Love Hurts (boyxboy)

Chapter 9: Speaking Silence

A/N:

Italicized lines will represent a flashback of past events.

....

Parker POV

My fingers grazed over the bruise on my side, gently prodding at the purple mark. Normally, the bruises I got didn't bother me, since they tended to only last a day or two before fading away. However, a few concerned phone calls from teachers at the school had my father thinking before he acted. Instead of simply smacking me across the face, he now took to hitting me in places that wouldn't normally be visible.

Griffin was going to flip shit when he found out...

That thought put everything else in my brain on hold as I eased a sweater onto my body. Griffin was so complicated now days. I just didn't understand what he was trying to do anymore. It was almost as if he genuinely cared about me, but I just couldn't let myself believe that.

Then there was that side of him that came out every now and again...it scared me. I was honestly afraid to upset him when he got like that, like if I didn't give him what he wanted he would hurt me...

I'm just confused in general when it comes to that boy. Han, however, had made his intentions quite clear after the game a few weeks ago. On three separate occasions he had messaged me on social media and asked me to go out with him, and I wanted to say yes, I really did. But then I thought about how Griffin would react to that and it made me shudder.

On the other hand, I couldn't help myself from weighing the pros and cons. I mean, Han is a model and he's sweet and a gentleman and an athlete and he's openly bisexual and-

"Parker!" My father's shout interrupted my internal rambling. "Get down here and make me breakfast!"

I didn't make a sound as I grabbed my camera and backpack, silently sliding my window open and stepping out before shutting it. It was only Wednesday and I had already had enough of my father for the week. Before I even stepped around the corner to the front of my house I heard a car pull up in my driveway.

My feet froze and I took a few deep breaths, trying to clear my head as I watched the fog from my breath fade in front of my face. Griffin was here and I wasn't really sure if I was ready to see him again. Sure, I saw him every day at school, but each time it was different. Sometimes I was nervous, others I was scared, then there were times I was angry, and occasionally I was happy; but, today i wasn't sure how I felt.

I could always just walk around the back of my house and walk to school without-

My phone started vibrating in my pocket. "Hello?"

"You ready?" Griffin's voice always sent a small excited shiver down my spine. Why? Why can't he just make me want to vomit? That would make everything so much better.

"Um, you know, I think I'm just gonna cut first period today, so-"

"Parker?"

"Yeah?" I don't know why I had even answered the damn phone or why I was lying about wanting to walk to school. If I wanted some personal space then I would get it. This was Griffin though...I cringed internally at the thought of telling him I needed space.

"I see you."

DAMN. IT.

"Yeah," I sighed, realizing that I wasn't entirely hidden by the wall I was leaned against and that my arm had been sticking out the entire time.

"Come on, you don't need to get sick standing out in the cold." He hung up.

I stood there for another minute, trying to sort this out. Did I really even want to give Griffin a chance? Being with him was nice sometimes, but most of the time I was worried about upsetting him and I don't think I can keep going on like this. It's nerve wracking.

My hand fell on the door of the car, gently pulling it open before I slid inside. Griffin was giving me that look, but I kept my eyes down on the floor. He wanted to talk.

"Tell me."

"Tell you what?" We had been "together" for a little more than three weeks and he already knew when something was up with me. Why couldn't he just be some clueless jock?

"Parker."

"Can you just drive?" I cringed at my tone, and flinched when he reached for the gear shift, not quite sure what to expect from him. I knew he hadn't hit me before, but he'd been forceful, and that look he gave me sometimes...

His hand was frozen in the air between us. I didn't move a muscle, keeping my eyes locked on the dash board in front of me, forcing myself to stay quiet as he stared over at me. Griffin let out a soft sigh and reached his hand over to rest on my thigh, gently stroking my leg with his thumb.

"Parker," his voice wasn't forceful or warning like I had been expecting. It was...hurt?

"I don't want to talk about it." He stared over at me for another minute before moving his hand back to the gear shift and pulling out of the driveway.

...

Griffin POV

As soon as we pulled into a parking space Parker was out of the car and rushing inside the building. I thought about chasing after him, but decided against it. Today was just one of those days where he wasn't going to talk to me...and that's alright.

I took a deep breath, remembering the way he flinched away from me earlier. He knew I wouldn't hurt him...didn't he? If his damn father wasn't such a-

"Earth to Griffin? Hello?"

I looked over to see Victor standing outside my car and peering in through the window. With a reluctant sigh, I grabbed my bag from the backseat and opened the door. Today was going to suck.

...

I waited by Parker's locker after first hour, hoping maybe he'd softened up a little, but he didn't show up. "Maybe he's just avoiding me," I muttered to myself. After two more classes and still no sign of Parker I started to get antsy. Maybe he didn't want to talk to me, and maybe being definitely, but he never avoided me like this.

By the time lunch rolled around I'd had enough. Parker could be pissy or sad about whatever it was that had upset him, that's fine. What wasn't fine was dodging me all day long. We'd talked about this. Or rather, I talked and made him listen while I talked about this. I started searching the school top to bottom for him with little success. Where could he be?

The media room was typically locked and off limits to most students, but I figured it was worth a shot. I'd seen Parker slip in here a few times in the past and wouldn't put it past him to be hiding inside. The door was unlocked, to my surprise, and I walked into the darkness. The dim glow of computer screens offered the only form of light as I walked further into the room.

"Anyone in here?" I asked quietly, glancing around a bit before my eyes settled on the faint glow coming from the dark room. I knocked lightly on the wooden door. "Parker?" There was no response. I tried turning to the door handle, finding it locked. "Parker open the door." Again, there was no response. Just before I began my search for something to knock the handle off the door, a key slid underneath the door.

I stared down at the key for a few seconds. Why would he slide the key under rather than just unlock the door? That didn't make any sense. Why would he...

Panic flooded into my veins as I snatched the key off the floor and jammed it into the door handle, twisting it before wrenching the door open.

"Parker?!" My heart was pounding in my chest as my eyes searched for him in the room. He was there, slumped against the far wall with blood on his face. The small boy's eyes were half shut, barely seeing me as he sat there. 

"You found me."

....