Scars Don't Heal When You Keep Cutting ♡ brusnop

Chapter Twenty Eight

I close the door behind me the next morning, hoping my mom or dad will lock it for me. I smile as I spot Logan, Sam, and Ben already walking to school, so I decide to try to catch up, which I luckily do.

"It's good to see you survived Logan's house again!" I chuckle as I walk next to Ben, accidentally making him flinch at my sudden voice. He laughs it off and throws his arms around me, so it's my turn to be caught off gaurd.

"I missed you, Danny! We barely got to text each other yesterday," he sighs as I hug him back.

"Brusnop," Logan whispers so quietly and quickly, I almost didn't hear it.

"You guys still wanna go to Walmart with me?" Sam speaks up.

"I do!" Logan chirps excitedly. They're too excited to be talking about Walmart early in the morning. The wonders of Walmart, I guess.

Ben lets go of me as we start walking again.

"Are you going, Danny?" he asks me, eyes staring into mine pleadingly. I smile down at him and grab his hand.

"Yeah, I'll go."

Ben smiles. "Then I'll go, too."

<><><>

Ben and I take our seats as soon as we enter the classroom. Trenton's seat is empty, so it's just the two of us right now. Such knowledge reminds me of last night's conversation with James, and I glance to Ben nervously.

Ben was very hesitant to let me see his conversation with James and wouldn't even talk about it with me. Then James tells me to get Ben to take his hoodie off. I'm pretty sure I know what's wrong with this picture... I just don't want to believe it...

"Danny, are you okay?" Ben asks me quietly, breaking me from my trance. I focus my gaze on his concerned eyes, and I shrug.

"No, please tell me what's wrong?"

"Fine. Your hoodie's coming off later."

I catch his eyes widening a bit before he turns away from me completely, and I can't help but wonder if I said too much. Probably did, huh?

"Why?" he asks me quietly.

"Because I love you and I want to make sure you're okay."

"James told on me?"

He sounds betrayed.

"Ben, I asked him what you two were talking about yesterday because I was concerned, and he told me to tell you to take off you hoodie. He told me that I deserved to know."

He's quiet for a moment before he sighs.

"Okay," Ben gives in, and before I can say anything else,

"HEY!" Trenton's happy voice chirps as he drops down into his seat across from me, elbows on the table and head placed in his hands, smiling brightly like usual.

"Hey, Trenton!" I greet him with as much enthusiasm I can muster.

Ben doesn't say anything to him. He just looks down at his lap, like he always does when Trenton shows up. I place a comforting hand on his knee, but he continues to stare down at his lap. I sigh, not knowing why he's so sad all of a sudden. I lean closer to his ear and whisper,

"I love you,"

He blushes at that and now he's smiling at his lap, leaving me to mentally coo and awe at him.

"You're so cute, Benji!" I chuckle, making him blush even more.

"Okay," Trenton drags out the y, gaining my attention again.

"What?" I ask him. He only shakes his head.

"You're not homophobic or anything, are you?" I ask Trenton as my smile fades and I raise an eyebrow. He shakes his head again.

"No, I have another gay friend, and my cousin is gay, too, so I'm not. It's just...kinda weird...seeing it..."

Stupid excuse but ok. Gotcha.

"No, actually, he's bisexual, now that I remember."

Okay?

"So yeah! We're good."

"You're an odd kid, Trenton."

<><><>

I drag Ben, once again, to the lunch table. Our friends, once again, greet us with "hi, Brusnop!" causing Ben, once again, to blush.

"Ben, eat this, please," Logan says as she pulls out a snickers bar and holds it out to him. Everyone looks to him expectantly as he stares at the candy for a moment. He eventually takes the chocolate from her and carefully takes it out of the wrapper. He nibbles at the treat for a bit before finally taking a bite, chewing, swallowing (shush). Logan claps happily and I make sure I tell him how proud I am of him for doing it, and he smiles. I think he's getting better, which really makes me happy. I smile at him and kiss his temple, then,

"OMF- BRUSNOP!" Ariel shouts unnecessarily loud, gaining the attention of surrounding tables. Now there's a decent amount of teenagers studying us with either concerned stares or disapproving scowls, but the fact that they're still staring at us like that irritates us.

"Can I help you??" Raeven snaps at the annoying teenagers. They turn back around and go back to whatever they were doing before, some being sure to smack their teeth and roll their eyes at us before they do. All we do is snicker a bit while Raeven puts on a proud smile.

"That's my girl!" James chuckles a bit, throwing an arm around her shoulders and pulling her closer to him.

"Works every time," she chuckles herself.

"It was real awkward," Ariel says randomly.

"It was your fault," Cam laughs, so Ariel rolls her eyes.

"No, it was Brusnop's fault," she tries as she points at Ben and I.

"Yeah, no more PDA!" Logan butts in playfully. Ben only leans his head on my shoulder with a muttered "whatever". I lean my head on his and smile contently, enjoying the pleasant moment while it lasts.