The Religious & The Damaged

47

Elias

  I walk into school, Joseph and Nick on each side of me and we descend the hall.

  "So, you two are like roomies now?" Nick teases, an amused smile on his face.

  I narrow my eyes at him, but it's playful.

  "Nick."

  He lets out a short laugh, and we enter the stairwell to the others. They look over.

  "Holy shit. It's Olsson." Spencer's the first to speak.

  "You owe me 10 bucks." Joey says, nudging at Spencer's arm.

  "Uh uh. The bet was if they were back together." He looks to us, and my eyes widen at the sudden attention. "Are you guys back together?" He asks.

  Joseph stammers, and I blush as my gaze shifts between the two and Joseph, then I look at the floor, an awkward smile spread across my lips.

  "Dude." Kelsey speaks.

  "What? We have to sort out our bet."

  "Our relationship isn't something you can bet on." Joseph retorts, and I look up at him—his expression heavy with annoyance.

  "Yeah. Come on, man." Nick joins in.

  Spencer scoffs. "Alright, alright. Geez. Cool your fucking tits."

  He lets out a nervous laugh and I assume it's only because of Nick's reaction because I know he's not afraid of Joseph, and it makes me laugh a little.

~•~

  As Joseph and I walk to our class, he suddenly breaks the intense silence between us; tension radiating from his body.

  "I wish you wouldn't have told your friends about us." He says, his voice low as to not let anyone hear, but I think he's also annoyed.

  I look at the floor from him, and I feel his gaze on me in that moment.

  "I didn't have anyone to talk to about what I was going through, and they were there for me." My voice is small compared to his, but that's only because I'm nervous.

  There's a long pause before he says, "Okay, but can you at least keep what happens between us from now on between us?"

  I look up at him. "And what are we exactly?"

  He looks down, and now he's the nervous one between us, though I'm still very nervous.

  "We haven't really talked about that." I add.

  I watch as his eyes dart around the area in front of him, like the sudden question triggered something inside of him and I feel bad.

I open my mouth to speak again, but he interrupts me.

  "I'm relearning a lot right now, and also dealing with this new burden because of my father, so I thought we'd just go slow."

  I nod instantaneously, and he looks down at me. "Right. Of course."

  He seemingly forces a smile.

  "I'm sorry." He says.

  "No. No, don't apologize, I-"

  My gaze shifts between his eyes, and my heart pounds against my chest.

  "I promise to keep what happens between us, between us."

  His smile turns sincere.

  "Thank you."

  I nod, and we walk into our class.