m ‘in love’ with her, but I just want her to be happy. I’ve known this girl for only two weeks, but she is one of the most thoughtful people I’ve ever met. Elle ends up falling asleep, and I’m pretty close to it. She’s on the couch, I don’t want to wake her up. I cover her up with a blanket and just lay down on the floor. I don’t feel like waking myself up either.