Step Into the Sun

33

IT'S BACK i have access to this story again i'm so happy :))

Tuesday.

Connor awoke wrapped in Evan's arms. Their faces were dangerously close, their noses almost touching. Trying not to wake Evan, he slowly undid himself from the sleeping boy's grip.

He managed to successfully get out of bed without moving Evan enough to wake him, then left the room to wander downstairs.

For some reason, there was a weight in his chest that felt like it was dragging him down. He found Heidi sitting at the kitchen table with a mug of coffee in her hand and her iPad in front of her. She looked up when she heard his footsteps.

"Good morning," she greeted with a smile.

"Hi." Connor forced a smile back at her.

"Are you the first one up?"

He nodded.

"Well, help yourself to breakfast if you want. There's more coffee in the pot and cereal in the pantry."

"Thanks," he mumbled, turning to take a look at the cereal inventory.

He sat next to Heidi to eat his breakfast, a comfortable silence between them.

The silence was comfortable.

Connor wasn't. He felt bad inside his brain. Something was messing with his emotions.

Heidi noticed the frown on his face as he munched on his Cinnamon Toast Crunch and set down her mug to touch his arm gently.

"Something wrong, hun?" She asked.

"Yeah," Connor answered quietly, nodding a bit. "I don't know what, though. I just feel kinda sad."

"Aw, sweetie," Heidi moved her hand down and took his hand, squeezing it comfortingly. "Is there anything I can do to help you feel better?"

"Thanks," he mumbled, managing a genuine smile at her kindness. "But I don't know. I kinda just wanna lay in bed and cry."

"Well, crying for a little bit is healthy, but I think you should try to stay out of bed for a while. Weren't you and Evan going to bake cookies today?"

"Yeah but now it seems kinda pointless. Even though I love spending time with him. What's wrong with me?" Connor pushed his bowl away and laid his head down on top of his folded arms.

"Probably a lot of things," Heidi pointed out, reaching over to run her fingers through his hair. "But we still love you."

"Thank you," he mumbled, blushing at her word choice.

"I should get going," she informed him, standing up from the table. "Try to bake with Evan if you're up to it. For all of our sakes. He's not the best baker."

"Alright," Connor agreed, smiling softly as she kissed his head before leaving to go to work.

After a while longer of sitting at the table with his head down, he got up and went back to Evan's room. Evan was just waking up, Jared still on the air mattress on the floor, watching YouTube videos on his phone.

"Con?" Evan mumbled, sitting up to look at the doorway. "Why are you over there?"

"I woke up like half an hour ago," he answered.

"Sorry." Evan stood up and rubbed his eyes as he walked around Jared to get to the door. "You should've woken me."

"No," Connor disagreed. "You needed to sleep."