Leviticus: Return back home

Ch.16: Apology

《MATT'S POV》

After they had dinner Matt quickly went back to his room, since his head still hurt a bit and he wanted to rest.
He had already taken a shower after he got back to his room when they finished swimming, so now he just laid down on his bed and closed his eyes.

They had all eaten in the dining room downstairs, but Matt hadn't seen Charley there. He knew he shouldn't care, but he still wondered where that guy was right now.

It was like his roommate could read his mind, because suddenly the door swung open.
Matt closed his eyes, hoping he could just pretend to be sleeping his way out of this situation again.

Charley closed the door carefully, clearly trying not to make too much noise.
Matt could hear him walk around his bed.
"Matt?"

Oh my god, why was this guy speaking to someone who was clearly asleep? Maybe he could just stay silent and he'd stop-
"Matt, I know you're not asleep."

Matt opened his eyes. "How would you know that?" He snapped back, before realizing he had just blown his cover.

"You look different when you're sleeping." Charley said, totally not sounding creepy at all.
"Different how? Do I have my eyes open then?" Matt sarcastically remarked, not allowing himself to be thrown off guard by this guy.

Charley chuckled to himself. "Yes, sometimes."
When he saw Matt's face, he quickly added. "I'm just kidding. You just... look different. You frown when you pretend to be asleep, you know."

Matt took a deep breath. "How do you know I'm not just having a nightmare or something?"
Charley shrugged. "I don't, I guess."

Matt stared at him for a moment, his dark brown eyes peeking back at Matt from under his brows.
Then he realized he was actually really angry at this guy.

"So, are we going to talk about what the hell that was?" Matt turned, so he was facing the guy.
Charley looked down, sitting on the edge of his bed. "Yeah, I'm... really sorry. I just wanted to make a joke."

"That was you making a joke? Nearly murdering me?"
"I didn't mean to... I was just trying to be a friend and-"

"But you're not my friend. You're not, Charley." Matt felt a bit bad for saying it like that, but it had to be said.
Charley wasn't a friend and he probably never would be. Not when he hurt Matt's friends.

"Yes. I know. I'm really sorry." Charley kept staring down at his hands, which he was nervously wringing together.
"God, what are we even doing here? You've been such an asshole to my friends, I shouldn't be nice to you even."

Charley finally looked up, clearly affected by Matt's words. "You're right. I'm really sorry about everything."

"You're apologizing? About being homophobic to my friends, you mean?" Matt really hadn't seen that coming.

The boy nodded. "Yes, I've been regretting it all, since before I even came to this school. I wanted to apologize before but I couldn't... I couldn't find the right moment to."
"I'm not the one you should be apologizing to." Matt crossed his arms.

Charley nodded, his brows furrowed. "I know, but I really don't know how to approach them. Especially your friend, the blonde one with the hoodies-"
"Riven." Matt interjected.
"Riven. He seems to really hate my guts, reasonably so."

Matt took a deep breath. "He's right to be angry, of course. However, that doesn't mean you shouldn't make an effort to talk to him. At least tell him why. Because why have you been acting like that, if you regret it now?"