When You Need Me | Scomiche

Chapter 8

     Mitch arrived home after his parents had already retired to bed, so he quietly walked through to his room. He took off his pants and changed into an oversized t-shirt. When he settled in bed he pulled out his phone to see four missed calls from Beau. Mitch felt bad for not talking to him much since he got to Texas so he pressed call.

     "Hey, beautiful. I miss you". Mitch could hear the sleep in his voice.

     "I'm sorry I woke you up."

     "Don't worry about it. I would much rather talk to you than sleep. What have you been doing? I thought you weren't gonna be busy." Mitch couldn't detect anything weird in his voice, just curiosity.

     "Actually, I was with Scott. I found out today some bad news about his mom and I went to visit." There was silence for a little too long.

     "That's great baby. I'm surprised to hear that you are talking to him again."

     "Well, what he is going through now kinda trumps the silly drama between us. But how are you, what have you been up to?" He listened to Beau talk until his eyes started drooping.

***

     Mitch didn't really remember falling asleep, but he woke to his phone buzzing next to his head. What is it with people calling so early? Mitch rolled his eyes at the reoccurrence. When he looked at the caller ID his heart flipped. Scott's name was displayed on the home screen, something he hasn't seen in ages, and suddenly he was wide awake. "Scott?"

    "Mitch, I'm so sorry for calling you at 3 am, but can you come let me in?"

     "What?" Okay, maybe he wasn't fully awake yet. He couldn't have heard him right.

     "It's getting chilly out here, will you come unlock your front door for me?" Hmm, maybe he did. 

     "Um... yeah. One sec." He got up out of bed and walked through the dark house. He could see Scott through the glass on the front door and unlocked it for him, shivering at the cool air hitting his bare legs, then closed and locked the door behind him. He took one look at Scott's face and could see pain written all over it.

     "Let's go talk in my room. My parents are asleep." Mitch led the way with Scott right behind him. Mitch moved to sit on the bed and and Scott closed the door behind him. He slowly made his way over and sat down gently next to Mitch. "What's wrong?" He watched as Scott's eyes misted.

     "Oh, baby." Mitch's heart ached as he thought about how to handle this situation. It had been a while since he had to take care of Scott, but if the man was still the same as he remembered, cuddling and listening to him should help. He tentatively stood up from the bed and went to stand in front of Scott. He bent down but hesitated when Scott gave him a confused look. He reached for and untied Scott's shoes and looked back up to the man for approval. Scott gave a subtle nod and Mitch continued to slip them off Scott's feet and set them to the side. He stood up and pushed the flannel off his shoulders and threw it on the floor behind him. "Stand up please", Mitch tugged on Scott's hand helping him to his feet. Mitch reached for the button of Scott's jeans but froze. Mitch, maybe you should ask before you strip a man's pants off him. His face tinged pink at his thoughts and he looked up at Scott's face.

     "I got it," Scott went to unbutton and take his pants off himself and Mitch sighed in relief. He crawled into bed and when Scott turned around, He had his arms open and ready to hold him in his time of need. Scott didn't hesitate to slide in under the covers and place his forehead even with the smaller man's clavicles. Their arms wrapped around each other. It was like two pieces of a puzzle slotting together perfectly.

     "I'm ready to listen whenever you need me to." Mitch's voice broke the silence and Scott felt a gentle kiss on the top of his head. Scott leaned back.

     "I'm losing my mom, Mitch. I have to watch her die, and there is not a damn thing I can do about it." Mitch watched a few tears escape down Scott's handsome face.

     Mitch squeezed him tight. "I'm so sorry Scott. And I know that sorry means nothing, really, but I can't imagine what you must be feeling. I wish I could take away some of your pain."

     After a deep breath, Scott continued, "The worst part is that there is nothing anyone on this entire planet can do to fix her. It's so frustrating. I've never felt this hopeless in my life." Scott pressed a small kiss low on Mitch's throat. "And you already are helping with the pain." He knew that sentence didn't accurately portray how grateful he is that Mitch left his life on pause to come be here, but he wasn't able to find the words right now. "She has been steadily declining for the past three weeks now. We visit her every day in the hospital but she always makes us leave by 6. I think she is afraid of us seeing her die." Scott's face turned solemn. "I'm scared."

     "I've got you, babe. You don't have to go through this alone. I'm right here with you."

     Scott sighed and relaxed into Mitch. "Would you like to come with us to visit her tomorrow? I know she would love to see you."

     "I would love to go with you. I miss my second momma." A sweet smile crossed both of their faces.

     "Okay, I don't want to think about that anymore tonight. Tell me about you. Tell me about work and what you do for fun and everything. I need to catch up on, like, a year and a half of your life."

     "Well, uh... Modeling has been going really great. I've gotten to walk a couple of low-key fashion shows, but mostly I like to do photo shoots for new clothes or things or whatever they want me to sell really. I'm really happy with it, but it's definitely not as fulfilling as Pentatonix was."

     "I understand." Scott's hand started drawing small circles on Mitch's lower back.

     "Um... You remember Beau right? He was around right before the band split." Scott nodded. "Well, we've been together for almost two years now. Which is strange, I really don't see myself settling down yet, but he seems fine with that and so I'm just going with it. Kirstie calls me usually once every two weeks. She always asks me to feature on her new album but it just wouldn't be the same witho--." Mitch cut himself off once he realized what he was about to say and to whom.

     "I understand that too. It sounds like you are doing well in LA, I'm happy for you. Maybe, after... after everything is done here, I could come back?" he looked to Mitch with questioning eyes, wanting to be back in his life, but not wanting to ask directly.

     "I would really, really love that Scott. You belong in LA. But we should really get some sleep" Scott let out a yawn, and rolled onto his back bringing Mitch with him. Mitch now had his arm hooked over Scott's torso, and his head on his chest. "Goodnight, Scott."

      "Goodnight, Mitch." Scott fell asleep easily in the comfort of Mitch, and he hasn't fallen asleep like that in forever.