Last Chance to Win (Mirstie)

25

Kirstin looking for snacks and shopping I guess. It's a cute 2011-2012 picture:)

"...and, here's the last box." I plopped down a sagging cardboard box onto the floor and stood up. All of Mitch's belongings had been moved to Scott's where Mitch would be staying. After last night, I contacted our parents and the police afterwards. Mitch's dad was taken away into custody and I'm not exactly sure what happened next, but nor do I care. I just want him to be safe. A few boxes and bags lay on the floor, a stained blue bag with a disgusting stench. While Kevin and Esther moved the few boxes to Mitch's new room, I investigated the bag.
Inside was a few articles of clothing and a half pack of cigarettes, plus a plastic bag filled with some weird white powder. I gagged.
"MITCH!"
He was by my side almost immediately. Snatching the cigarettes and the bag, he threw the cigarettes in the trash bin and set to burn the white powder with a candle lighter he whipped out of a drawer.
"It was my dads. I'm sorry, I kept that stuff for pranks sometimes." He tried to make it lighthearted, but it all sounded serious. Even the prank he pulled on me by stuffing illegal beer cans and such in my backpack back in NTVC seemed like years ago, a whole different story.
"It's alright, Mitch." I said. "Do you need any more help?"
He looked at me a bit sadly, then pulled up his sleeves of his hoodie and fanned away the fumes from the burning powder.
"Uhh... I don't think you burn drugs like that." I said, watching Mitch attempt to flame the powder. "Do you even know what you're doing?"
Mitch frowned. "Just trying to get rid of this." He replied before sweeping the powder into a nearby trash can, shutting the lid immediately.
"You'll be happy here, right?" I asked. Mitch reached to the stove to fetch a paper towel.
"Yeah. I'll be okay." He said. "I guess now that I saw how that it would hurt you if I stayed with my- my dad."
"Why did you want to stay?" I demanded.
His hands idly wiped the counter before responding. "I-I was scared. I didn't want anything to change. I didn't want to cause any trouble for anyone. I thought was strong enough to deal with it. Alone." He abruptly stopped wiping the counter and threw the paper towel away with a splat. "I'll go help put my stuff away." He looked uncomfortable as he hurried off to his room.
I sighed. "Alright." Standing up, I combed through my hair with my fingers and took a deep breath. I have to distract him. I thought. Take away the pain for a while.
A few minutes later, Mitch finished unpacking and we sat around the kitchen eating cups of vanilla pudding Esther had made.
"Esther!" Scott exclaimed, taking a mouthful of the sweet pale yellow pudding. "This is soo good."
"Ten out of ten." Kevin agreed.
Mitch poked at his pudding, not eating it but just stabbing it with his spoon over and over again.
Scott patted him on the shoulder. "Everything okay, Mitchy?"
"Uhh..." Mitch mumbled. He poked at his pudding again.
"Its okay if you don't want to tell us." Esther said quietly.
Avi, who had been mixing pieces of banana in his pudding tried to speak, but choked on his pudding and decided to sit down again.
"Me..." Mitch began. I stopped eating to listen to what he was going to say.
"Go ahead." Esther encouraged.
Mitch looked at me and slowly put down his pudding. He pulled up his right sleeve and tapped the metallic bracelet I gave him when we started dating.
Somehow, deep inside I knew what he was going to say. I smiled and nodded at him, encouraging him on. I saw him take a deep breath before speaking.

"Meandkirstinlikeeachother."

He then quickly grabbed his pudding, dug his spoon into it and shoved a whole spoonful into his mouth. Everyone stopped eating immediately and looked at us.
"What?" Esther asked, knitting her eyebrows together. "Is this a joke?"
"Me and Kirstin have been dating for a bit now, but we wanted to wait for a while before telling you guys." Mitch said quietly but hopefully.
"What?" Scott jerked his arm away from Mitch and my heart sank. His face looked disappointed, angry. "But- but remember Rachel!?" Scott's voice rose as he stood up. "What if Kirstin does the same thing? What if you don't know who she really is?"
I stood up as well. Although I was almost a foot shorter than Scott, I managed to look him full in the face. "I would never do that!" I shouted back. "I forgave Mitch for the bully he was before this, befriended him too."
"How am I supposed to know that?" Scott demanded. Avi grabbed his arm fearfully as Scott's face turned redder.
"You can trust me!" I yelled, looking at Mitch, who looked scared again. "Please, Scott. Give me a chance. I promise I won't hurt him. Ever! I'm not a stupid vain girl like Rachel. I actually care about people! I care about Pentatonix. I care about my friends and family. I care about Mitch." My resolve steeled at the end. For a second, I thought Scott would say yes, but he didn't.
Scott looked at me for a long second, then turned to Mitch. "You can't do this again, Mitchell Grassi." He said in a serious voice and a shiver ran up my spine as I realized he had just used Mitch's full name for the first time in my hearing. He then abruptly walked off to his bedroom and a few seconds later his door shut loudly and locked.
By this time, tears were already pooling into my eyes. I tried to blink them away, but they came anyways. Trying not to show that, I felt around for my purse and shoes and hurried towards the door. Deep inside, I was hoping the rest of PTX and Esther would back me up and agree with me. I would almost pay a hundred dollars for Kevin's usual wise sayings. But they didn't say a word but sat still and silent as I slid on my sneakers through a haze of tears and fumbled the doorknob. Before I ran down the steps, I turned around one last time to see Mitch. He was looking right at me, shaking his head.

I understood. We couldn't be together.

I know this was sad😭. Sorry for the late update, school started and everything's been busy. I'll try to update this sooner. A little fun fact: Kirstin's height is 5'4 and Scott's is 6'2!
Thank you guys so much for reading! Love y'all!❤️❤️❤️