Between the Lines

(Part IV) Thirty-five - Calvin

"And that's why we will keep trying."

I look up from my phone and see Oliver walking towards me. I feel my entire face light up. I put my phone away quicker than I ever have in my life. He looks up carefully. He must be nervous, or at least that’s what I tell myself.

After a moment of hesitation, I stand up with my arms out. As I do so, it’s like a weight is lifted off his shoulders and runs towards me and flings his arms around me, burying his face into my shirt.

“I was starting to lose hope,” I say jokingly.

“I haven’t seen you for five months, and that’s what you start with?” His words are muffled by my shirt but I can tell he’s running with my joke.

“Ok, fine, let me start over.” Then I kiss him.

I feel Oliver’s entire body relax into mine as he kisses me back. It’s a longer kiss and a lot smoother than our last, but just as special.

I pull away as he leans further into me, just to tease him. “Better?”

“Definitely,” Oliver mumbles before he grabs the collar of my shirt to pull me back into the kiss.

There’s nothing I can say that could make him understand how much I’ve missed him. Absolutely nothing. There were too many nights where I couldn’t sleep because I wanted to see him or to know how he was after everything he went through. Even with the intense distraction of being buried up to my neck in exams and assignments, my detention from Oliver felt a lot longer than five months.

After we finally pull away from each other, we move to take a seat on the bench and silence falls over us. I’m pretty sure we both know what we need to talk about. I want to know what happened back before I found him. I'm sure he has a few questions for me too. And we also need to talk about what’s next. What’s next for us and our relationship. I’m not sure if Oliver’s put any thought into it but there really seems to only be very few options and most of them end in something I’m sure neither of us want to put onto the other.

“You look a lot healthier now,” I smile, resting a hand on his leg.

He looks at me with a smile I can tell he's faking. “Yeah, it took a while to get back on my feet... literally.”

I'm sure by now he knows I understand roughly what that happened, but not many of the details. I know he was abused by his mum, I think her name is Callie. I also know he tried to kill himself. The word overdose das sat heavily on my mind since that night. Sometimes it was so overwhelming, I was scared he would try again.

“I know you probably don't want to talk about what happened, but I'm always here if you need to talk.” I squeeze his thigh gently.

“I know you want to know what happened.” His smile still isn't genuine. He looks frightened behind it. “But if I say what happened, you need to tell me everything as well.”

I agreed and so we talked it out. For hours. Sat on that bench, surrounded by the blue-purple flowers, mostly embracing each other through tears. He told me everything he could remember; telling his Dad about me, Callie finding out, their first fight, getting locked in his room for days on end, and the several fights after that. Oliver choked up around admitting to the overdose, I held him until he stopped crying. He even mentioned hospital, Callie’s court case and a new friend he's made.

I talked too. I mentioned my parents grounding me, which seemed a lot less significant after hearing Oliver's story (he listened either way). Then I told him how I ran away. How I was a stow-away in the Middle, and am eternally grateful to Baylee for her help. How I broke into Lower-class and lost all hope.