The Road to Ruin and Rapture - Hayes Grier - (boyxboy)

Can We Talk Now

I had been waiting for two years now for Hayes to talk to me. Every day I waited and waited, hoping to get my friend back. And now, now that he's finally reached out, I don't feel anything.

For two years he has done nothing while Cameron and Mathew and all of the rest of them have beaten and abused me. He has stood back and watched, not saying a word. And even now all I get is...

H- Hey.

I held my phone in my hand. Looking at the text. My head flooded with memories from before high school. I remembered all of the good times we had. I remembered every time we spent time together. I remembered that we were the best friends in the world.

I looked back at my phone, being somewhat disappointed. Was this really all he has to say? Was this really the only thing he said after two years of enabling my harassment.

I put my phone back under my pillow and shut my eyes.

As I laid in my bed I kept remembering everything. And as I did, I started to cry. Every memory, good and bad, turned me into a complete mess.

I desperately wanted to go back to eighth grade, when Hayes and I were unbreakable.

The tears were running down my face, dripping onto my pillow, and soaking the collar of my shirt.

I felt a buzz under my pillow. The same buzz it makes when I get a text. It was from Hayes again.

H- can we talk?

Reading it gave me shivers, in a bad way. It made me irate, that this is the first time in two years he has talked to me. Nevertheless, I responded.

C- yeah..

I tried to be the bigger person, I wrote and rewrote a huge long paragraph, but in the end all I could muster up was 'yeah'.

H- can we talk now?

I was perplexed by the question. Of corse we can talk now, we are already talking.

"Bye, sweetie. I'm going to work and taking Anna with me. I hope you feel better. Love you." My mom yelled up from downstairs.

"Love y-" I tried to yell back, but I was stopped by a pain in my ribs.

"Bye, Connie." My sister said, adding the stupid nickname she gave me when she could barely speak.

The door closed followed by the garage bay door opening and closing.

I looked back at my phone.

H- so. Can we talk now?

I started started typing.

C- sure

A few seconds later my doorbell rang. "Oh dammit" I said as I rolled off the mattress again.

I slowly made my way out of my room and down the stairs, being careful not to move in the wrong ways. The doorbell rang again when I was a little more than halfway down.

I got to the front door, which is thankfully right next to the stairs. We had an extra lock because my mom is afraid of people getting in.

I unlocked the door and opened it.

Hayes was standing on the front porch. His dark coffee hair was moving barely in the wind. His grey-blue eyes were filled with tears and his perfect lips were trembling.