𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒂𝒓 ✞𝑡𝑜𝑚 𝑘𝑎𝑢𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑧✞

what 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 happened that night

It was commonly known amongst town that Elliot was a fisherman's son. The Bull family business had been the foundation in which the town was built around, a large majority of it's money sourcing directly from fishing exports and the work of his family. Despite this, it was also commonly known that in recent years, they were struggling financially and with the only active workers being Elliot's father and uncle, business was tough. Because of this, everyone knew Elliot had tones of pressure on him and thus the reasoning behind his attachment to Robyn. Throughout their childhood, Elliot practically lived with her, always staying over for extended weeks at a time and never wanting to go home.

His household consisted of his father and three sisters, all of which were aspiring academics and not suited to the industry. Being the only boy, Elliot's father had stressed the importance of his role in the business from a very young age which only complicated their relationship further once Elliot was known to the town as the 'local gay'.

Although it was never explicitly stated by him, everyone has assumed that Elliot was gay and continuously targeted him as a weakness. Weather it was repetitive taunting or in more extreme cases, hate crime, Elliot had always had it rough. Knowing this, Robyn stayed by his side and welcomed him into her life with open arms, always being there for him when no one else was.

Her and Jay's arguing began in their youth, when Jay's friends would tease or bully Elliot and Jay would never protest. Instead, he simply laughed along.

When things got more serious and there was an incident of Elliot's house windows being smashed, he showed up on her porch at three am with bruises and a bloody nose from his father. Elliot had explained to her through tears on the porch step that his father had grown cold and stressed as a result of the town's attitude towards Elliot and his family, resulting in him beginning to lash out or hit him for his disgrace to the family name. That night, Robyn realised this had to stop and confronted Jay for his passive attitude towards the bullying. Here, their arguing began.

~*~

"Oh walk away like you always do!" Jays voice roared from the basement as she ascended the stairs, the shuffling bodies at the party filtering past her, pleased that their typical argument had subsided and their Saturday night at Robyn's could resume.

Letting out repeated huffs, she charged past the teenagers in her home and up the stairs to her bedroom, hearing as the music dispersed into inaudible bass. Now in the small hallway, she firmly turned her doorknob and swung her door open, shocked as she found Elliot perched on her bed in the darkness.

"Hi" he smiled upward at her, his gleaming teeth being the only identifiable feature in the darkness.

"What are you doing up here?" she asked, crashing down onto the bed beside him like a starfish and exhaling deeply. She was glad to have him by her side after the explosive argument she had just had with Jay.

"I'm meeting someone" he explained excitedly "a guy"

Shocked, Robyn sat up slightly from the bed, turning to face her friend as he smiled down at her.

"Oh my god! Who? Tell me" she spoke animatedly, quickly forgetting the previous argument as she felt elated for her friend.

"Well, he's from the next town over and we've been calling every night these past two weeks. He said he wants to come see me so he's driving over now" he explained, his skin flushing slightly as he spoke shyly.

"Aw that's so great El" Robyn replied, now sitting up to face her friend. They locked eyes and exchanged a heartfelt series of nodding approvals before she spoke once more, his expression warm and sweet.