The Religious & The Damaged (UNDER EDITING)

21

Elias

  I step towards my class and wave half-heartedly at Nick, and when I speak, my voice is quiet and audibly tired—I didn't get much sleep last night.

  "See you later, man." I say, and I take a step forward, but Nick's voice pulls me back.

  "Lias." I look at him, but not directly. "You alright?" He asks.

  I nod a single time. "Just tired." I look back in front of me. "See ya."

  I walk into the room, not giving him the chance to say anything else.

  I take my seat after carelessly dropping my bag below my feet and I take my textbook and notebook out.

  "Alright, now that everyone is here, get together with your partners and work out through pages 112 to 128."

  I look to the left as Joseph moves his desk towards mine, and to my surprise—it's completely against mine.

  He looks at me and pauses. "Sorry. Is.. did you still want to be my partner?" He asks, seemingly noticing my reaction.

  I only nod and look back down.

  There's an awkward silence between us until he says, "Look, Elias.." A noticeable shaky breath escapes him, and my heart races with the intensity of the moment. "I.. I'm sorry about yesterday, I didn't mean it. I'm just not used to this."

  "This?" I question.

  It's silent for a moment.

  "People caring." I look at him. "Thank you.. for caring." His jaw clenches, and his eyes are so fragile as he looks into mine. "I want to get better with letting people in, letting you in."

  Heat rises to my cheeks and a smile tugs at my lips. I nod. "It's okay." I say.

  I don't feel as empty as I did before.

  The question of if it's because of Joseph lingers in my head, but as he sits here now, in front of me, that fragile smile on his face that seems to give me butterflies every time from how adorable he looks—I know it's because of him.

  And the feeling is comforting; warm.

  "And, uhm-" He interrupts himself as he looks away to dig in his pocket and pulls out his phone. "If you wanted to.. you could give me your number and we can talk whenever, but if you don't, that's okay, I just thought I'd ask."

  "Sure." I reply.

  His smile grows. "Okay."

  He gestures his phone to me and I take it. I put my number in and text myself before giving it back, and he takes it.

  His expression softens and he lets out a slight nervous laugh.

  "Alright, we should start the assignment now." He says, and his voice is shaky, but he sounds happy nonetheless.

  "Right. Okay."

  At the end of class, I walk alongside Joseph, and I can't help but ask, "Was everything okay last night? With your dad?"

  He seems to physically pause at the question, but it's brief.

  "It is what it is." He says.

  I furrow my brows into a state of worry, and I take Joseph's forearm into my hand.

  "Joseph," He turns towards me and steps back from my touch, seemingly instinctively.

  I continue. "I know we've known each other for only two weeks, but you don't deserve to be treated this way. You know that, right?"