Mistakes

Thirty

Michael

"What's wrong?"

"Is he hurt?"

"What did you do Luke?"

"I didn't do anything!"

"Why is he crying?"

The door swung open, Dale standing in front of us all. He had what looked like a tank top in his hands and he was covering his chest.

"Excuse me." He whispered, walking past us and down the hall to his room.

We all watched in silence as he closed the door behind him, the sound of it locking right after.

"Lu-"

"I didn't do anything." Luke put his hands up.

"What happened?" Ashton asked.

"I was asking him about his photos and then we were talking about transgender stuff and then we were talking about binders and then he ran out to room yelling at himself."

"Binders?" I asked. "Why would he get upset over a binder? Did he lose some photos?"

"Chest binders." Luke explained.

"Oh." Calum and I said in unison.

"Um, I think we should leave he-him alone for a while." Ashton concluded, walking away.

"Right." Calum walked behind him, going down the stairs.

"Are you serious?" Luke ran a hand through his hair.

"What are we supposed to do?" Calum shouted from the bottom of the steps.

"Ugh." Luke sighed, walking into his bedroom across the hall.

I stood alone in the hall, still confused about what the heck a chest binder was.

Dale

Idiot, idiot, idiot.

I'm such an idiot.

"Ow." I winced, rubbing my chest.

My breasts felt numb, but touching them felt like a needle being poked through them. I sighed, carefully laying on my back on the bed, unbuttoning my flannel.

I stated up at the ceiling until my boobs didn't feel numb, an entire hour of just laying in bed.

I stood up, stretching my arms back and over my head. My muscles ached, but afterwards my entire torso felt un-tightened. I sighed in relief as I took my shirt off, laying back on the bed.

I felt a bit uncomfortable laying half naked in a room that wasn't exactly mine. I mean, it is mine now, but I've never been here before. Having nothing on my back or chest in a room I had no memories in was a bit unsettling.

I slid down the bed, crawling over to my suitcase.

"I can't wear this until tomorrow." I told myself, throwing the binder across the room.

It landed on the desk, the bottom folding over the top. I looked for my black sports bra, finally finding it after making a complete mess of all my clothes. I put it on and pulled my yellow sweatshirt over my head. It was baggy enough to make my breasts unnoticeable at first glance but it was extremely warm.

I pulled my jeans off and threw on a pair of grey sweatpants. I pulled the bottoms up onto the middle of my leg, rolling the sleeves of my sweatshirt up after. I folded my clothes again and piled them on the bed, deciding to put them away later.

I walked over to the long mirror laying on the right wall. I ruffled my hair up and swept it to the side, combing it with my hands.

"Should you tell them you're fine or say 'No, my boobs just hurt.'" I asked myself.

"Hey, Dale, you alright in there?" I heard Michael knock on the door.

"Yeah." I said, going to open the door.

I unlocked it and turned the glass knob, Michael standing in the hall with a bag of barbecue flavored potato crisps in his hands.

"Want some?" He asked, tilting the open part of the bag towards me.

I shook my head, putting my left hand on my right shoulder.

"What happened? Are you okay?" He asked.

I nodded.

He was way taller than me. Probably an entire foot. Well, not an entire twelve inches but still much taller than me.

"How tall are you?" I asked him quietly.

"Six feet."

"Jesus."

"Yeah. How tall are you?"

"Five two."

"Wow. I'm almost a foot taller than you."

"Mhm."

"You hungry? You need anything?" Michael asked.

I shook my head.

"Alright. Call me if you need anything. I'll be downstairs."

I nodded, and he walked away.

I closed the door, locking it again.