close to you ; tofuudiger

| 6 |

1 new message

zack texted joe just like he asked. he didn't want to talk to anyone so this seemed like a better way to communicate.

| messages |
zack: im sorry joe
joe: why are you sorry you didn't do anything wrong?
zack: idk i just feel bad. i know michael. and he said something that hurt me.
joe: screw him. what did he say?
zack: ill tell you some other time
joe: okay. i understand.
zack: how are you?
joe: fine. how are you? how's your eye?
read at 4:11 pm

zack looked in the mirror. his eye had started to turn a purple blue color.

he couldn't stop thinking about liam. he was such a sweet person. everything he did he did for zack.

he killed himself for me zack thought. i am the reason liam is dead.

thinking like this was digging up that old box he locked away and buried after his dad was sent to prison.

michael had stuck his hand in the dirt and pulled it out and shoved that box in his face.

it hurt. it all hurt.

he tried to think of joe. joe was saving him. he was going to help him move on.  or was he just something else he was going to bury in his box?

| messages |
zack: kind of purple
joe: lol put some ice on it or something.
zack: will do doctor joe
joe: ew no
zack: what do you want to be when your older
joe: idk something with technology
zack: is that why you took that computer class
joe: yeah but we all know how useless that class is
zack: right mr. h sucks
joe:hey i have to go deal with my mom ill text you later
zack: okay <3
joe: <3
read at 5:31 pm

joe walked into the kitchen where his mom was.

"did you take your medicine?" she asked. she looked pissed.

joe knew why. he threw away his pills this morning.

he just stared at her. he didn't know what to say.

his mother had never hit him. she had once thrown a beer bottle at his head but it hit the wall and shattered. right now it looked like she wanted to slap him.

"joe!?" her voice got louder. he couldn't tell if she had alcohol or not. she had got home from work an hour ago.

"no i didn't take it," he gritted through his teeth.

she crossed her arms.

"and why is that?"

"i threw them all away."

"why would you do that? now i have to order another prescription from idaho because we haven't visited a doctor here yet!"

"i don't need that medicine mom!" joe yelled at her.

"yes you do," she said calmly. "joe i can't find you like last time again. you broke my heart."

"i don't want to talk about that," joe turned his head and began to walk away.

joe didn't want to talk to anyone about what happened before the move.

he didn't want zack to know. he didn't want his dad to know.

he wanted to forget that stupid night.

he wanted to forget june 23rd.

but wanting to forget is what caused all of the destruction.

zack and joe both had secrets they didn't want one another to know. deep dark secrets that made them break and crumble.

zack thought joe was such a sad boy and he wanted him to be smiling.

but june 23rd took smiling away from joe.

and zack couldn't never look at blue eyes the same.

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| messages |
zack: you okay?
joe: yeah sorry im just tired and stressed
zack: about what?
joe: everything ):
zack: aw. hey it's gonna be okay. you got me
joe: you're so nice to me
zack: yeah you're pretty cool (:
joe: when do you have to go to court?
zack: thursday. my mom comes home wednesday
zack: you wanna meet her?
joe: yeah im nervous. what are introducing me as?
read at 6:38 pm

this was a question zack had no answer to. he wanted joe to be more then his friend. joe wanted that too. but they hadn't known each other for very long and hadn't been on a date yet.

1 new message

| messages |
joe: zack? you still there?
read at 6:59 pm

he sighed. he had to tell joe the truth.

| messages |
zack: yes sorry. i honestly don't know. you're more then just a friend to me
joe: same. we need to go on our date.
zack: tomorrow? after school? spend the rest of the day with me
joe: okay (:
zack: how's your mom ?
joe: sober
zack: good. anyways, what are you up too?
joe: homework. then dinner.
zack: you should come over. i'm lonely.
joe: you're always lonely. but my mom prob won't let me bc she's mad at me
zack: true. why is she mad? will you meet me at the park tonight?
joe: i can sneak out. but i'll tell you tonight then.
zack: okay see you then babe ;)
read at 7:16 pm

joe smiled at the cute name. but then anxiety flushed over him.

he wasn't going to tell zack about the medicine. that means he's have to tell him it was antidepressants and why he had them.

he was not telling zack about june 23rd.

he wasn't telling anyone.

|||

zack heard a knock at the door. at first he thought it was joe and he changed his mind and decided to come over. but when he opened the door it was tyler, crying.

he fell into zacks arms bawling.

he led him to the couch. he soothed him by holding him and combing his hair with his fingers.

once tyler had stopped crying zack asked him, "ty what happened?"

"josh," he hiccuped, "he w-was ki-kissing another boy!"

the sobs began again and zack pulled tyler closer to his chest.

anger filled zacks body. why the fuck would josh do this to tyler?!

he quickly texted joe that he couldn't meet him tonight and something came up.

joe was secretly greatful for this but wanted to know what was going on.

he didn't ask. he ate dinner and when to bed.

and monday was finally over.