When You Need Me | Scomiche

Chapter 2

     The photo shoot went a little rough due to Mitch not being able to focus as well as usual. Beau kept asking if he was alright and honestly that made him feel worse, which, in turn, made him feel even worse because his boyfriend was only trying to take care of him. Mitch looked over at the sleeping man next to him and sighed. He slowly slid from the covers and moved to the couch in the living room. He sat down with the intention of turning on SpongeBob, but when he noticed the remote five feet too far from him, he decided sitting in silence wouldn't be that bad.

     As much as thinking about Scott pained him, he couldn't seem to get him off his mind sometimes. Today happened to be one of those days. Back right before the band split up, Scott had confessed that he was feeling guilty he wasn't spending his time with his family back home in Texas and that he didn't want to miss any more of his nephews' lives. He had promised Mitch he wasn't going to make any decisions without talking to him but after Mitch had come back to LA from Christmas break and Scott didn't follow, Mitch knew things were changing. 

     For a Month they were able to text every day. Eventually, things became awkward, Mitch didn't know what to say and Scott didn't seem too interested in his life anymore anyway. So they slowly lost touch. Scott hasn't texted in close to a year and Mitch decided he wasn't going to be the first one to do it. His heart was still hurting after losing Scott like that. He felt like it was too open-ended, but really, it shouldn't have ended at all. Mitch placed a hand over his heart as his mind came back to the present. He realized his vision was a little blurry and moved his hand up to his face to brush away a couple of tears that managed to get out. He took a deep breath and scooted down on the couch, pulling the blanket off the back and tucking it around himself.

     He must've fallen asleep that way because he woke up to his phone buzzing under his pillow. After wiping the sleep from his eyes, he could finally focus enough on the screen to see a missed call from Kirstin and that it was only eight thirty am. He sent a quick text back saying he would call in a sec and ran to the bathroom. When he emerged, Beau was up and making coffee.

     "Hey babe, I'm just gonna step outside to call Kirstie back," Mitch said and continued through the sliding back door without waiting for a reply. He plopped down on the nearest chair and pressed call.

     "Mitchy! Hi!" Her sweet voice made him smile and he settled into the chair.

     "Hi Kit Kat. What's up? Why such an early call?"

     "Um... I just haven't heard from you in a while and I was just checking in", Mitch rolled his eye. Kirstin had never been good at lying.

     "Nuh uh. Come on, what's wrong?" he crossed an arm over his stomach and sat forward. He could hear her let out a sigh.

"Well, um... it's about Scott." Of course it is, he thought. His eyes squeezed shut and he pressed his arm harder into his stomach to fight the nervous pain and waited for her to finish. "He called me yesterday for the first time in what, like 5 months cause he 'just missed me' and 'wanted to talk'. He said he was doing well, but, I don't know... he sounded so... sad. Oh, and he asked about you. What you were up to and if you were doing well. He seemed nervous, but he asked if you were still with 'that long-haired man' and if you were happy with him." Mitch felt a burning in his chest, realized he stopped breathing and let the air out slowly. He dragged his hand down his face without responding. "Mitch, are you still there?" He heard Kirstie ask after a beat of silence.

     "Yeah. I am."

     "I really don't think he's okay Mitch. I know sometimes people are sad but his voice just sounded so... I don't know... defeated." There was a sniffle and Mitch knew Kirstie was starting to get emotional. "I should have tried harder to keep in touch with him and you should have too". Mitch was taken back from the shift of blame onto himself.

     "Kirstin, no. I did try. He is the one who would barely talk to me at the end there. I really tried to figure out what to say but he just seemed so tired of listening. Look, we have already had this conversation and I really don't want to hear about how us not talking is my fault again. I'm sorry, Kirst."

     "Sorry, Mitch, but I really, really think you should reach out to him. If anyone can make him happy again that's you. And don't you miss him?"

     "Every day. You know that." He could feel the familiar burn in his throat and tears started to form in his eyes. "I'll try, but I'm still hurting. I want to be able to just up and call him again but he basically stopped caring about me. How can I just forget that?" His voice cracked and he brushed away the tears that were dropping freely now.

     "Oh babe, I know it hurts, but I'm sure he needs you now. I can feel it. Look I have to go, but I figured you would want to know he called. I love you Mitchy, and please think about reaching out to him." He stood from the chair and moved to open the door.

     "Love you too", he replied automatically and pressed end call.