Somebody like you (boyxboy)

26. Thinking Out Loud

Trevor

It was seven o'clock in the evening when Margaret shook me and Charlie awake.

"Come on, I need to take you back to school." The car-ride was cold and uncomfortable. Nobody said a word, and Charlie didn't even say goodbye to his mother when he jumped out of the car. I thanked her for her hospitality and ran to catch up with Charlie, who was stalking away from his brother without a glance in his direction.

Once back in our dorm, Charlie went straight to the bathroom to clean up, while I sat on the bed and looked at my phone that had been on the bedside table the whole time. Amanda had blown it up with calls and texts, as well as other people from the football team, asking where the hell I was. I simply told them something had come up in the family, and that I was alright, then Charlie came out of the bathroom and I went in, eager to wash away the sweat and dirt.

Once I was done in the shower, I found Charlie sitting on my bed. I sat down beside him, only wearing a towel around my waist.

"Never do that again, Trevor," he said with a low voice. I furrowed my brows. "Never throw yourself in front of a gun ever again. Not for me, not for anybody."

"I couldn't just stand there, watch him advance on you like that!" I protested.

"Don't you know how it made me feel? Can't you imagine how I would be for me if you died because of me? You can't do that."

There was a loud knock on the door, and the headmaster barged in, Raymond on his heels.

We sprung up like we'd been shocked and stepped away from each other, realising first now how closed we'd been.

"Excuse me, Mr Jaxon, I didn't know you weren't dressed. I'll just be a minute." He leaned against our desk and looked at us with a serious expression. "We called your parents. Mr Williams had no idea where you were, and neither did Mrs Nichols. You are not allowed to leave school without leave from your parents, we are very strict about that here. I will not be tolerating any more absence from you, so take this as a warning. The next time you miss an entire school day you will be punished." With that he left.

"Raymond, leave." Charlie sat down on my bed again, and I joined him, a little further away this time. "I'd die a hundred times, rather than watch you get hurt, Trevor. Never do something so stupid again." He looked deep into my eyes, and the expression on his face, the seriousness I found there, the feelings that radiated off him... I could only nod, mesmerized by the force in him. "Good night, Trevor." With that he got up and went to hide in his own bed, turned away from me.

***

Charlie

I went directly to my room after school the next day, sitting in bed and waiting nervously for Trevor.

"Do you have any plans today?" I asked the moment he stepped inside.

"I thought I ought to be with Amanda, but I don't have to, why?"

"I'd like to... hang out," I said awkwardly.

"Just... hang out? How suspicious that sounds, coming from you. What do you want?"

"Relax, Trevor."

"I'll tell her I'll see her tomorrow." He texted his girlfriend – I tried not to scowl – and made a cup of hot chocolate before sitting down across from me on my bed.

"You're probably very confused as to what happened," I started.

"A tad, yeah," he replied and made it clear that was an understatement.

"I'm sorry you were pulled into that. You weren't supposed to be there, it was literally the last thing I wanted to do, to put you in danger!" I shuddered just at the through of how it might have gone. "I had it all planned. They've been pestering my mother for years, always asking for money. I didn't know until recently, so I planned to stop them because they just came back, to threaten me and Raymond again. Give them money, or tell where father was. He stole from them right after he ... did that to my sister and had to leave. They never found the money. It must have been quite a sum too.

"Do you remember the day we went to have lunch, I think it was the first Saturday, the day after we met, I took you to a weapon's shop?"

"Yes."

"It was that man and people of his that came, that took care of the people that beat us."

"Really?" Trevor gaped. "I thought that was the police."

"Can you imagine what a mess it would be if the police was involved? The school would have been informed, you father... It would have come in the newspapers probably, and that much publicity would have been bad, as those people that we caught are only a part of a bigger picture."

"But why did he help you?"

"I..." I grimaced. "Don't tell anyone. I blackmailed him. Kind of. I mean, we're on good terms I just said that I might happen to let slip something about his business that isn't strictly legal if he didn't help me, when he first said he wouldn't do it.

"So, I said I would meet with the men, tell them everything I knew and what became of the money, then all I had to do was stall them long enough for my men to come. Then suddenly you turn up, and Raymond, dad... I thought you'd ruined everything. You scared me so much, Trevor! There was no reason for them not to kill you! I was so scared..." I cleared my throat.

"Anyway, they're all in the police station right now. I need to go and make a confession, but I'll keep you out of everything, of course." I grabbed the cup from his hand and downed the rest of the hot drink like it would give me courage. "I got to go, I'll see you later." Without waiting for his response, I left the room.

***

Trevor

"I can't believe you held the secret from him for so many years," I said accusingly to Raymond. Matt was out, luckily.

"I did it for his own good! Do not talk like you know what this is about, don't talk like you know what is best! Me and my mother only wanted to protect him. He was hurting so much, you can't imagine it, Trevor, I thought he might die!"

"It isn't your job to take care of him! It isn't your call, he deserved to know the truth! He could have handled it."

"He was so happy, when we told him dad was dead! It was the first time he smiled since she died, a week earlier." Raymond's voice broke.

"It isn't right to keep the truth from people! See what happened, Raymond! He planned all this, you know. He knew that there was a chance they might kill him, he put his life in danger to get them away! He put his life in danger for a mother and brother who's been lying to him almost half his life! He took beatings, and I think a part of him liked it, I think a part of him wanted to end things! It was all because of you, Raymond! You disgust me."

"I hated him, Trevor. I hated him so much for being happy that dad supposedly died. I couldn't look at him without wanting to... Leave Trevor, don't talk to me, you can't possibly understand the situation."

"Leave Charlie alone," I growled before I left.