Silence (2)

The Middle: 2

The next night, Scott returned a little too late.

Well. More like a lot too late.

He'd said he was going out for an hour when he left at 7:00 pm. He'd said he'd come right back to watch movies with Mitch. He'd said not to wait up.

Of course, Mitch had waited anyway. So now, six hours late, Scott had finally returned by stumbling through their doorway, his arm around someone Mitch had never seen before.

"Hi Mitchi!! Hiii!! Sorry I'm so late!! Andrew here offered to buy me drinks, and I couldn't deny the nice man now, could I?? But it's morning now!! Isn't that weird??"

"My name's Jake," the stranger muttered, offering a tired smile to Mitch. "Who are you? His boyfriend?"

Mitch nodded furiously, trying (and failing) to take Scott from Jake. Scott, however, would not let go.

"Can he hang out with us and watch movies with us pleeaase?? Please, Mitchi?? He's so nice, you're gonna love him!!"

Mitch shook his head, looked at Jake, and pointed rigidly at the couch.

"Want me to leave him there?" Mitch nodded.

"You don't say much, do you?" Jake asked. He seemed like he could be kind, but right now, Mitch had no patience or heart left to be nice to him, so he just shot him a glare.

"No, no, no, Andy, it's actually really funny-" Scott burst into a fit of giggles as they both stared at him. "Okay, so, actually, he can't talk at all! Isn't that hilarious? Who, like, can't talk?" Another wave of laughter interrupted him, so Mitch turned his head away, tears now threatening to spill out.

"Whoa, you really can't say anything? That's kind of a bummer, man." Jake took a step forward, as if to comfort the brunette, but Mitch turned his still-pointing hand toward the door from which the boys had come.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I get it, I'll go," Jake said, realizing what he was doing. "If my boyfriend did this...well. I'd be pretty pissed." He started to turn away, but Scott stopped him.

"WAIT! Anthony! You have to stay!! You're super nice!! You can talk, and Mitchi can't talk so you're more fun, so you should stay! You should hang out with me, instead of Mitch!! Mitch can leave, right? Is that okay? Yay!!"

Mitch glared at him, tears running slowly down his cheeks, as he thought to himself of all the worst outcomes of this. Scott could be leaving him as they spoke, trading out him for Jake. It would make sense, because, like Scott said, Jake could talk. He could tell Scott he loved him.

But Mitch was not going to let that happen.

He shook his head once, and tried to get Jake to leave by pushing him out the door. It didn't work as well as he'd wanted, as he was tiny and Jake was tall and strong, so he ended up falling onto the floor.

Mitch put his head in his hands, desperately wishing he could scream at the top of his lungs how he was feeling. He couldn't say no to Scott, not at the moment, but he couldn't agree to just walk out either.

He felt an arm around his shoulders, and knew it wasn't Scott. He decided to keep it there anyway.

"Are you gonna be okay, man? Should I... should I stay? Or...or not?"

"Yes, Allen! Stay! Mitchi gets to leave today, cause we're gonna hang out cause Mitchi can't talk and you can!!"

The brunette had had enough. He couldn't be there any longer without being able to yell at either of them. He stood up, flinging off Jake's "comforting" arm, and dashed out of the apartment, not stopping to grab his shoes.