Jahnnie Drabbles 4✿

☆Left-Out☆

TW/CW: overstimulation, feeling left out, anxiety, nonverbal shutdown, difficulty understanding social cues, venting.

___________________________________________

They have friend's over today - and Jake wasn't expecting it, he thought they'd be coming next week but Carrington said they are coming today.

The group consists of Tara, Carrington, Johnnie, Jake, Chase, and a few others.

Johnnie and the group were hanging out in the living room, chatting and laughing together.

Tara and Carrington were sitting on the couch while Johnnie and Jake were on the floor. The others were scattered around the room, some sitting on chairs and some leaning against the wall.

Johnnie was talking animatedly with Chase, discussing a new game that had just come out. He seemed to be enjoying himself, his face lighting up as he talked about the game's features.

Meanwhile Jake was .. quiet. Just looking around the room and occasionally he would flash a smile towards someone that looked at him.

Tara and Carrington started to observe Jake, trying to figure out what was on his mind. They knew he could be a bit introverted at times, but this level of quietness was unusual even for him.

Johnnie noticed that Jake wasn't participating in the conversation as much as usual and gave him a concerned look. He knew that something was bothering him, but he didn't want to push him to talk about it in front of everyone.

Jake noticed Johnnie looking at him, he just smiled and then took out his phone. There were so many conversations going on at once that Jake just couldn't keep up with them all.

Johnnie smiled back at Jake, sensing that he was trying to distract himself from whatever was on his mind. He turned his attention back to the conversation, but kept an eye on Jake from time to time.

The group continued to talk and laugh, but Jake remained quiet, his eyes glued to his phone. He scrolled through social media, checking his messages and replying to a few texts.

But then he tried to add himself into the conversation.

Jake was known for not always understanding social cues. He often missed the subtleties in conversations and misunderstood jokes or sarcasm. This made it difficult for him to connect with people at times, and he often felt left out when his friends were making references or having inside jokes.

He would try to participate in the conversations, but sometimes he would say the wrong thing or ask questions that were out of context. It wasn't that he was stupid or unintelligent, but rather that he struggled to pick up on social cues and body language.

Then Jake just tuned himself out again, allowing the conversations to just speed off in directions. The group is all talking, Tara's laugh can be heard every once in awhile.

As the group continued to talk and laugh, Jake sat there, feeling more and more disconnected. He knew that he wasn't contributing much to the conversation, but he didn't know how to change that.

He looked around the room, watching as everyone else was having a good time. He wanted to join in, but he didn't know how. So he just sat there, feeling isolated and alone.

Johnnie noticed that Jake was zoning out again. He could see the distant look in his eyes and the way he was staring off into space. He knew that Jake was struggling, and he wanted to do something to help him.

He got up from the floor and walked over to Jake, sitting down beside him.Johnnie asked,"Hey, are you okay?"

Jake nodded with a smile, before looking back at his phone. The conversation got loud and chaotic and it was just a bit overstimulating for Jake, but he didn't say anything.