Band-Aids On Bruises

Fear

[The Next Day]

The day had been mostly uneventful. Nothing interesting or unusual happened in the morning while I was getting ready for school or when Dustin and I were walking to school. School was mostly normal, the only different things were that I actually went to gym class, and that Dustin had a terrible day.

He hasn't really been talking much at school, and I guess some of the teachers got fed up with him and either yelled at him, treated him like he was stupid, or (in his gym teacher's case) made fun of him in front of the class. From what I heard in his mumblings at lunch, he also did really badly on a test and his teacher said it was because of a 'lack of focus' or something. Dustin also didn't want to skip gym, to prove something to his gym teacher I think, so I didn't bother going somewhere without him and just helped my teacher out.

We're now sitting in my bedroom, on the floor (me lying down and Dustin crosslegged) doing our homework and listening to music, as Dustin talks about his day.

It surprised me actually, when Dustin first started ranting about everything that happened at school, because he had barely talked with me at all during school and the walk to my house and I was expecting him to remain quiet here as well.

I guess I'm sort of like a consoler to him right now, but I don't mind. He's telling me his problems, and I'm doing my best to help or solve them.

I've decided that I don't want Dustin to be alone or feel like he's alone, so I convinced him today to come to my house, and tomorrow I'm going to his. I think I'm going to continue just being with him and being 'his consoler' until he's feeling more comfortable and safe, but I don't know if that's going to be right after the trial ends, or if it takes him longer. Either way, I'm happy to be able to help.

Suddenly, Dustin just stops talking. He looks down at the floor and puts his pencil down. I look up from the math sheet I had just been working on and put my pencil down as well.

"You okay, D?" I ask while giving him a sympathetic smile "You got real quiet there."

He doesn't say anything though, just shifts his legs so they're in front of him instead of underneath him. He then wraps his arms around them and continues to look at the floor next to him.

I open my mouth to say something, when suddenly he blurts out :

"I'm scared Fisher..."

I instantly get up from my spot where I'm lying ,turn off the music, and move so I'm sitting next to him then I put my arm around him, but I don't pull him closer to me even though I want to, and then rest my other hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, it's going to be okay. You're going to be fine." I tell him.

He looks over at me, and I see tears forming in his eyes "Is it though? What if I can't do it? What if they don't think I'm telling the truth? What if-if they let him go, and-and he comes after me or you?!"

I move my hand off his shoulder and wipe his eyes. It's been kind of a unspoken rule that we don't say his name and that we don't really talk about the incidents that occurred at the party and I wasn't really expecting Dustin to want to talk about the trial either, I thought he would want a chance to not have to talk about it. I guess it's been really consuming all his thoughts.

"It's going to be okay, I promise you that. You're strong Dustin, I know you'll be able to do it, and I'll be with you every step if you need me." I place my hand on his "They'll know you're telling the truth, there's so much evidence. They're not going to let him go, he's going to be locked away so he won't be able to hurt you anymore."

"What about you though?" Dustin sniffles.

"...Or me."

Dustin nods slowly. I know that he knows that everything is going to be fine, but he's been through so much and the paranoia is probably too much to handle.

We sit like that, my arms around Dustin as I let him cry a little bit. I squeeze his hand occasionally and reassure that everything is going to be fine.

"Okay. Okay, I'm good now. Yeah, I think I'm fine." he says after a few minutes while wiping his eyes "I'm alright now. Thank you." he smiles softly at me.

I nod and move my arms off him, then scoot away from him. The tension is rather thick, but we choose to ignore it. Dustin turns the music back on.

"I'm sorry that I'm being a big baby." Dustin says while forcing out a laugh.

"It's fine, you don't need to apologize." I tell him.

He nods then picks up his pencil and paper, and goes back to his original position and begins writing something down.

I give him a small smile as I watch him focus on his work. I've finished mine, so I take this opportunity to watch him.

His blond waves keep falling in his face as he looks down, and he's constantly brushing them away. His chocolate brown eyes are intently fixed on his paper while his hand writes rapidly, and he's actually sticking out his tongue a little bit and is biting down on it. For the first time I notice that he's using his left hand to write. He's left handed?

Man, I'm oblivious.

Then, I notice that his sweater is loosely hanging down, and revealing a slight amount of pastel pink.

"Hey! You're wearing your pink shirt!" I exclaim "I've missed seeing it."

Dustin blushes and pulls up his sweater so it's covering his neck again "Yeah...I like wearing it under my sweater..."

I smile and Dustin blushes even more, then says something that makes me blush.

"Were you staring at me?"

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This was a shorter filler chapter, yet it's taken me the longest to write. I spent so long just thinking of what the heck was I going to write, and when I did get a good idea I didn't know how to put it into words. I actually have another version of this chapter, that's 4,000+ words. Jeez, anyways, more important chapter coming up soon! Don't forget, I'm always happy to receive feedback! ♥