Can't Afford To Lose Another Second With You (Scömìche)

Please Don't Judge

The next morning came too quickly. I wasn't mentally prepared for what was about to happen.

It was a cold morning, I had to put frost protection onto the windshield of my Chevy to get rid of a thin layer of ice. Carefully, I drove those five miles that separated my house from the school and parked in the front row. I was early.

When I got out of the car, my eyes focused on the guy in the driver's seat of the car parked right next to mine and my heart stopped. It was a certain black haired boy I hadn't seen in a while.

I knocked on the window. "Mitch?"

He turned his head and smiled when he recognized me and opened the window. Good. Probably not avoiding me. Or just trying to be nice. Whatever.

"Hi," he just said with this sweet angelic voice of his. "You wanna come in?"

I accepted without a word, opening the passenger side door and got into his old Mustang. I must have been staring because Mitch broke the silence.

"Don't worry, it's my dad's. He's the one who likes to brag." He gave me a sad smile. "High fashion I can get behind, but this? I don't know. I hate being judged by the possessions I have."

"Sorry," I just said.

Mitch shook his head. "No. You don't get it."

"What?"

"This-" he gestured with his hands, "this is all fake. Of course you're in love with my dad's '68 Mustang, who the hell wouldn't be. Of course you love the fact that I am a rich bastard and can afford pretty much anything I could come up with, but you know what? It sucks. It fucking sucks. Believe it or not I would trade every cent that I own to live. To get respected by my parents. To have a fucking life."

I needed a moment to process all that because it would be an understatement if I said it had surprised me. Part of me wanted to get out of the car and give him some space but the other part wanted to stay there and just let him rant. He had no one else he could talk to, and it wasn't like it was something I should take personally.

"I'm sorry," the boy said with a softer voice, looking down. "Didn't mean to- Crap. I'm not used to human interaction."

"It's alright, really. I wish I could do something to make this a bit better for you."

"You already do."

I raised my eyebrows. "I- what? I literally haven't done anything-"

"You're here. That's something."

It warmed my heart to hear that. But I still wanted to do something, actively.

"Hey, whenever you need me, I'm there," I offered. He gave me a smile in response, genuine this time.

"Thank you. You know, you can also talk to me. I've been complaining about my family this whole time. You can feel free to talk as well."

"Thanks." I smiled back. I took a look at my phone. Ten minutes to go.

"Hey, do you- do you have any plans after school today?" I asked before I could stop myself. Mitch raised his head.

"Um... I guess not? Why?" He frowned.

"I just thought, um... Maybe we could... I don't know, go over to my house and... Just hang out?"

Mitch looked a bit insecure but smiled. "That would be nice. Thank you."

I couldn't stop the grin creeping up on my face. "Great. Meet you after school right here, okay?"

He nodded. "Sure."