Exposed (#wattys2016)

chaptner nineteen

Picture is probably Hale and Caspian on a good day ;-)

I rustled through the junk inside what should be our silverware drawer, trying to find the cell phone we share. It was nowhere to be seen.

"Gina, you see anybody use the phone?" I slammed the drawer closed and looked over at Gina. She was reading a magazine at our kitchen table. Without looking up, she shrugged.

"What's your problem lately?" I asked while I crossed my arms and sat down across from her at the cluttered table.

She raised only her eyes from the magazine, looking at me for a few seconds before lowering them again.

"I don't like Caspian. He doesn't treat you well. He doesn't treat anyone well."

I sighed loudly and leaned back against the kitchen chair, picking at a loose string on my sweatpants.

"He treats me well, you wouldn't know how he feels on the inside. He's not as bad as everyone thinks."

Gina shrugged and slowly turned a page in her magazine, almost acting as if she didn't hear me.

I then got up from the table to search for the phone again, desperate to get a hold of Liv. I haven't seen Casp for over a day.

When I finally found the phone buried under piles of paperwork, I was relieved to see the battery was almost full.

I carefully dialed Liv's cell phone, anxiously holding the ancient flip phone up to my ear.

"Hello?" She said, a bit confused.

"It's me, Hale," I paced between the kitchen and the living room.

"Where have you been? I've been sitting in this god damn house alone with only my father until he went back to jail. Now it's just me."

"You could have came to my house... where's Caspian?"I bit on one of my fingernails, immediately breaking the action when I realized what I was doing. When I'm nervous, that's my action stress reliever.

"I don't know, I thought he was at your house. He hasn't been here in days."

I exhaled into the phone, my eyes drooping to the floor as I flopped down into a chair in the living room.

"Really? You have no idea where he is?"

"No, I'm sorry Hale. I have no clue."

I rested my hand against my head, my spine worthless at this point.

"Maybe we should try and find him," I suggested to Liv.

"I guess we could, wanna meet at my house?"

"Yeah, but what about those people who chase after me for being gay in public?"

I closed my eyes and set my hand down, resting my head against the back of the chair. After thinking for a few seconds, I realized there's not too many people that chased after me to begin with.

"You wanna find your boyfriend or not?"

I nodded, even though she couldn't see me. "I'm on my way," I spoke with the most confident tone I've ever spoke in. That only lasted a few seconds.

I set the phone back in the cabinet drawer where it belonged, giving Gina a small nudge, "Where's Levi?"

I assumed all the other kids were at school, but I slept through five alarms so I wasn't sure.

"Shopping. Or scavenging for food. Not sure which term is more appropriate."

She closed her magazine now, folding her hands together as she looked up at me.

"Good luck finding your little asshole lover boy," She said with no emotion.

"Thanks," I muttered, grabbing a jacket before heading out the back door.

The sidewalks and streets were almost empty, and I'm thankful nobody bombarded me on my way to Liv and Caspian's house. The steps up to their front door creaked with every movement, a familiar sound.

I knocked on the door and Liv answered so fast, it was like she was waiting for me to appear at any given moment.

"Ready?" I asked, stepping to the side to let her outside.

"Where do we go first?" I looked around, as if I'd know where to start.

"Every single bar," she spoke confidently.

I backed up a bit, biting down onto my lower lip. There were a lot of bars around this small city.

"I can't do that, I'm going to get beat up again. He would get beat up too, wouldn't he? He had to have gotten slammed on his way to wherever he was going."

Liv shrugged and grabbed my wrist, guiding me down the steps, as if she knew exactly where to start. After a few minutes we found the first location.

"I'll go in and look, you just take in the scenery outside," she winked at me, heading inside our first bar, which I have never even heard of before. Judging by how quickly she came outside, I realized he wasn't in there.

"That place is nasty, we're going to the next bar," she said quickly while plugging her nose.

I grinned and followed her down the sidewalk.

"You know, it's kind of refreshing to see my brother care about someone so much," Liv said once she unplugged her nose.

"Yeah, I feel awful for what I did."

"What did you do?" Liv swung around to look at me, walking backwards.

"I guess we broke up, I'm not sure exactly. That's why it would be helpful if we found him so we can talk," I slipped my hands in my pockets, starting at the dirty cement while we walked.

"Nobody beat you up yet at least," Liv laughed.

I didn't say anything in response, instead I kept my head down and followed her flip flops which were facing forward now.

The next bar was the one that landed me in the hospital. I stopped once I saw it within my view.
"I can't go in there, or over there," I mumbled as if everyone inside could hear me.

"Stay here, I'm going," Liv stated and started running towards the bar before I could even say anything.

"Okay, I'll just stand here and act as food for the wolves," I shouted out to her, but it was too late and she was already inside.

I sat on the curb and picked at some sticks piled up on top of the storm drain. I smashed them against the road a few times, before I jolted around when I heard Caspian and Liv's voice. How the hell was he able to get back in there without getting beat up?

I stood up from the seat on the damp curb, turning towards the pair who looked more annoyed than ever.

"Why are you running away like that?" I walked up to Caspian and Liv, my view focused on Caspian now.

"Why are you breaking up with me like that? I didn't do shit, I didn't know shit was gonna happen, I knew it was a mistake dating someone like you."

Caspian was obviously drunk, and the twisted look on Liv's face proved that she knew things were only going downhill.

"Someone like me?" I pointed to my chest, "hell, I'm sure you can find a hundred other people who are like me."

"Yeah, bet I can," he said, getting closer to my face. He grabbed a fistful of my shirt, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw Liv getting ready to pull him off of me at a moment's notice.

"But I'm not gonna, because you're something special, Hale."

I looked up at him, those familiar eyes blinking slowly and drunkily as he let go of my shirt to back away a few steps. He licked his lips and ran his fingers through his hair, pacing in a circle where he almost fell down.

He stopped pacing and looked at me, my eyes still only focusing on him, a thousand things I wanted to say lingering in my brain.

One of them was I love you.

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