The Nerd [BXB]

49 𖠇 One Less Roommate

     Harvey was okay, the doctor had said. All he was given was an ice bag for the kicks he got not to bruise as much and an ibuprofen for the pain. He sits in a bed with me by his side along with my mother. She came as soon as she heard, arriving shortly. Almost racing the ambulance.

     An officer knocks on the door, asking for a statement from Harvey. Harvey agrees.

     My mother and I begin to walk toward the door, but Harvey stops us. "Stay," he says.

     We do stay. We hear him tell the officer everything. And when his voice starts to tremble, my mother and I reach for each hand and squeeze it tight.

     When he is done, the door immediately opens, revealing Mr. and Mrs. Cohen. "Oh, Harvey!" she says, rushing to him and cupping his face with her soft hands. "Please tell me you're okay."

     Harvey finds it hard to mutter a word, shocked after not seeing his parents for a while. "I— I'm okay, mom," he says. His eyes mostly lay on his father as his mother embraced him. He did expect his mother to come, but he feels guilty that he thought his father wouldn't. At times he questions how much his father loves him.

     Mr. Cohen is suited up even though it is late at night, almost sunrise, with his arms crossed. He stares at Harvey and I wonder if he is as scared as his mother clearly was.

     "Do you need some time alone with them, Harvey?" my mother asks him.

     Harvey seems to think about it for a minute, but he nods when his mother does not let him go from her arms. So we step out.

     "We shouldn't have left him alone with them," I tell my mother as we walk the hallways. "Especially with his father."

     She extends her arms and rests it over my shoulders as we walk. "I know, but that is up for Harvey to decide." We take a left turn for the waiting room. "His mother seemed nice, though."

     "That's what I thought, too, when I first met them," I say. "Until she picked her husband over her son."

     Genesis and Oscar sit in the waiting room, having a casual conversation I would pay to hear. I sit next to him and lean my head on his shoulder.

     "How is he?" Genesis asks.

     "He looks fine," I say.

     "I should probably go before my mom and Al wake up," Oscar says, patting my knee.

     I lift my head and look at them. "My mother can take you."

     "I'll do it," Genesis says, standing up. "I still have to go help the girls and the rest of the staff clean up the gymnasium after the party."

     "Are they coming to see Harvey?" I ask Genesis about Blaire and Aurora.

     "I've been texting them all night," she says, waving her phone.

     The two leave while my mother and I stay for a while. "You should go rest, Theo," she says as I lean on her shoulder the way I did with Oscar. "You've got school tomorrow."

     "There's no way you're sending me to school after the night we had," I say, yawning.

     "Probably not," she says, "but at least go home and rest."

     We drive home just as the sun starts to lift, lightening the once-dark sky.

𖠇

     I wake up the next day when I hear Harvey's voice, making me doubt if this was all a dream. I rush to the living room and he stands there, talking with my mom.

     Harvey is no longer wearing the Cupid costume, but a pair of grey joggers with a red shirt that fits him tight. His hand clings to his sports bag where his belongings rest.

     "You're leaving?" I ask him as my mother goes to the restroom to check he did not leave anything behind.

     "Yeah," he says. We stay quiet for a second. "But your mother said I could always come over for another movie night."

     I grin. "We'll see about that."

     "I thank your mom already for letting me stay these last months, but I also got to thank you for bringing me to her," he says. "Thank you for sharing your home."

     "You're welcome," I say. "I'll miss having you around."

     "Don't be," Harvey says, looking around the living room. "I see myself having a lot of sleepovers here often."

     "Who will drive me to school now?"

     He nudges my shoulder with his. "I'll pick you up every morning," he promises me. "We still got a podcast to finish."

     "Are you sure about this?" I recall the last meal I had with his parents and worry for him and the kind of space he will grow up in.

     "My parents are willing to try, so I must, too." Harvey is nervous, without a doubt, but he is hopeful. He could tell in the way his mother held him all night and the tears his father released after my mother and I had left him alone with his family in the hospital room.

     My mother comes out of the restroom with his deodorant and toothbrush. "I was thinking about leaving the toothbrush here, but I don't know when you'll be back," she says as she hands them to him.

     "Soon," Harvey says. "Very, very soon."

     "Come here," my mother says, opening her arms. Harvey reaches for her, closing his arms on her.

     My mother ruffles his brown hair as she lets him go. "Take care, Harvey," she says. "And always reach out to me or Theo when you need help or just want to come over. You have my number." 

     "I will," he says, already planning his next visit in his head. "Thank you, Ms. Walker."

     He looks at me and also spreads his arms. Of course, I go in for the hug, wrapping myself around him. I hold him tight, his head resting over mine. I want to stay like this for as long as he lets me, but I know that would be forever. So I let him go.

     "I'll be seeing you soon, Theo," he says.

     "See you at school," I say.

     He shrugs. "And out of it."

     He walks into his parent's car and leaves. With minutes of him gone, the house feels too quiet.

     "Let's order some Chinese food," my mother says, reaching for her phone. I grin because that's the kind of sentence Harvey would like to hear before ordering extra egg rolls.

________
A\N: I GRADUATED FROM COLLEGE! I started this book before I finished high school and now I'm soon finishing it after graduating from college. I didn't think it would take me this long to write it haha! However, hopefully I'll have more time to write now.

Anyway, please make sure to like and comment! :)