Man Overboard

6. I Always Flirt with Death

(A/N: I know I said I wouldn't put any trigger warnings, but I'm going to anyways just to be safe. Self-harm trigger warning.)

                 

I debated whether or not to tell Tom to drop me off a block away from my house, but I knew that would only result in questions that I didn't want to answer. So I just gnawed on my bottom lip nervously as Tom approached my house, praying that my dad would be too out of it to notice me coming home.

            Tom pulled up to the curb and shifted the gear into park. From the passenger seat I peered into my house's windows. I couldn't see any signs of my father except for the TV playing reruns in the living room.

            "Do you want to hang out tomorrow?" Tom asked. I turned away from the window to face him. He still had a hand on the steering wheel and was staring out the windshield.

            Tom must have felt my gaze because he turned to meet my eyes. "It's my day off," he added. "Usually Mark, Scott, and I hang out on the weekends, practicing and just goofing off." Tom glanced down at his lap uncertainly before looking back up at me. "And I thought maybe...you'd want to join us?

"I know Scott's probably not your favorite person after today," Tom rushed out, "but he's a good guy. He just needs to work on thinking before he speaks."

"That's certainly an important skill to have," I quipped.

Really I wasn't that mad at Scott. It's not like he had started the rumors; he just believed them. And he had apologized. If anything I should be grateful towards Scott. He proved to me that there was no haven for me in this world, no matter how safe I felt.

There was no escaping any of it.

And yet, Tom felt like an escape; which was ironic considering he was the only one who talked to me about it all. It wasn't that he helped me forget about my problems, he just made me feel better about them. 

            "What exactly were you planning to do tomorrow?" I inquired. I knew going out two days in a row would be pushing my luck, but any consequence I might face was worth it to see Tom's face light up with a grin.

            "I was thinking we could go to the skate park?" I smiled at how he managed to answer me by making a question of his own. It was like he wanted to get my approval first; I supposed he wanted me to be comfortable with whatever we wound up doing. And I was immensely grateful for it.

            "What happened to taking me there 'some day'?" I asked teasingly.

            Tom's smile widened. "Well there's no day like tomorrow, right?"

            "I'm pretty sure that's not how the expression goes," I laughed.

            Tom shook his head in an amused manner. "Do you want to come or not?"

            I bit down on my lip, hesitant. "I don't know how to skateboard," I confessed, feeling like that was pertinent information.

            "I can teach you," Tom responded easily. "It'll be fun. Please?"

            I nodded before Tom had a chance to break out his puppy dog eyes. "Sure. I'll go with you guys."

            "Great," Tom smiled. "Do you want me to pick you up?"

            "No, that's okay," I answered quickly. "I'll, uh, meet you guys at your place."

            "Okay," his smile wavered. I inwardly cringed; I hadn't meant to hurt him. I just didn't want to take any more risks than I already had. "Just come by at around nine or so. The park's always more crowded in the afternoon."