Mending - Jeffmads [COMPLETED]

Chapter Three

James pulled Thomas by the hand, the unbroken one, of course.

All Thomas could do was stare at James. Any attempt at protest was immediately shut down, James making it obvious that he wasn't taking no for an answer.

"James, I said I'm fine-"

"And I said we're going to the hospital," James didn't spare him a glance, not even when they got in the car. So Thomas was forced into silence.

He let his eyes wander over James, who had his hands on the wheel.

His hands, something Thomas noticed first. James' nails were bitten, a nervous habit of his. If his nails were bitten, that meant something made James nervous. What that something, or rather, someone was quite obvious now.

"James can I ask you something?" Thomas looked down at his own hands, which were well taken care of.

"Hm?" James gave him a quick look but kept his focus on the road as he drove.

"Why?" Thomas' head hurt from all the emotions conflicting in his mind. Anger and sadness, the most prominent of all. "Why did you let that happen to you?"

"What?" James knew what he meant, images of Reynolds flashing in his mind. He only asked what Thomas meant to stall, to avoid the question. Avoiding the question was much easier than facing the problem head on.

"James, you know what. Why did you let him hit you?" Thomas looked over to James, who kept his expression unreadable.

"We are not talking about this right now," James said firmly, his soft voice taking a stern undertone.

"Then when are we going to talk about it. You can't avoid it forever James," Thomas felt the anger start to show, start to take hold of his voice.

James didn't answer, he couldn't find a way. He would rather be under a pile of blankets, hoping they would block away his problems. But James knew, nothing he could do would block away Thomas. He was his best friend, and sometimes that had its downfalls.

"James!" Thomas didn't mean to raise his voice, but he did, he couldn't help it.

"Why do you care Thomas?" James muttered, keeping his eyes on the road, praying it wouldn't take much longer for them to get to the hospital.

"Excuse me?" Thomas was offended, and angry, and extremely upset. The thing was, he wasn't mad at James, not even a little bit. It wasn't James fault that millions of guys had made him feel worthless, made him feel like no one should care. Thomas loved James more than anything, and he just wished James wasn't so oblivious.

"Why?" James knitted his eyebrows. "I'm not worth it Thomas."

Thomas felt his mouth go dry, tears started to well in his eyes. "Why can't you see it?" Thomas whispered, more to himself than to James.

"Forget it, we're here," James grumbled as he pulled in to the hospital driveway. Thomas stared at him, not knowing what to say.

"Stop staring at me, let's go," James got out of the car. It took Thomas a second to process that James had even left.

"Okay."